West Keram River

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

The West Keram River family, also known as Mongol-Langam, Koam or Ulmapo, consists of three languages spoken east of the Yuat river and west of the Keram river, both tributaries of the Sepik to the north, in the Angoram subdistrict of Papua New Guinea's East Sepik province (Laycock 1973: 36, q.v. p. 69, Barlow 2018: 19-20, 34-35.) Its nearest relatives are the Ambakich and Ap Ma languages immediately to the east.

The internal classification of West Keram River is as follows:

West Keram River

Ulwa

Mwakai

Pondi

Barlow (2019a: 18-20) further proposes a Mwakai-Pondi subgroup. This may well be valid but if so is too shallow to be of much value as its own reconstruction. What is more striking is how lexically different these three languages are from one another even as their grammars are quite similar and they very obviously form a valid family.

Laycock (1971) comparative vocabularies of Mongol (Mwakai,) Langam (Pondi) and Yaul (Ulwa) villages (digitalized by Russell Barlow)

Barlow (2018) grammar of Ulwa of Manu (Nɨmalmu) village including (pp. 485-522) 1,171 terms

Barlow (2018) 483 comparative terms for Ulwa, Mwakai and Pondi

Barlow (2019, 2020) grammar of Pondi of Langam (Amonan) village

Barlow (2019, 2020) grammar of Mwakai of Mongol village

Barlow (2019) 757 comparative terms for Ulwa of Manu (Nɨmalmu) village, Mwakai of Mongol village and Pondi of Langam (Amonan) village

[under construction]

Proto-West Keram River had 13 consonants and … vowels as follows:

…

…

…

Only a restricted subset of consonants occurs finally:

…

Initial consonants correspond as follows:

Medial consonants correspond as follows:

Final consonants correspond as follows:

Vowels correspond as follows:

These correspondences are exemplified as follows, with attestations drawn from Barlow (2018, 2019, 2020) and from Laycock (1971.) Mwakai and Pondi nominals often distinguish singular and plural forms which are separated by forward slash </>.

Any consonant can occur initially, although apicals /*n *t *nd/ are notably marginal in this position while prenasalized voiced stops /*mb *nd *ndz *ŋg/ have been found initially only in monosyllabic roots. Apical nasal /*n/ too has been found clearly only in a monosyllable.

Initial bilabial nasal /*m/ is retained as such in all three languages:

Initial apical nasal /*n/ in multisyllabic roots is found only when followed by nasals or prenasalized stops, where it is thus indistinguishable from the reflex of /*j/ preceding the same consonants (below.) It correponds to /*ŋ/ not /*n/ in East Keram River. It is given as /*n/ here because /*n/ occurs both medially and finally (below):

As in East Keram River, initial /*n/ in monosyllables, where it cannot have come from /*j/, has been found only followed by high front vowel /*i/ and thus sometimes becomes palatal /ɲ/ in Mwakai and Pondi:

In one irregular example which likewise corresponds to /*ni-/ in East Keram River, the Pondi root looks to have been influenced by dual /*-in/ with which it is suffixed. The Ulwa word is a reduplication while the Mwakai word takes a suffix /-m/, possibly the sigulative:

Initial bilabial voiceless stop /*p/ is deoccluded to non-stop /w/ in Ulwa:

This does not occur if the root is prefixed as medial /*p/ (below) is not affected:

Initial apical voiceless stop /*t/ has been found in only one kinship term which appears to be a reduplication:

Initial laminal voiceless /*s/ when followed by vowels other than high front /*i/ is merged with apical stop /t/ in Ulwa. Laycock (1971) gives the Mongol initial as a platalized stop [tʲ]:

One example in which apparent /*s/ remains unchanged in Ulwa is a widespread regional loan (Barlow 2018: 21):

Another …:

Initial velar voiceless stop /*k/ is generally dropped in Ulwa:

… /*k/ …:

… /*k/ …:

When followed by high central vowel /*ɨ/, initial /*k/ is retained as such in Ulwa:

One seeming example in which /*k/ followed by low central vowel /*a/ is not dropped in Ulwa is a loan from Mundukumo /kambən/ “child” (q.v. McElhenny 2007, cf. also Ulwa “song”, “cassowary” and “knowledge” below from Ap Ma, Mundukumo and Waran respectively):

Another example undergoes metathesis in Ulwa and must be a loan but its source if not Mwakai itself is not yet known:

Initial prenasalized voiced stops /*mb *nd *ndz *ŋg/ are uncommon and have been found only in monosyllabic roots.

No examples of initial bilabial prenasalized voiced stop /*mb/ have been found.

Initial apical prenasalized voiced stop /*nd/ is retained as such in all three languages:

Initial laminal prenasalized voiced stop /*ndz/ is uncommon. It is reflected as /ndʒ/ in all three languages when followed by high front vowel /*i/; its reflexes when followed by other vowels isn't known (cf. medial /*ndz/ below):

Initial velar prenasalized voiced stop /*ŋg/…

Initial bilabial non-stop /*w/ …:

…/*w/ …:

Initial apical non-stop /*ɺ/ is uncommon. It is reflected as /r/ [r ɾ l] in Mwakai, as lateral /l/ in Pondi and, like the more common medial /*ɺ/ (below,) is merged with /n/ in the Manu dialect of Ulwa:

When followed by a nasal or a prenasalized stop in the next syllable, initial /*ɺ/ is merged with /n/ also in the Yaul dialect of Ulwa:

Two seeming exceptions in which intial /*ɺ/ is retained as such in the Manu dialect of Ulwa are both verbs:

Initial palatal non-stop /*j/ in monosyllables and when followed by a non-nasalized consonant is retained as such in all three languages:

… /*j/ … It is possible then that some examples given with intial nasal /*n/ above really had initial /*j/:

In one example, initial /*j/ becomes /n/ in Ulwa because following medial apical /*ɺ/ has regularly merged with nasal /n/ (below):

…:

Any consonant can occur medially, although medial palatal non-stop /*j/ is only barely in evidence.

