The Kapauri–Sause (Kapori–Sause) languages form a small language family spoken along the middle Taritatu River in the Jayapura Regency of Papua, Indonesia. They are two languages, Kapauri (Kapori) and Sause, which are not particularly close.

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Classification

There is a history of linking at least Kapauri to the Kaure languages (see Kaure–Kapori languages). However, they show no particular affiliation, and Kapauri appears to be closer to Kwerba. Usher demonstrated a connection instead with another erstwhile isolate, Sause, together forming a branch of Kwerbic.[1] A partial reconstruction of proto-Kapauri–Sause can be found there.

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows. Apparent gaps may be due to poverty of data (e.g., there are /p/, /ɸ/ and /ɡ/ in the languages, but as of 2020 they have not been reconstructed for the protolanguage):[1]

*m	*n
	*t	*s	*k
*b
*w	*ɽ	*j		*h

*i		*u
*e	*ɵ	*o
*ɛ
	*a [*aː]

Pronouns

Pronouns are reconstructed as follow.[1]

Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[1]

gloss	Proto-Kapauri-Sause
head	*baːɽ
ear	*t[o̝/u]waro̝
tooth	*w₂ano̝
tongue	*mɛn₂o̝
blood	*ko̝mo̝
bone	*aːᵘC
breast	*mɵ̝N
louse	*hɛno̝
dog	*unu
bird	*ɽe̝Cne̝N
egg	*huwini
sun	*nisiki (?)
moon	*bɛ[N/nV]
water/river	*bo̝C
path	*nawaɽo̝
eat	*na[N/nV]
two	*nɛbɽe̝[na]

References

External links

• Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto-Kapauri–Sause