Mawes is a recently extinct
Papuan language of
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
.
Usher (2020) proposes that it may be related to the
Kwerbic languages. Foley (2018) classifies Mawes as a
language isolate
A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...
,
[ and so does Hammarström (2010). It had 850 native speakers in 2006, but was extinct by 2024.
]
Pronouns
Pronouns are:[
:
]
Basic vocabulary
Basic vocabulary of Mawes listed in Foley (2018):
Sentences
Of the few sentences that have been documented for Mawes, some example sentences are:[
]
Further reading
*Wambaliau, Theresia. 2006. ''Survey Report on the Mawes Language in Papua, Indonesia''. (in Indonesian). Unpublished manuscript. Jayapura: SIL Indonesia.
*Hammarström, Harald. 2010.'' The genetic position of the Mawes language''. Paper presented at the Workshop on the Languages of Papua 2. Manokwari, Indonesia, 8–12 February 2010.
References
External links
Rosetta Project: Mawes Swadesh list
{{Tor–Kwerba languages
Foja Range languages
Languages of Western New Guinea
Language isolates of New Guinea
Extinct languages of Indonesia