Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
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.)
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
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:
| m | n | |||
| p | t | k | ||
| f | s | h | ||
| w | ɺ | j |
| i | u | |
| o | ||
| ɛ | ||
| æ | a |
Vowels are further distinguished by the presence or absence of nasalization:
| i | ĩ |
| u | ũ |
| o | õ |
| ɛ | ɛ̃ |
| æ | æ̃ |
| a | ã |
Stops /p t k/, given as voiced <b d g> in Hoey and Hoey 1998: 4-10) and in Voorhoeve (1975: 393) but as voiceless <p t k> 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 <r>, shown here as /ɺ/ , ranges in realization from an alveolar or retroflex flaped rhotic to a flapped lateral [ɾ ɽ ɺ]. Between nasalized vowels, there is no contrast between /ɺ/ and apical nasal /n/ and realizations vary freely between the two.
Neither final consonants nor consonant clusters occur.
Vowel qualities are realized in phonetic ranges as follows:
| phonetic | |
| i | i |
| u | u ʉ |
| e | e ɛ |
| o | ɔ o |
| æ | æ |
| a | a ɑ |
Hoey and Hoey (1998: 31, q.v. Voorhoeve 1975: 393) give pronouns for Bedamuni in two case forms as follows:
| subject | possessive | |
| 1 sg. | ni; na | n-a |
| 2 sg. | ti | ti-a |
| 3 sg. | ɛ | ɛ-a |
| 1 pl. | nini | nini-a |
| 2 pl. | tiɺi | tiɺi-a |
| 3 pl. | iɺi | iɺi-a |
| 1 dl. | ani | ani-a |
| 2 dl. | aɺi | aɺi-a |
| 3 dl. | ɛɺɛ | ɛɺɛ-a |
According to Hoey and Hoey, the first person singular subject forms /ni/ and /na/ can be used interchangably, with /ni/ sometimes indicating emphasis.
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