Hatam (also spelled ''Hattam, Atam'') is a divergent language spoken on the island of
New Guinea, specifically in the
Indonesian province of
West Papua.
Classification
Apart from
Mansim (Borai), formerly listed as a dialect, Hatam is not closely related to any other language, and though Ross (2005) tentatively assigned it to the
West Papuan languages, based on similarities in pronouns, ''
Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...
'' and
Glottolog
''Glottolog'' is a bibliographic database of the world's lesser-known languages, developed and maintained first at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany (between 2015 and 2020 at the Max Planck Institute for ...
list it as a
language isolate
Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The num ...
[ or small independent family.
]
Distribution
Hatam is spoken on the island of New Guinea in the following regencies in the Indonesian province of West Papua:Manokwari Selatan Regency
South Manokwari Regency is a regency of West Papua Province of Indonesia. It was formed in 2013 from the southern districts of Manokwari Regency. The population of the area now comprised in the new regency was 18,564 at the 2010 Census, which rose ...
: Oransbari District (Masabui 1 and Masabui 2 villages) and Ransiki District (Sabri village)
Phonology
The phonology of the Hatam language is listed below. In free form, both consonant and vowel phonemes can range to different sounds.
References
*
Further reading
*
{{Languages of Indonesia
Hatam–Mansim languages
Languages of western New Guinea