Fasu, also known as Namo Me, is one of the
Kutubuan languages
The Kutubuan languages are a small family of neighboring languages families in Papua New Guinea.
They are named after Lake Kutubu in Papua New Guinea.
Languages
There has been some debate over whether they are closer to each other than to othe ...
of
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...
.
Varieties
Wurm and Hattori (1981) considered its three principal dialects, Fasu, Some and Namumi, to be three languages, which they called the West Kutubuan family. However, ''Glottolog'' and Usher consider Fasu to be a single language.
Classification
Fasu is not particularly close to the two
East Kutubuan languages
The East Kutubuan languages are a small family of Trans–New Guinea languages
Trans–New Guinea (TNG) is an extensive family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands ‒ corresponding to the country Papu ...
, though Usher reconfirms a connection.
Although Fasu has proto-TNG vocabulary,
Malcolm Ross considers its traditional inclusion in TNG to be somewhat questionable. Other researchers agree.
Further reading
*Loeweke, Eunice and Jean May. 1980. General Grammar of Fasu (Namo me): Lake Kutubu, Southern Highlands Province. In Don Hutchisson (ed.), ''Grammatical studies in Fasu and Mt. Koiali'', 5–106. Workpapers in Papua New Guinea Languages, no. 27. Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
References
*
External links
* Timothy Usher, New Guinea World
Namo Me
{{Languages of Papua New Guinea
Languages of Gulf Province
Languages of Southern Highlands Province
Languages of Western Province (Papua New Guinea)
Kutubuan languages