Mawes is a Papuan language of Indonesia.
| Mawes | |
|---|---|
| Region | Papua: Sarmi Regency, Bonggo District - Mawes Dai, Mawes Mukti, and Mawes Wres villages to the west of the Buri River |
Native speakers | 850 (2006)[1] |
Language family | Northwest Papuan?
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mgk |
| Glottolog | mawe1251 |
| ELP | Mawes |
Usher (2020) proposes that it may be related to the Kwerbic languages.[2] Foley (2018) classifies Mawes as a language isolate,[3] and so does Hammarström (2010).[4]
Pronouns are:[3]
| sg | pl | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | kidam | inim |
| 2 | nam | nɛm |
| 3 | ɛbɛ | mia |
Basic vocabulary of Mawes listed in Foley (2018):[3]
| gloss | Mawes |
|---|---|
| ‘bird’ | ikinin |
| ‘blood’ | wɛrɛi |
| ‘bone’ | tuan |
| ‘ear’ | bɛr |
| ‘eat’ | nan |
| ‘egg’ | siwin |
| ‘eye’ | nonsum |
| ‘fire’ | kani |
| ‘leg, foot’ | yaʔ |
| ‘louse’ | sene |
| ‘name’ | dimanɛ |
| ‘one’ | mɛndakai |
| ‘see’ | nomo |
| ‘sky’ | kowan |
| ‘stone’ | fɛt |
| ‘sun’ | ɛsar |
| ‘tooth’ | wan |
| ‘tree’ | dengkin |
| ‘two’ | yakɛneu |
| ‘water’ | bo |
| ‘woman’ | yei |
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),[5], as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[6]
| gloss | Mawes |
|---|---|
| head | defar |
| hair | tere |
| eye | nonsom |
| tooth | wan |
| leg | ija |
| dog | wede |
| pig | was |
| bird | ikinin |
| egg | siwin |
| blood | werei |
| bone | tuan |
| skin | dukunen |
| tree | deŋkin |
| man | ke |
| sun | esar |
| water | bo |
| fire | kani |
| stone | feyt |
| name | dimane |
| eat | nano |
| one | mendakai |
| two | yakenew |
Of the few sentences that have been documented for Mawes, some example sentences are:[3]: 497–8
ɛbɛ
3SG
marsya
yesterday
nomtak
come
ɛbɛ marsya nomtak
3SG yesterday come
‘He came yesterday.’
wɛdɛ
dog
ɛbɛ
3SG
ketes
bite
wɛdɛ ɛbɛ ketes
dog 3SG bite
‘The dog bit him.’
ke-me
man-?
totoso
money
kida-wɛn
1SG-POSS
mamɛnta
father
fɛn
DAT/ALL
tamu(k)
give
ke-me totoso kida-wɛn mamɛnta fɛn tamu(k)
man-? money 1SG-POSS father DAT/ALL give
‘That man gave money to my father.’
ɛbɛ-mɛ
3sg-?
dengkin
tree
nambuak
machete
kom
INSTR
sorna
cut
ɛbɛ-mɛ dengkin nambuak kom sorna
3sg-? tree machete INSTR cut
‘He is cutting wood with a machete.’
ke-me
man-?
sau
village
fɛn
DAT/ALL
banak
go
ke-me sau fɛn banak
man-? village DAT/ALL go
‘That man went to the village.’
ke-me
man-?
sau-er
village-ABL
nom
come
ke-me sau-er nom
man-? village-ABL come
‘That man came from the village.’
ke-me
man-?
yei
woman
dete
COMIT
banak
go
ke-me yei dete banak
man-? woman COMIT go
‘That man went with his wife.’ Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);
Papuan language families (Palmer 2018 classification) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trans-New Guinea subgroups |
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| Eastern Nusantara families and isolates |
| ||||||||||
| Bird's Head Peninsula families and isolates |
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| Northern Western New Guinea families and isolates | |||||||||||
| Central Western New Guinea families and isolates |
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| Sepik-Ramu basin families and isolates |
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| Gulf of Papua and southern New Guinea families and isolates | |||||||||||
| Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands families and isolates | |||||||||||
| Rossel Island isolate |
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| Proposed groupings |
| ||||||||||
| Proto-language |
| ||||||||||
Tor–Kwerba languages (Foja Range) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orya–Tor |
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| Kwerbic |
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| Nimboran | |||||||
| other | |||||||