Contents

Ram languages

Ram
Geographic distribution	central Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classification	Sepik Upper Sepik Ram
Subdivisions	Karawa Pouye Awtuw
Glottolog	ramm1241
The Sepik languages as classified by Foley (2018)

The Ram languages are a small group of 3 languages spoken in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. They are spoken directly to the northeast of the Yellow River languages and directly to the south of the Wapei languages, both of which are also Sepik groups. Ram is the word for 'man' in the languages that make up this group.

The languages are,^[1]

• Awtuw
• Karawa–Pouye
  • Karawa
  • Pouye (Bouye)

They are classified among the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea.

Awtuw is the best documented Ram language.

Pronouns[edit]

The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto-Ram are:^[2]

I	*wan	we two	(*na-n)	we	*na-m
thou	*yɨ-n	you two	(*yɨ-n/*a-n)	you	*yɨ-m/*a-m
he	*ra (*atə-)	they two	(*ra-p, *atə-)	they	(*ra-m, *atə-m)
she	(*ta-i)

Vocabulary comparison[edit]

The following basic vocabulary words are from Laycock (1968)^[3] and Foley (2005),^[4] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:^[5]

gloss	Awtuw	Karawa	Pouye
head	makəlak	moulaka	nouraka
ear	maːna; nane	maklaka	maroalaka
eye	new; nü	noulaka	nowar
nose	witil; wutil	waklaka	wolokə
tooth	pilak; piylake	pilaka	piyapa
tongue	lale; laːlə	laləpi	laləmu
leg	riiwe; riwe	lalə	lalə
louse	nin	nipia	nipikəm
dog	piːrən; piyren	nəpay	aukwə
pig	yaw
bird	yi	awra	yio
egg	paŋkə; wate	waːtə	warə
blood	aipi	eipi	aywi
bone	lake; lakər	lakə	lakə
skin	yai	mouwil	nəpyei
breast	muy; mwi	məy	muy
tree	tau; taw	tau	tau
man	rame; ramiyan	yaŋkai	lamo
woman	taləran	telou	tʔlum
sun	mæy; may	may	taliyə
moon	yelmek; yilmake	yalma	yalma
water	yiw; yüw	you	you
fire	tapo; tapwo	tapo	tapo
stone	til	tidi	tɨl
name	yenyiy
eat	ra
one	naydowo
two	yikir	yikəramo	yikən

References[edit]

• Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.