====== Ramu River ======

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

===== Situation =====
The Ramu River family is comprised of 22 to 25 languages spoken along and around the Ramu river and its tributaries in the Bogia and Middle Ramu subdistricts in the northwest portion of Papua New Guinea's Madang province and along and around the Keram and Porapora rivers, tributaries of the Sepik, in the far eastern postion of East Sepik province.

===== Subclassification =====
The internal classification of Ramu River is as follows:\\
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Ramu River

Waran (Banaro)

South Ramu River

Rao

Aram-Aren

North Ramu River

Lower Ramu River

Ramu Coast

Ruboni Range

Central Ramu River

Porapora River

Guam and Moam Rivers

Guam River

Moam River\\
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Z'graggen (1969, 1971: 89, supplemented with family- and stock-level figures from pp. 75-88) gives lexicostatistical relationships between selected languages of the Ramu Phylum as follows, with subgroups designated and ordered according to the current classification:

|< - 80px 80px 80px 80px 80px 80px 80px 80px 80px 80px >|
|           |         |  Banaro  |  S. Ramu  |  S. Ramu  |  Ramu Coast  |  Ruboni   |  Moam R.  |  Guam R.  |  Porapora R.  |
|           |         |  Banaro  |    Rao    |   Aiome   |    Gamei     |  Mikarew  |  Tanguat  |   Breri   |    Adjora     |
|Banaro     |Banaro   |   ---    |    11     |     5     |      6       |     3     |     6     |     5     |       8       |
|S. Ramu    |Rao      |    11    |    ---    |    10     |      6       |     8     |     8     |     5     |       8       |
|S. Ramu    |Anor     |    9     |    13     |    58     |      6       |    10     |           |     9     |               |
|S.Ramu     |Aiome    |    5     |    10     |    ---    |      5       |           |     9     |           |      11       |
|Ramu Coast |Awar     |    5     |     8     |           |      41      |    15     |           |           |      11       |
|Ramu Coast |Gamei    |    6     |     6     |     5     |     ---      |    12     |           |           |      14       |
|Ramu Coast |Kaian    |          |           |           |      77      |    14     |     6     |     6     |               |
|Ruboni R.  |Mikarew  |    3     |     8     |           |      12      |    ---    |    12     |     9     |      14       |
|Ruboni R.  |Giri     |          |           |     8     |      19      |    42     |           |           |               |
|Moam R.    |Andarum  |    9     |    12     |           |              |           |    37     |    15     |               |
|Moam R.    |Tanguat  |    6     |     8     |     9     |              |    12     |    ---    |    20     |       8       |
|Moam R.    |Igom     |          |           |           |      9       |    12     |    39     |    17     |               |
|Moam R.    |Tangu    |          |           |     9     |              |           |    36     |    15     |               |
|Guam R.    |Akrukay  |          |           |           |      8       |     9     |    23     |    38     |               |
|Guam R.    |Breri    |    5     |     5     |           |              |     9     |    20     |    ---    |      15       |
|Guam R.    |Midsivin.|          |     6     |    13     |              |           |    12     |    42     |               |
|Porapora R.|Adjora   |    8     |     8     |    11     |      14      |    14     |     8     |    15     |      ---      |
|Porapora R.|Gorovu   |          |           |           |              |           |     5     |           |      51       |

(n.b. Z'graggen 1971: 89 gives both 14% and 18% between Mikarew and Adjora, we believe 18% to be a misprint.)

===== History of classification =====
**[under construction]**

===== Sources =====
**[under construction]**\\
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…

===== Historical phonology =====
**[under construction]**\\
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Proto Guam River had perhaps 15 consonants and at least 4 vowels as follows:

|< - 60px 60px 60px 60px >|
|  *m   |  *n   |          |  *ŋ   |
|  *p   |  *t   |    *s    |  *k   |
|  *mb  |  *nd  |  [*ndz]  |  *ŋg  |
|  *w   |  *r   |    *j    |  *ɣ   |


|< - 60px 60px 60px >|
|  *i  |  *ʉ  |  *u  |
|      |  *a  |      |

Any consonant can occur medially.\\
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Only a restricted set of consonants occurs initially:\\
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…\\
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Only a restricted set of consonants occurs finally:\\
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…\\
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…\\
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…

|< - 100px 100px 100px 100px 100px 100px 100px >|
||Ramu River|Banaro|Middle Ramu|Lower Ramu|Porapora|Guam-Moam|
||***…**    |****  |****       |****      |****    |****     |
||*…        |      |           |          |        |         |

===== Pronouns =====
**[under construction]**\\
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…\\
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