View source for Ramu–Lower Sepik languages

{{Short description|Language family}}
{{Infobox language family
|name=Ramu–Lower Sepik 
|acceptance=proposed
|region=northern [[Papua New Guinea]]: [[East Sepik Province]] and [[Madang Province]]
|familycolor=Papuan
|family = One of the world's primary [[language family|language families]]
|glotto=lowe1437
|glottorefname=Lower Sepik–Ramu
|child1=[[Lower Sepik languages|Lower Sepik]] (Nor–Pondo)
|child2=[[Ramu languages|Ramu]]
|child3=? [[Grass languages|Grass]]
}}

The '''Ramu–Lower Sepik''' {{aka}} '''Lower Sepik–Ramu''' languages are a proposed [[language family|family]] of about 35 [[Papuan languages]] spoken in the [[Ramu River|Ramu]] and [[Sepik River|Sepik]] river basins of northern [[Papua New Guinea]]. These languages tend to have simple phonologies, with few consonants or vowels and usually no tones.

==Overview==
Two primary branches are typically accepted:
*'''[[Lower Sepik languages|Lower Sepik]]''' (Nor–Pondo)
*'''[[Ramu languages|Ramu]]'''

However, Foley (2018) also considers the possibility of [[Grass languages|Grass]] being a third primary branch.<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/> Usher classifies some of the Grass languages (the [[Keram languages]]) as being coordinate with Ramu, and some (the [[Porapora languages]]) as being part of Ramu.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/keram-and-ramu-rivers|title=Keram and Ramu Rivers - newguineaworld|access-date=2019-12-29}}</ref>

The relatedness of the three branches are held together by morphological evidence, as very few lexical cognates are shared among them.<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

The family was proposed by [[William A. Foley]] and accepted by [[Malcolm Ross (linguist)|Malcolm Ross]]. Its two branches, [[Ramu languages|Ramu]] and [[Lower Sepik languages|Lower Sepik]], had belonged to [[Donald Laycock]]'s now-defunct 1973 [[Sepik–Ramu languages|Sepik–Ramu]] proposal. If related, they are not close. The connection is not accepted by Timothy Usher.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families|title=Families - newguineaworld|access-date=2017-12-10}}</ref>

Based on oral histories of the Lower Sepik peoples, which record that [[Yimas language|Yimas]] is spoken near their homeland, as well as the conservative nature of Yimas itself, Ross suggests that the speakers of Proto–Ramu – Lower Sepik may have lived in the northern foothills of the New Guinea highlands and moved into the Sepik Basin as the inland Sepik Sea started to recede six thousand years ago.

==Classification==
The Ramu-Lower Sepik family is not accepted by [[Søren Wichmann]] (2013), who splits it into 4-5 separate groups.<ref name="Wichmann2013">Wichmann, Søren. 2013. [http://www.langlxmelanesia.com/wichmann313-386.pdf A classification of Papuan languages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125143227/https://www.langlxmelanesia.com/wichmann313-386.pdf |date=2020-11-25 }}. In: Hammarström, Harald and Wilco van den Heuvel (eds.), History, contact and classification of Papuan languages (Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, Special Issue 2012), 313-386. Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.</ref>

[[William A. Foley|Foley]] (2018) accepts that Ramu and Lower Sepik are related on the basis of morphological evidence, although they are typologically still very different from each other.<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/> It is also accepted by Glottolog.

[[Grass languages]] are lexically divergent, sharing very few cognates with the other Ramu languages.<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/> Foley (2018: 205) leaves open the possibility of Grass being a third branch of the Lower Sepik-Ramu family, with [[Lower Sepik languages|Lower Sepik]] and [[Ramu languages|Ramu]] being [[sister group|sister branches]].

==Typology==
Although the [[Lower Sepik languages|Lower Sepik]] and [[Ramu languages|Ramu]] groups are related, Ramu is morphologically much simpler than Lower Sepik due to differing historical contact scenarios. The [[Ndu languages|Ndu]], [[Yuat languages|Yuat]], and [[Ramu languages|Ramu]] groups all have relatively simple morphology, while the [[Lower Sepik languages|Lower Sepik]] family has some of the most complex morphology seen among Papuan languages.<ref name="Foley-Sepik">{{cite book |last=Foley |first=William A. |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=197–432 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}</ref>

Foley posits that morphological simplification among these disparate languages families had occurred due to [[creolization]] through widespread [[language contact]]. He notes that the most spread-out languages with wide geographical distributions are also the ones with the simplest morphologies: [[Abau language|Abau]], [[Iwam language|Iwam]], [[Kwanga language|Kwanga]], [[Ambulas language|Ambulas]], [[Boiken language|Boiken]], [[Iatmul language|Iatmul]], [[Ap Ma language|Ap Ma]], [[Mikarew language|Mikarew]], [[Adjora language|Adjora]], and [[Rao language|Rao]] (these are all [[Sepik languages|Sepik]] and [[Ramu languages|Ramu]] languages).<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

==Pronouns==
The internal coherence of the two branches, Ramu and Lower Sepik, is based on similar [[pronoun]] [[paradigm]]s, which however do not connect the two branches to each other. Foley was able to connect them lexically, but the primary evidence for a Ramu – Lower Sepik family is a number of irregular [[plural]] markers shared by the Lower Sepik languages and the Ramu languages [[Watam language|Watam]] and [[Bosman language|Bosman]]. The pronouns themselves have little in common except for {{gcl|3sg}} *man (proto-Ramu) ~ *mɨn (proto–Lower Sepik) and the non-singular affix *-ŋk- ([[dual (grammatical number)|dual]] in Ramu and [[paucal]] in Lower Sepik: See [[Ramu languages#Pronouns]] and [[Lower Sepik languages#Pronouns]] for details).

