The Yam languages, also known as the Morehead River languages, are a

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 ...

Papuan languages The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian and non- Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geogr ...

. They include many of the languages south and west of the

Fly River The Fly River is the third longest river in the island of New Guinea, after the Sepik River and Mamberamo River, with a total length of and the largest by volume of discharge in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its cat ...

in Papua New Guinea and Indonesian West Papua.

Name

The name ''Morehead and Upper Maro River'' refers to the area around the Morehead and Maro rivers. Most of the languages are found between these rivers, but the Nambu subgroup are spoken east of the Morehead. Evans (2012) refers to the family instead with the more compact name ''Yam''. This name is motivated by a number of linguistic and cultural items of significance: ''yam'' (and cognates) means "custom, tradition"; ''yəm'' (and cognates) means "is"; and yam tubers are the local staple and of central cultural importance.

External relationships

Ross (2005) tentatively includes the Yam languages in the proposed Trans-Fly – Bulaka River family. More recently (Evans 2012) has argued that this is not justified and more data has to be gathered. Evans (2018) classifies the Pahoturi River languages as an independent language family. Yam languages have also been in intensive contact with Marind and Suki speakers, who had historically expanded into Yam-speaking territories via headhunting raids and other expansionary migrations.

Classification

Internal classification of the Yam languages: *

Yei Yei is a medium-sized city in South Sudan's southwest. It lies close to the borders of two of the country's trading partners, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a business hub, attracting traders and customers from all three ...

Tonda languages The Tonda languages form a branch of the Yam language family of southern New Guinea. There are over 10 languages. Tonda languages share some areal features are shared with the Kolopom languages. Languages The Tonda languages are: ;Tonda / West ...

(a dialect chain) *

Nambu languages Nambu is a cluster of Papuan languages spoken in the Morehead River region of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi ...

(a dialect chain)

Wichmann Wichmann or Wichman may refer to: * Wichmann (crater), a lunar impact crater *Wichmann the Elder (d. 944), medieval German nobleman *Wichmann the Younger (d. 967), son of the Elder, medieval German nobleman *Wichmann von Seeburg (1115–1192), Arch ...

(2013) did not find a connection between the branches in his automated comparison.Wichmann, Søren. 2013
A classification of Papuan languages
In: Hammarström, Harald and Wilco van den Heuvel (eds.), History, contact and classification of Papuan languages (Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, Special Issue 2012), 313-386. Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.

Languages

Yam languages are spoken by up to 3,000 people on both sides of the border in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. In

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 ...

, Yam languages are spoken in

Morehead Rural LLG Morehead Rural LLG is a local-level government (LLG) of Western Province, Papua New Guinea. Merauke Regency, Indonesia is located adjacently to the west. Yam, Pahoturi, and Anim languages are spoken in the LLG. Wards *01. Bula (Kánchá langu ...

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: * Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provin ...

. In Papua,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, Yam languages are spoken in

Merauke Regency Merauke Regency is a regency in the far south of the Indonesian province of South Papua. It covers an area of 46,791.63 km2, and had a population of 195,716 at the 2010 Census and 230,932 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2 ...

. Yam languages and respective demographic information listed by

Evans Evans may refer to: People *Evans (surname) *List of people with surname Evans Places United States *Evans Island, an island of Alaska *Evans, Colorado *Evans, Georgia *Evans County, Georgia *Evans, New York *Evans Mills, New York *Evans City, ...

(2018) are provided below. Geographical coordinates are also provided for some villages. : See also: Districts of Papua (

Indonesian Wikipedia The Indonesian Wikipedia ( id, Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia, WBI for short) is the edition of Wikipedia in the Indonesian language. The Indonesian Wikipedia is the fifth-fastest-growing Wikipedia in an Asian language after the Japanese, Chinese, Ko ...

)

Pronouns

The pronouns Ross (2005) reconstructs for the family are, ;Proto-Yam (Proto–Morehead – Upper Maro) :

Typology

Many Yam languages display

vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is an assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, mea ...

, including in Nambu and

Vocabulary comparison

Basic vocabulary

The following basic vocabulary words are from McElhanon & Voorhoeve (1970) and Voorhoeve (1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database: :

Fauna names

Below are some turtle names in Yam languages, along with names in Suki:Georges, A., Guarino, F., & Bito, B. (2006)
Freshwater turtles of the TransFly region of Papua New Guinea – notes on diversity, distribution, reproduction, harvest and trade
''Wildlife Research'', 33(5), 373. : All species are consumed by humans except for ''

Chelodina novaeguineae The New Guinea snake-necked turtle (''Chelodina novaeguineae'') is a species of turtle in the family Chelidae. The species is found almost exclusively within Western Province, Papua New Guinea.Turtle Taxonomy Working Group hodin, A.G.J., Iverson ...

'', which is avoided due to its pungent odor. '' Carettochelys insculpta'' and ''

Elseya branderhorsti ''Elseya branderhorsti'', also known Common name, commonly as Branderhorst's turtle and Branderhorst's snapping turtle, is a species of freshwater turtle in the Family (biology), family Chelidae. The species is Endemism, endemic to southern New G ...

'' are prized for their large sizes, with ''E. branderhorsti'' particularly valued for its plastron.

References

* *

External links

YamfinderMorehead languages documentation project
(DOBES) * Timothy Usher, New Guinea World
East Morehead River
(under construction 2020) * (ibid.
West Morehead River
(under construction 2020) {{language families Language families Papuan languages Languages of Western Province (Papua New Guinea)