Kamula (Kamira, Wawoi) is a
Trans–New Guinea language that is unclassified within that family in the classification of
Malcolm Ross (2005). Noting insufficient evidence,
Pawley and Hammarström (2018) leave it as unclassified.
Demographics
Kamula is spoken in two widely separated areas,
including in Kamiyami village of the Wawoi Falls area in
Bamu Rural LLG
Bamu Rural LLG is a local-level government (LLG) of Western Province, Papua New Guinea. The Kamula language is spoken in the LLG, near the Wawoi Falls area.
Wards
*01. Samakopa (Kamula language
Kamula (Kamira, Wawoi) is a Trans–New Guinea ...
,
Western Province, Papua New Guinea
Western Province is a coastal province in southwestern Papua New Guinea, bordering the Indonesian province of Papua. The provincial capital is Daru. The largest town in the province is Tabubil. Other major settlements are Kiunga, Ningerum, Olso ...
.
Routamaa (1994: 7) estimates that there are about 800 speakers of Kamula located in 3 villages in Western Province, with no dialectal differences reported. This is because the Kamula had originally lived in camps near Samokopa in the northern area, but a group had split off and moved to Wasapea in the south only around 50 years ago.
*''Kesiki'', at Wawoi Falls in
Bamu Rural LLG
Bamu Rural LLG is a local-level government (LLG) of Western Province, Papua New Guinea. The Kamula language is spoken in the LLG, near the Wawoi Falls area.
Wards
*01. Samakopa (Kamula language
Kamula (Kamira, Wawoi) is a Trans–New Guinea ...
(main village) ()
*''Samokopa'' in
Bamu Rural LLG
Bamu Rural LLG is a local-level government (LLG) of Western Province, Papua New Guinea. The Kamula language is spoken in the LLG, near the Wawoi Falls area.
Wards
*01. Samakopa (Kamula language
Kamula (Kamira, Wawoi) is a Trans–New Guinea ...
(one day's walk from Kesiki) ()
*''Wasapea'' (''Kamiyami''
[Routamaa, Iska and Judy Routamaa. 1996. ]
Dialect survey report of the Kamula language, Western province
'.) in
Gogodala Rural LLG
Gogodala Rural LLG is a local-level government (LLG) of Western Province, Papua New Guinea. The Gogodala-Suki languages, Dibiyaso, and Turumsa are mostly spoken within this LLG.
Wards
*01. Ali
*02. Makapa (Turumsa language and Dibiyaso langua ...
(seven days' walk, or 90 km to the south of Kesiki) ()
In the northern villages of Kesiki and Samokopa, Kamula children were reported as preferring to speak
Doso over Kamula. A minority of Kamula people in the northern area also live in
Dibiyaso-speaking villages, where they are multilingual in Kamula, Doso, and Dibiyaso. Kamula people in the southern village of Wasapea are also fluent in
Gogodala.
Classification
The little data that exists for Kamula pronouns does not fit in with the neighboring East Strickland or Bosavi languages (though 1sg ''nê'' likely reflects proto-TNG *na), so Kamula is best left as an unclassified language an independent branch of Trans–New Guinea pending further study.
Attested pronouns are 1sg , 2sg , and ̩pl .
Phonology
Kamula phonology:
Consonants
Kamula has 12 consonants.
Vowels
Kamula has 7 vowels.
Vocabulary
The following basic vocabulary words are from Dutton (2010), Reesink (1976), and Shaw (1986), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
:
References
External links
TransNewGuinea.org database
{{Papuan languages
Kamula–Elevala languages
Languages of Western Province (Papua New Guinea)