Marangis | |
---|---|
Watam | |
Native to | Papua New Guinea |
Region | Madang Province, East Sepik Province |
Native speakers | 590 (2003) [1] |
Ramu
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
wax |
Glottolog |
wata1253 |
ELP | Watam |
Marangis a.k.a. Watam is a Ramu language of Papua New Guinea. Like Bosmun, it shares a number of irregular plural markers with the Lower Sepik languages, supporting the proposal of a Ramu – Lower Sepik language family.
It is spoken in the two villages of: [2] [3]
The pronominal system of Watam has a four-way distinction, with there being a paucal ("a few", "more than two") number for pronouns in addition to singular, dual, and plural. [4]
person | singular | dual | paucal | plural |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | yak | aŋga | apak | ae |
2nd | u | noŋgo | niŋga | ne |
3rd | ma | miŋga | miŋga | min |
Nominal plural formatives include: [4]
gloss | singular | plural |
---|---|---|
‘ear’ | kwar | kwair |
‘elbow’ | tutup | tutpemb |
‘buttocks’ | tok | toke |
‘leg’ | or | orar |
‘man’ | namot | namtar |
‘girl’ | namoŋ | navgor |
‘nose’ | ŋgum | gubeb |
‘ bandicoot’ | maŋem | maŋbar |
‘ sago’ | wak | wik |
‘ betelnut’ | meɲjak | miɲjik |
Watam verbal conjugation for the verb ndo ‘to see’: [4]
tense | verbal form |
---|---|
present | ndo-ta |
present | ndo-ri |
future | ndo-na(n) |
imperative | ndo |