View source for Social:Yuat languages

{{Short description|Language family spoken in Papua New Guinea}}
{{Infobox language family
  |name=Yuat
  |altname=Middle Yuat River
  |region=Yuat River area, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
  |familycolor=Papuan
  |family=One of the world's primary [[Social:Language family|language families]]
  |glotto=yuat1252
  |glottorefname=Yuat
|child1=''Changriwa''|child2=''Mekmek''|child3=''Kyenele''|child4=''Biwat''|child5=''Bun''}}

The '''Yuat languages''' are an independent family of five Papuan languages spoken along the Yuat River in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. They are an independent family in the classification of Malcolm Ross, but are included in Stephen Wurm's [[Social:Sepik–Ramu languages|Sepik–Ramu]] proposal. However, Foley and Ross could find no lexical or morphological evidence that they are related to the Sepik or Ramu languages.

It is named after the Yuat River of northern Papua New Guinea. Yuat languages are spoken mostly in Yuat Rural LLG of East Sepik Province.<ref name="Ethnologue22-PNG">{{cite web |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/PG/languages |title=Papua New Guinea languages |work=[[Social:Ethnologue|Ethnologue]]: Languages of the World |edition=22nd |editor1-last=Eberhard |editor1-first=David M. |editor2-last=Simons |editor2-first=Gary F. |editor3-last=Fennig |editor3-first=Charles D. |date=2019 |location=Dallas |publisher=[[Organization:SIL International|SIL International]]}}</ref><ref name="UN-PNG">{{cite web |url=https://data.humdata.org/dataset/village-coordinates-lookup |title=Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup |author=United Nations in Papua New Guinea |work=Humanitarian Data Exchange |version=1.31.9 |date=2018}}</ref>

==Languages==
The Yuat languages proper are:
*Changriwa
*Mekmek
*Kyenele (Miyak)
*Biwat (Mundugumor)
*Bun

==Classification==
Foley (2018) provides the following classification.<ref name="Foley-Sepik">{{cite book |last=Foley |first=William A. |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=197–432 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}</ref>

;Yuat family
*Changriwa
*Mekmek
*Miyak; Bun, Mundukumo (Biwat)

Changriwa and Mekmek are attested only by short words, and are tentatively grouped as separate branches by Foley (2018: 226) due to scanty evidence.

==Pronouns==
The pronouns Ross (2005) reconstructs for proto-Yuat are:

:{| class=wikitable
|-
| '''I''' || ''*ŋun'' || '''we''' || ''*amba''
|-
| '''thou''' || ''*ndi'' || '''you''' || ''*mba''
|-
| '''s/he''' || ''*wu'' || '''they''' || ?
|}

Mundukumo and Miyak pronouns are:<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

:{| {{table}}
! person !! Mundukumo !! Miyak
|-
! 1sg
| ŋə || ŋə
|-
! 2sg
| də || də
|-
! 3sg
| u || u
|-
! 1excl
| i || ni
|-
! 1incl
| abə || aba
|-
! 2pl
| ya || be
|-
! 3pl
| wa || vara
|}

==Vocabulary comparison==
The following basic vocabulary words are from Davies & Comrie (1985),<ref>Davies, J. and Comrie, B. "[http://dx.doi.org/10.15144/PL-A63.275 A linguistic survey of the Upper Yuat]". In Adams, K., Lauck, L., Miedema, J., Welling, F., Stokhof, W., Flassy, D., Oguri, H., Collier, K., Gregerson, K., Phinnemore, T., Scorza, D., Davies, J., Comrie, B. and Abbott, S. editors, ''Papers in New Guinea Linguistics'' No. 22. A-63:275-312. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1985. {{doi|10.15144/PL-A63.275}}</ref> as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://transnewguinea.org/family/yuat |title=TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea |last=Greenhill |first=Simon |date=2016| access-date=2020-11-05}}</ref>

