Tabo language

Tabo, also known as Waia (Waya), is a Papuan language of Western Province, Papua New Guinea, just north of the Fly River delta. The language has also been known as Hiwi and Hibaradai.

''Tabo'' means ‘word, mouth’ and is the name of the language, whereas ''Waia'' is the name of one of the ten villages where Tabo is spoken.

Classification

Tabo is not close to other languages. Evans (2018) classifies it as a language isolate. Usher (2020) includes it in the Trans-Fly languages, Trans-Fly family.NewGuineaWorld
/ref> Part of the uncertainty is because many of the attested words of Tabo are loans from Gogodala language, Gogodala or Kiwai language, Kiwai, reducing the number of native Tabo words that can be used for comparison and thus making classification difficult.

Demographics

In Gogodala Rural LLG, Western Province, Papua New Guinea, Tabo is spoken in:
*Lower Aramia River: Alagi (), Galu, Saiwase (), and Waya () villages
*Bamu River: Alikinapi village
*Lower Fly River: Kenedibi (), Urio (), and Wagumi-Sarau villages
*Segero Creek: Segero village ()

It is spoken by 3,500 people mainly in the southern part Bamu Rural LLG of Western Province.

Phonology

The phonemic inventory of Tabo is given below.

;Consonants: b, d, ɡ, p, t, k, m, n, l, w, j, h, s
;Vowels: i, e, æ, a, o, u

Vocabulary

The following basic vocabulary words are from Reesink (1976) and Wurm (1973), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:

:

Further reading

*Schlatter, Tim. 2003. ''Tabo language grammar sketch (Aramia River Dialect)''. Unpublished m.s.

References

External links

TransNewGuinea.org database

{{Languages of Papua New Guinea

Trans-Fly–Bulaka River languages
Languages of Western Province (Papua New Guinea)
Language isolates of New Guinea
Trans-Fly languages