The Ataitan languages, also known as the Tanggu or Moam River languages, are a small
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of clearly related languages spoken in the region of the
Moam River in Papua New Guinea. They are,
*
Andarum (Kaje)
*
Tanguat
*
Igom +
Tangu (Tanggu)
Z'graggen named the family "Ataitan" as an acronym of the language names. Usher names it after the local river. They are classified among the
Ramu languages
The Ramu languages are a family of some thirty languages of Northern Papua New Guinea. They were identified as a family by John Z'graggen in 1971 and linked with the Sepik languages by Donald Laycock two years later. Malcolm Ross (2005) classi ...
of northern
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
.
Phonemes
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:
[New Guinea World, Moam River]
/ref>
:
Vowels are *i *ʉ *u *a.
Pronouns
Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns as:[
:
Plus 1sg object *na.
Proto-Tamolan–Ataitan (Proto-Guam–Moam) is nearly identical, except for not having the ɣsuffixes, and the final vowels of the 1du and 2du forms is not certain. This may not consider the Porapora languages, however.
]
References
External links
* Timothy Usher, New Guinea World
Proto–Moam River
{{Ramu–Lower Sepik languages
Tamolan–Ataitan languages
Languages of Madang Province