Massep (Masep, Potafa, Wotaf) is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by fewer than 50 people in the single village of Masep in West Pantai District, Sarmi Regency, Papua. Despite the small number of speakers, however, language use is vigorous. It is surrounded by the Kwerba languages Airoran and Samarokena.

Classification

Clouse, Donohue, and Ma (2002) conclude that it definitely is not a

Kwerba language Kwerba is a Papuan language of Indonesia. Alternate names are ''Airmati (Armati), Koassa, Mataweja, Naibedj, Segar Tor, Tekutameso''. Kwerba is spoken in Apiaweti, Aurime, Munukania, Tatsewalem, and Wamariri villages in Sarmi Regency Sarmi Rege ...

, as it had been classified by Wurm (1975). They did not notice connections to any other language family. However, Usher (2018) classifies it as Greater Kwerbic. ''Ethnologue'', ''Glottolog'', and Foley (2018) 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 ...

, but it has not been included in wider surveys, such as Ross (2005). The pronouns are not dissimilar from those of Trans–New Guinea languages, but Massep is geographically distant from that family.

Phonology

Consonants: : Some probable consonant leniting sound changes proposed by Foley (2018): * *p > ɸ * *b > β * *d > r * *k > ɣ (perhaps partially) Vowels: :

Pronouns

Pronouns are: :

Morphology

Massep case suffixes as quoted by Foley (2018) from Clouse (2002): :

Sentences

Massep sentences as quoted by Foley (2018) from Clouse (2002): Word order is SOV.

References

External links

* Timothy Usher and Mark Donohue, New Guinea World
Masep
{{Languages of Indonesia Languages of western New Guinea Kwerbic languages Language isolates of New Guinea Endangered language isolates