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Kiwaian
Kiwaian
Geographic; distribution	Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classification	a primary language family
Language codes
Glottolog	kiwa1251
	Map: The Kiwaian languages of New Guinea The Kiwaian languages Trans–New Guinea languages Other Papuan languages Austronesian languages Uninhabited

The Kiwaian languages form a language family of New Guinea. They are a dialect cluster of half a dozen closely related languages.^[1] They are grammatically divergent from the Trans–New Guinea languages, and typically have singular, dual, trial, and plural pronouns.^[2]

Classification

The Trans–New Guinea identity of Kiwaiian is supported by a relatively large number of basic lexical items. Ross (2005) tentatively linked Kiwaiian to the erstwhile language isolate Porome. However, the evidence is only two pronouns, and the connection has not been accepted by other researchers.

Languages

Kiwaian family: Kiwai, Bamu–Gama, Kerewo–Morigi, Waboda

Kiwaian languages and respective demographic information listed by Evans (2018) are provided below.^[3]

List of Kiwaian languages
Language	Location	Population	Alternate names
Southern Kiwai	Kiwai Rural LLG	20,000	Island Kiwai
Wabuda	Kiwai Rural LLG	2,750
Bamu	south Bamu Rural LLG	6,310
Northeast Kiwai	West Kikori Rural LLG	6,000	Urama
Kerewo	West Kikori Rural LLG	1,090
Morigi	West Kikori Rural LLG	?

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:^[4]

*m	*n
*p	*t	*s	*k
*b	*d		*g
*w	*ɾ

*i		*u
*e		*o
	*a

Pronouns

Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns as,^[4]

	sg	pl
1	*mo	*nimo
2	*oɾo	*nigo
3	?	*nei

Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:^[4]

gloss	Proto-Kiwai
head/hair	*kepuɾu
hair/feather	*mus[ua]
ear	*gaɾe
eye	*idomaɾi
nose	*wodi
tooth	*ibo(-nVɾV)
tongue	*uototoɾo[p/b]e
leg/foot	*sakiɾo
blood	kaɾima; sa[w]i
bone	*soɾo
skin/bark	*tama
breast	*amo
louse	*nimo
dog	*[k]umu
bird	*wowogo
egg/fruit	*kikopu
tree	nuk₂a; kota
man/male	*dubu
woman	oɾobo; upi
sun/day	saɾik₂i; si[w]io
moon	sagomi; owe
water	*kobo
fire	*keɾa
stone	*(nok₂oɾa-)kopi
path	*gabo
name	paini, paina
eat/drink	oɾuso (sg.), iɾiso (pl.)
one	*nak[o/u]
two	*netoa

Evolution

Kiwaian reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:^[2]

Southern Kiwai language:

magota ‘mouth’ < *maŋgat[a]
amo ‘breast < *amu
gare ‘ear’ < *kand(e,i)k(V]
pitu ‘fingernail’ < *mb(i,u)t(i,u)[C]
baba ‘father’ < *mbapa
sagana ‘moon’ < *takVn[V]
tuwo ‘ashes’ < *sumbu
era ‘tree’ < *inda
nimo ‘louse’ < *niman
epuru ‘head’ < *kV(mb,p)utu
kopu ‘short’ < *kutu(p,mb)a
abida ‘sister’ < *pi(n,nd)a

Other languages:

Waboda kepuru < *kV(mb,p)utu
Kerewo bena ‘shoulder’ < *mbena ‘arm’
Morigi kota ‘leg’ < *k(a,o)ndok[V]
N.E. Kiwai modi ‘nose’ < *mundu
Bamu kukamu ‘cold’ < *kukam(o,u)

References

^ "Kiwai - newguineaworld".
^ ^a ^b Pawley, Andrew; Hammarström, Harald (2018). "The Trans New Guinea family". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 21–196. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
^ Evans, Nicholas (2018). "The languages of Southern New Guinea". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 641–774. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
^ ^a ^b ^c New Guinea World, Kiwai