====== Bedamuni ====== Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute ===== Situation ===== Bedamuni (Bedamini,) or Beami (Biami,) is spoken by approximately 3,500 (1973) people living on the Papuan Plateau, east of the lowlands of the Nomad river region and west and southwest of Mount Haliago (Mount Sisa) in Papua New Guinea's Western Province. Its nearest linguistic relative is Edolo immediately across the border to the east in Southern Highlands Province; Shaw counts 55% lexicostatistical resemblance between the two but Voorhoeve considers Edolo a dialect of Beami and reports a degree of mutual intelligibility (Shaw 1973: 195, Voorhoeve 1975: 393.) The Bedamuni are known for cannibal raids against the peoples of the lowlands in former times (Shaw 1986: 57.) ===== Sources ===== McElhanon and Voorhoeve (1970) includes Bedamini comparisons Franklin and Voorhoeve (1973: 176-181) 81 comparative terms for Beami Franklin ed. (1973: 561-562) 97 comparative terms for Biami Voorhoeve (1975: 393) grammar sketch of Beami Shaw (1986: 64) 100 comparative terms for Bedamini Hoey and Hoey (1998) dictionary of Bedamuni Hoey and Hoey (1998) grammar of Be'damuni ===== Phonology ===== Hoey and Hoey (1998: 4-10, q.v. Voorhoeve 1975: 393, Franklin and Voorhoeve 1973: 176) give 11 consonants and 6 vowels for Bedamuni as follows: |< - 60px 60px 60px 60px 60px >| | m | n | | | | | p | t | | k | | | f | s | | | h | | w | ɺ | j | | | |< - 60px 60px 60px >| | i | | u | | | | o | | ɛ | | | | æ | a | | Vowels are further distinguished by the presence or absence of nasalization: |< - 60px 60px >| | i | ĩ | | u | ũ | | o | õ | | ɛ | ɛ̃ | | æ | æ̃ | | a | ã | Stops /p t k/, given as voiced in Hoey and Hoey 1998: 4-10) and in Voorhoeve (1975: 393) but as voiceless
in Franklin and Voorhoeve (1973: 176,) are typically voiced between vowels and devoiced elsewhere. Velar stop /k/ may be lenited to voiced fricative [ɣ] between low back vowels.
Voorhoeve's