Whereas the Ramu languages have *ŋgo ‘{{gcl|1sg}}’ and *nu ‘{{gcl|2sg}}’, the Lower Sepik languages have *ama ‘{{gcl|1sg}}’ and *mi ‘{{gcl|2sg}}’.<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

:{| {{table}}
!  !! Ramu !! Lower Sepik
|-
! {{gcl|1sg}}
| *ŋgo || *ama
|-
! {{gcl|2sg}}
| *nu || *mi
|}

==Lexical comparison==
Reconstructions of proto-[[Lower Sepik languages|Lower Sepik]] and proto-[[Ottilien languages|Ottilien]] (proto-Watam-Awar-Gamay, a [[Lower Ramu languages|Lower Ramu]] branch) from Foley (2005) are as follows. Uncertain reconstructions are marked by question marks following the forms.<ref name="Foley-Sepik-Ramu">{{cite book | last = Foley | first = William A. | author-link = William A. Foley | year = 2005 | chapter = Linguistic prehistory in the Sepik-Ramu basin | title = Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples | location = Canberra | publisher = Pacific Linguistics | isbn = 0858835622 | oclc = 67292782 | editor = Andrew Pawley | editor-link = Andrew Pawley | editor2 = Robert Attenborough | editor3 = Robin Hide | editor4 = Jack Golson | pages = 109&ndash;144 }}</ref>

:{| class="wikitable sortable"
! gloss !! proto-[[Lower Sepik languages|Lower Sepik]] !! proto-[[Ottilien languages|Ottilien]]
|-
| one || *mb(w)ia- || *kaku
|-
| two || *ri-pa- || *mbuniŋ
|-
| person || *nor || *namot
|-
| fire || *awr || *s(u)ək
|-
| moon || *m(w)il ? || *kər(v)i
|-
| canoe || *kay || *kor
|-
| breast || *nɨŋgay || *mɨr
|-
| tooth || *sisiŋk ? || *nda(r)
|-
| bone || *sariŋamp || *ɣar
|-
| tongue || *minɨŋ || *mi(m)
|-
| eye || *tambri || *rəmeak
|-
| leg || *namuŋk || *or ?
|-
| ear || *kwand- || *kwar
|-
| leaf || *nɨmpramp || *(ra)par
|-
| oar || *(mɨ)naŋ || *anup
|-
| betelnut || *poruŋ || *mbok
|-
| lime || *awi(r) || *awi(r)
|-
| pig || *numpran || *rəkəm
|-
| snake || *wakɨn || *ndop
|-
| mosquito || *naŋgun || *ŋgit
|-
| feces || *mɨndi || *yu/o
|-
| hear || *and- || *varak
|-
| eat || *am(b) || *amb
|-
| go || *wa || *saŋg
|-
| come || *ya || *kɨp
|-
| sit || *sa || *mbirak
|}

Lexical resemblances are few. The most likely lexical cognates are ‘tongue’, ‘ear’, ‘lime’, and ‘eat’.<ref name="Foley-Sepik-Ramu"/>

:{| class="wikitable"
! gloss !! proto-[[Lower Sepik languages|Lower Sepik]] !! proto-[[Lower Ramu languages|Lower Ramu]]
|-
| tongue || *minɨŋ || *mi(m)
|-
| ear || *kwand- || *kwar
|-
| [[calcium hydroxide|lime]] || *awi(r) || *awi(r)
|-
| eat || *am(b) || *am(b)
|}

==See also==
*[[Papuan languages]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book | last = Foley | first = William A. | author-link = William A. Foley | year = 2005 | chapter = Linguistic prehistory in the Sepik–Ramu basin | editor = Andrew Pawley | editor-link = Andrew Pawley |editor2=Robert Attenborough |editor3=Robin Hide |editor4=Jack Golson | title = Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples | location = Canberra | publisher = Pacific Linguistics | isbn = 0-85883-562-2 | oclc = 67292782 }}
* {{Malcolm Ross Pronouns}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*[http://transnewguinea.org/family/lowersepikramu Lower Sepik-Ramu languages database at TransNewGuinea.org]

{{Ramu–Lower Sepik languages}}
{{Papuan languages}}
{{Languages of Papua New Guinea}}
{{language families}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramu-Lower Sepik languages}}
[[Category:Ramu–Lower Sepik languages| ]]
[[Category:Proposed language families]]
[[Category:Sepik–Ramu languages| ]]
[[Category:Papuan languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Madang Province]]
[[Category:Languages of East Sepik Province]]