Medial bilabial nasal /*m/ is generally retained as such in all three languages:

… /*m/ …:

Medial apical nasal /*n/ is retained as such in all three languages:

…/*n/ …:

Medial bilabial voiceless stop /*p/ is retained as such in all three languages:

Medial apical voiceless stop /*t/ is merged with the reflexes of /*ɺ/ (/r/ [r ɾ l]) in Mwakai:

Medial laminal voiceless /*s/ followed by vowels other than high front /*i/ is merged with apical stop /t/ in Ulwa:

When medial /*s/ is followed by high front vowel /*i/ it remains as /s/ in Ulwa: Pondi /s/ is optionally realized as [ʃ] when followed by /i/ Barlow 2019a: 28.):

Medial velar voiceless stop /*k/ is retained as such in all three languages:

Medial bilabial prenasalized voiced stop /*mb/ is retained as such in all three languages:

When the loss of a final vowel exposes /*mb/ as final, it is reduced to [m] in Mwakai and realized as [m mp] in Pondi (cf. final /*nd/ below):

Medial apical prenasalized stop /*nd/ is retained as such in all three lagnuages:

When the loss of a final vowel exposes /*nd/ as final, it is realized as [n] in Pondi (cf. final /*mb/ above):

Medial laminal prenasalized voiced /*ndz/ followed by vowels other than high front /*i/ is merged with apical stop /nd/ in Ulwa:

When medial /*ndz/ is followed by /*i/ it remains as /ndʒ/ in Ulwa:

Medial velar prenasalized voiced stop /*ŋg/ is retained as such in all three languages:

Medial bilabial non-stop /*w/ is retained as such in all three languages. In Mwakai its functional load is being reduced as segments /wa aw/ are merged into the latter-day mid back rounded vowel /o/:

… suffix /*-wɨ/ on kin terms …:

… suffix /*-wɨ/ derives adjectives from nouns (Barlow 2019: …) …:

Medial apical non-stop /*ɺ/ is reflected as /r/ [r ɾ l] in Mwakai, as lateral /l/ in Pondi and is merged with nasal /n/ in the Manu dialect of Ulwa:

When followed by a nasal or a prenasalized stop in the next syllable, including [m] reflecting final /*w/ (below,) medial /*ɺ/ is often but not invariably merged with /n/ also in the Yaul dialect of Ulwa:

One examples shows /*ɺ/ dropped in Mwakai when followed immediately by velar voiceless stop /*k/ in a cluster:

…

… /*ɺ/ … Ulwa /ɺ/ [l ɾ r]…:

Several such examples can be reduced to a plural suffix /*-La/ found on demonstratives and the reflexive; this is distinct from irrealis /*-ɺa/ (above) in that the latter becomes /-na/ in Ulwa as expected:

Several others are found also in Ap Ma (below) and are suspected to be loans:

Medial palatal non-stop /*j/ …:

Only a restricted subset of consonants occurs finally, including nasals /*m *n/, voiceless /*t *s/ and non-stops /*w *ɺ *j/. Peripheral voiceless stops /*p *k/ and prenasalized voiced stops /*mb *nd *ndz *ŋg/ have not been found to occur finally.

Final bilabial nasal /*m/ is retained as such in all three languages:

Many examples of apparent final /*m/ irregularly disappearing indicate a singulative suffix /*-m/ (above) which is found also in Lower Ramu River (q.v. Stanhope 1972: 55-57):

Final apical nasal /*n/ is retained as such in all three languages:

One puzzling exception is in the Mongol dialect of Mwakai where final /*n/ is unexpectedly reflected as /r/ (the Kaimbal dialect equivalent is /kan/.) Here we know that the final was /*n/ due to outcomparison with Ramu River:

Bilabial voiceless stop /*p/ has not been found to occur finally Ourcomparison to Ramu River (e.g. /*aɺaw/ vs. /*anVp/ “paddle”) suggests that final /*p/ has been deoccluded to non-stop /*w/ (below.)

Final apical voiceless stop /*t/ …:

…:

Final laminal voiceless /*s/ is merged with apical stop /t/ in the Manu dialect of Ulwa:

Velar voiceless stop /*k/ has not been found to occur finally.

Voiced prenasalized stops /*mb *nd *ndz *ŋg/ have not been found to occur finally.

Final bilabial non-stop /*w/ is generally retained as such in all three languages, though several examples show an unxplained alternation with /wm m/ in the Yaul dialect of Ulwa:

Final apical non-stop /*ɺ/ is generally retained as /ɺ r l/ in all three languages, unlilke initial and medial /*ɺ/ which is merged with nasal /n/ in Ulwa (above):

…/*ɺ/ …

One root with final /*ɺ/ follows the rule for medial /*ɺ/ (above) in Ulwa when it is suffixed:

… /*ɺ/ …:

… /*ɺ/ …:

Final palatal non-stop /*j/ …:

… vowels …

High front vowel /*i/ …:

…:

…:

…:

… Mwakai and Pondi plurals …: The quality of the Pondi plural suffix is determined by the preceding consonnt:

…:

…:

In roots of the form /*(C)aCɨ/, :final /*ɨ/ is levelled to low central /a/ in Ulwa, a development shared with Ap Ma immediately to the east:

…:

High back rounded vowel /*u/ …:

…:

…:

…:

Mid front vowel /*e/ …:

…:

Mid-rounded back vowel /*o/ …:

…:

…:

Low central vowel /*a/ …:

…:

…:

…:

…:

…:

…: