Wipi, also known as Gidra, Jibu or Oriomo, is a
Papuan language
The Papuan languages are the non-Austronesian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands in Indonesia, Solomon Islands, and East Timor. It is a strictly geographical grouping, and does not imply a ...
of
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
. It is a member of the
Eastern Trans-Fly family, the other languages of this family being
Gizrra,
Meriam Mir and
Bine. The family has influenced the neighbouring
Kiwai language as well as
Kalau Lagau Ya
Kalau Lagau Ya, Kalaw Lagaw Ya, Kala Lagaw Ya (), or the Western Torres Strait language (also several other names, see below) is the language indigenous to the central and western Torres Strait Islands, Queensland, Australia. On some islands, ...
.
Distribution
Wipi is spoken in fourteen main villages, with the Wipim village as the centre. Wipi speakers occupy a broad swathe of inland territory in the eastern plains between the
Fly River
The Fly River is the third longest river on the island of New Guinea, after the Sepik and Mamberamo, with a total length of . It is the largest by volume of discharge in Oceania, the largest in the world without a single dam in its catchment, an ...
and the
Torres Strait
The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes ( Kalaw Lagaw Ya#Phonology 2, �zen̪ad̪ kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, ...
, specifically around the
Oriomo River and
Binaturi River.
Phonology
Phonology of the Wipi language:
Consonants
Vowels
References
Eastern Trans-Fly languages
Languages of Western Province (Papua New Guinea)
{{Papuan-lang-stub