Pyu is a language isolate spoken in Papua New Guinea. As of 2000, the language had about 100 speakers. It is spoken in Biake No. 2 village (4.019117°S 141.033561°E / -4.019117; 141.033561 (Biake 2)) of Biake ward, Green River Rural LLG in Sandaun Province.[2][3]
Pyu | |
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Native to | Papua New Guinea |
Region | Green River Rural LLG in Sandaun Province, near Indonesian border |
Native speakers | 100 (2000 census)[1] |
Language family | Arai–Samaia
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | pby |
Glottolog | pyuu1245 |
ELP | Pyu |
![]() ![]() Pyu | |
Coordinates: 4.019117°S 141.033561°E / -4.019117; 141.033561 (Biake 2) |
Timothy Usher links the Pyu language to its neighbors, the Left May languages and the Amto–Musan languages, in as Arai–Samaia stock.[4]
An automated computational analysis (ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013)[5] found lexical similarities with Kimki. However, since the analysis was automatically generated, the grouping could be either due to mutual lexical borrowing or genetic inheritance.
Based on limited lexical evidence, Pyu had been linked to the putative Kwomtari–Fas family, but that family is apparently spurious and Foley (2018) notes that Pyu and Kwomtari are highly divergent from each other. Some similar pronoun found in both Kwomtari and Pyu:[6]
pronoun | Pyu | Kwomtari |
---|---|---|
‘1PL, we’ | məla | mena |
‘2SG, you (sg)’ | no | une |
‘3, he/she/it/they’ | na | nane |
The following basic vocabulary words are from Conrad & Dye (1975)[7] and Voorhoeve (1975),[8] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[9]
gloss | Pyu |
---|---|
head | uǏiʔ; wiri |
hair | Ǐɩsiʔ; lisi |
ear | kweɛ |
eye | bəmeʔ; pɛmɛʔɛ |
nose | tɛpʌǏi |
tooth | rəne |
tongue | asaguʔ |
louse | ni; niʔ |
dog | naguʔ; nakwu |
pig | we; wɛʔ |
bird | maǏuǏiʔ; maru |
egg | Ǐio taʔ; taʔ |
blood | ɛmiʔ; kami |
bone | bəli; bɩǏiʔ |
skin | kagole; kʌkʌǏɛʔ |
breast | ib̶iʔ |
tree | ga; ka |
man | tali; taliʔ |
woman | Ǐomæʔ |
sun | agwiʔ |
water | ʔiʔ; yi |
fire | kamie; kʌmæ |
stone | siri; sɩliʔ |
road, path | ʔonæ; ʔonɛ |
eat | waŋgɛʔ |
one | tefiye; tɛᵽiɛʔ |
two | kasi |
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Papuan language families (Palmer 2018 classification) | |||||||||||
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Trans-New Guinea subgroups |
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Eastern Nusantara families and isolates |
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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 |
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Proto-language |
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Primary language families | |||||
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Africa |
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Eurasia (Europe and Asia) |
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New Guinea and the Pacific |
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Australia |
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North America |
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Mesoamerica |
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South America |
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Sign languages |
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See also |
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