:{| class="wikitable sortable"
! gloss !! Biwat<ref>SIL (1975) & SIL (1976)</ref> !! Kyenele (Kyaimbarang dialect) !! Kyenele (Miyak dialect)
|-
! head
| fop; fopeh || ϕɔp∘ || ᵽop
|-
! hair
| fufuimaivi; fufuimaye || ϕə'ziru || fusibɩľu
|-
! ear
| tuanhe; tundu || 'twan || tandu
|-
! eye
| siketeh; sipta || 'ɕikɯ || sɩpʰala
|-
! nose
| gerekeh; ŋerek || 'ŋəŋərɩ || nʌnɛlɩŋ
|-
! tooth
| andu; andusivahe || 'ŋandu || ŋandu
|-
! tongue
| be; behe || 'mbᴶe || mpe
|-
! leg
| gambang; geambangeh || ŋkaᵐbaᵐgat∘ || ŋgambaŋ
|-
! louse
| uta; utaeh || uta || wututʰoma
|-
! dog
| ken; kenhe || kᴶɛn || gɛn
|-
! pig
| vereh; vre || βɛrɩ || ƀeǏe
|-
! bird
| kaok; kaokhek || hɔpᴶɛ || wanma
|-
! egg
| momoateh; mumuat || 'majmuma || wanmuma
|-
! blood
| amberaeh; ambra || ambara || ambala
|-
! bone
| amfuva; amfuvaheh || amϕu || amᵽuwa
|-
! skin
| gamfuin; iaveteh || 'vɨza || nᵽɩsakʰ
|-
! breast
| meru; meruhe || mi || miřu
|-
! tree
| mung; mungeh || mu || mï
|-
! man
| foakpa; fuakpahe || aβɨd || aƀɷt
|-
! woman
| arepa; arepahe || mᴶe || miandu
|-
! sun
| va; vaeh || βanma || ƀanma
|-
! moon
| mumere; mumereh || 'gəŋat∘ || ŋgɨŋat
|-
! water
| mam; mumeh || 'maŋam || maŋam
|-
! fire
| mehen; men || mɨn || mɨn
|-
! stone
| ghateh; yiak || mɨndəm || mɨndɩm
|-
! road, path
| maikua; miakuahe || maj || mayt
|-
! name
| vu'geh; vuŋ || wuŋ || 
|-
! eat
| ueh jiveh; u-u give || ɕɛnɕɛn || tšɛntšɛntšuƀa
|-
! one
| nategeh; natek || ŋajkə || ŋaykʰʌkʰ
|-
! two
| arauu; aravueh || aɽawi || aǏawin
|}

==Grammar==
Yuat languages distinguish inclusive and exclusive first person pronouns, a feature not found in most other Papuan languages. This tyopological feature has also diffused from Yuat into the Grass languages, which are spoken contiguously to the Yuat languages.<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

Yuat grammar and phonology are similar to those of the neighboring [[Social:Ramu languages|Ramu languages]].<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/> Yuat verbal morphology is relatively simple.<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>{{rp|230}}

Yuat languages are accusative, unlike many other Papuan languages, e.g., Trans New Guinea, East Cenderawasih Bay, Lakes Plain, South Bougainville, which are all ergative.<ref name="Foley-Typology">{{cite book |last=Foley |first=William A. |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The morphosyntactic typology of Papuan languages |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=895–938 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}</ref>

Word order in Yuat languages, like in the [[Social:Yawa languages|Yawa languages]], is rigidly SOV, whereas in many other Papuan families, OSV word order is often permitted (as long as the verb is final).<ref name="Foley-Typology"/>{{rp|920}}

==See also==
*Maramba language, a possibly spurious language often listed as Yuat.
*Upper Yuat languages

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Refbegin}}
{{Malcolm Ross Pronouns}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*[http://transnewguinea.org/family/yuat Yuat languages database at TransNewGuinea.org]

{{language families}}

[[Category:Language families]]

{{Sourceattribution|Yuat languages}}