Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
Sialum-Qambu, commonly known as Sialum, is spoken by approximately 640 people (1975) living in three villages, Qambu, Sialum and Nama, in Papua New Guinea's Morobe province (McElhanon 1967: 6, Hooley and McElhanon 1970: 1070-1071, q.v. p. 1081, McElhanon 1975: 533, 1984: 24, Suter 2018: 3, q.v. p.4.)
Siialum-Qambu has two dialects as follows (Hooley and McElhanon 1060: 1071):
Sialum-Qambu
South – Qambu (Kwamkwam)
North – Sialum, Nama
[under construction]
Dempwolff (1905) … Pon and Keseraua (Sialum)
Stolz (1911) Sialum text (unobtained)
Ray (1919) … Pong and Keseraua after Dempwolff (1905)
McElhanon (1968) field note on Sialum (unobtained)
McElhanon and Voorhoeve (1970) 67 Trans New Guinea comparisons include examples from Sialum
McElhanon (2012) 785 comparative terms for Sialum of Sialum and Qambu villages
Suter (2018) …
[under construction]
…
Suter (2018: 289 after McElhanon 1968) gives personal pronouns for Sialum in five case forms as follows (morpheme separations ours):
| basic | ergative | genitive | possessive | emphatic | |
| 1 sg. | n-a | n-aŋa | n-aŋano | -Ø-na | na-ja |
| 2 sg. | g-a | g-aŋa | g-aŋano | -Ø-na | ge-na |
| 3 sg. | jaŋ-a | jaŋ-aŋa | j-aŋano | -i-na | jaŋ-i-na |
| 1 pl. | in-a | in-aŋa | in-ono | -i-dza | in-i-dza |
| 2 pl. | ŋeŋ-a | ŋeŋ-aŋa | ŋeŋ-ono | -ŋe-na | ŋe-na |
| 3 pl. | eŋ-a | eŋ-aŋa | eŋ-ono | -e-na | -e-na |
| 1 dl. | ir-a | ir-aŋa | ir-oro | -i-sa | ir-i-sa |
| 2 dl. | ŋer-a | ŋer-aŋa | ŋer-oro | -ŋet-na | ŋet-na |
| 3 dl. | er-a | er-aŋa | er-oro | -et-na | et-na |
Careful analysis of these forms shows the base of the second person singular to be underlyingly not /ga/ but /ge/ as it is in Ono (Wacke 1931: 185, Phinnemore 1985: 197, q.v. Suter 2019: 289.) The emphatics are usually formed by the suffixation of the possissive to the base.
Suter (2018: 303 after McElhanon 1968) gives Sialum subject desinences for final verbs in seven tenses/moods as follows. Second and third persons are dinstinguished from one another only in singulars (morpheme separations ours):
| near past | far paast | future | present | imperative | future irrealis | past irrealis | |
| 1 sg. | -i-a | -ika-ja | -gi-a | -magi-a | -ba | -dza-ja | -wa-darap |
| 2 sg. | -i-na | -ika-na | -gi-na | -magi-na | -i | -dza-na | -i-darap |
| 3 sg. | -i-ŋe | -ika | -gika | -mage-ŋe | -kap | -dzan | -ki-darap |
| 1 pl. | -i-na | -ika-na | -gina | -magi-na | -ŋam | -dza-ŋam | -ŋam-darap |
| 2/3 pl. | -i-ne | -ika-ne | -gi-ne | -magi-ne | -we | -dza-ne | -ne-darap |
| 1 dl. | -i-ta | -ika-ta | -gi-ta | -magi-ta | -ta | -dzan-ta | -ta-darap |
| 2/3 dl. | -i-net | -ika-net | -gi-net | -magi-net | -wet | -dza-net | -net-darap |
Different-subject medial verbs distinguish three aspects as follows;
| unmarked | sequential | durative | |
| 1 sg. | -ba | -ba-ko | -mage-ba-ko |
| 2 sg. | -i | -i-ko | -mage-i-ko |
| 3 sg. | -ki | -ki-ko | -mage-ki-ko |
| 1 pl. | -ŋam | -ŋam-ko | -mage-ŋam-ko |
| 2/3 pl. | -we | -we-ko | -mage-we-ko |
| 1 dl. | -ta | -ta-ko | -mage-ta-ko |
| 2/3 dl. | -wet | -wet-ko | -mage-wet-ko |