Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
Manat, also known as Paynamar, is spoken by perhaps 50 people (2015) living in two villagse in the Middle Ramu district of Papua New Guinea's Madang province. Their original village was called called Paynamar [paɲamaɾ], but this village was abandoned and speakers created a new village on the banks of the Vɨni river, a tributary of the Sogeram, with the new village being called either Vɨni or Paynamar, as well as another village Simbevi (Simbaibi) near the original location of Paynamar. The term Manat /manat/ means “no”. Manat is moribund and is no longer being learned by younger people (Z'graggen 1971: 63, 1975: 31, Daniels 2010: 176, 2015: 537-528.)
Z'graggen (1980: 1-80) 317 comparative terms and (p. 83) prononimal paradigms for Paynamar
Daniels (2010: 176-177) sketch grammar of and (pp. 186-192) 45 reflexes of Proto-Sogeram for Manat
Daniels (2015: 356-392) 146 reflexes of Proto-Sogeram for and (p. 537-657) grammar of Manat
Daniels (2020) (unobtained)
Daniels (2015: 542-549) gives 18 consonants and 5 or 6 vowels for Manat as follows:
| \m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| p | t | s | tʃ | k |
| mb | nd | nz | ŋg | |
| β | ɣ | |||
| w | ɾ | j |
| i | ɨ | u |
| e | [o] | |
| a |
In addition to the simple vowels given above is found one diphthong /aⁱ/.
Daniels (2015: 563-565) gives free pronouns for Manat in four case forms as follows:
| nominative | accusative | benefactive | possessive | |
| 1 sg. | nzɨ | nzɨ | nzamand | jak |
| 2 sg. | am | nɨ | anmand | amɨnak |
| 3 sg. | mbɨ | — | nɨmand | banɨk |
| 1 pl. | aɾ | aɾ | aɾamand | aɾɨnd |
| 2 pl. | am | naɾ | naɾamand | amaɾand |
| 3 pl. | mbɨ | — | nɨɾamand | mbaɾand |
| 1 dl. | nand | nand | — | — |
| 2 dl. | nɨnd | nɨnd | — | — |
| 3 dl. | nɨnd | — | — | — |
Inalienable possessors of kin terms are indicated by prefixes, by suppletion or both (Daniels 2015: 556-558.) These prefixes are undifferentiated by number:
| root | 1 sg./pl. | 2 sg./pl. | 3 sg./pl. | |
| a- | na- | nɨ- | ||
| mother | mɨŋ/m | a-mɨŋ | na-m | nɨ-m |
| husband | ɲɨŋu/mam | a-ɲɨŋu | na-mam | nɨ-mam |
| grandmother | sɨɣat | a-sɨɣat | na-sɨɣat | nɨ-sɨɣat |
| brother-in-law | βas | a-βas | na-βas | nɨ-βas |
| Ø- | na- | nɨ- | ||
| younger s.s. sib | ɲamaŋ/ɾa | ɲamaŋ | na-ɾa | nɨ-ɾa |
| wife | nandi/pɨɣɨn | nandi | na-pɨɣɨn | nɨ-pɨɣɨn |
Kin terms may be marked for plural by the addition of a suffix /-ati/ or by the postposition of an independent root /ɾundi-mb/ with nominative suffix /-mb/.
Daniels (2015: 583-610) gives subject desinences for Manat indicative final verbs in ten tense paradigms. These may be divided into two groups according to which set of person marking subject suffixes they select. Daniels' “basic” set is found on the majority of indicative tenses:
| immediate past | habitual | present hab. | historical past | hist. past hab. | immediate fut. | far future | |
| 1 sg. | -Ø-in | — | -ɾɣ-Ø-in | -m-in | -ɾ-m-in | -itɾak-in | -itɨɣ-in |
| 2 sg. | -Ø-nand | -ɾat-Ø-nand | -ɾɣa-Ø-nand | — | -ɾ-ma-nand | -itɾak-nand | -itɨɣa-nand |
| 3 sg. | -Ø-ind | — | -ɾɣ-Ø-ind | -m-ind | -ɾ-m-ind | -itɾak-ind | -itɨɣ-ind |
| 1 pl. | -Ø-ɾ | -ɾat-Ø-ɾɨ | -ɾɣa-Ø-ɾ | — | -ɾ-ma-ɾ | -itɾaka-ɾ | -itɨɣa-ɾ |
| -2 pl. | -Ø-ɾand | -ɾat-Ø-ɾand | -ɾɣa-Ø-ɾand | — | -ɾ-ma-ɾand | -itɾaka-ɾand | -itɨɣa-ɾand |
| 3 pl. | -Ø-uɾ-Ø-ind | -ɾat-uɾ-Ø-ɨnd | -ɾɣ-uɾ-Ø-ind | -Ø-uɾa-m-ind | -ɾɣ-uɾa-m-ind | -itɾak-uɾ-Ø-ind | -itɨɣ-uɾ-Ø-ind< |
The second set of subject suffixes Daniels glosses as “past”:
| recent past | far past | middle past hab. | |
| 1 sg. | -Ø-ŋɨ-n | -ma-ŋɨ-n | -ɾ-ma-ŋɨ-n |
| 2 sg. | -Ø-ŋɨ-nand | -ma-ŋɨ-nand | -ɾ-ma-ŋɨ-nand |
| 3 sg. | -Ø-ŋg-Ø | -ma-ŋg-Ø | -ɾ-ma-ŋg-Ø |
| 1 pl. | -Ø-ŋgɨ-ɾ | -ma-ŋgɨ-ɾ | -ɾ-ma-ŋgɨ-ɾ |
| -2 pl. | -Ø-ŋg-ɾand | -ma-ŋg-ɾand | -ɾ-ma-ŋg-ɾand |
| 3 pl. | -Ø-uɾa-Ø-ŋg | -Ø-uɾa-ma-ŋg | -ɾɣ-uɾa-ma-ŋg |
Imperative and prohibitive forms take entirely different subject suffixes:
| imperative | prohibitive | |
| 1 sg. | -itɨŋ(nd) | — |
| 2 sg. | -m(nd) | -ɨmɨn |
| 3 sg. | -s | -ɨnand |
| 1 pl. | -ɾaŋ(nd) | — |
| -2 pl. | -maɾ | -ɨmɨɾ |
| 3 pl. | -uɾa-s | -ɨnand-uɾ-ind |
Medial verbs are distinguished according to whether their subjects are the same as or different from the subject of the final verb:
| different subject | same subject | |
| 1 sg. | -ɨt; -in | -nz |
| 2 sg. | -in | -n |
| 3 sg. | -s | -n |
| 1 pl. | -ɾ | -nz |
| -2 pl. | -ɨɾ | -n |
| 3 pl. | -uɾa-s | -n |