Abom language

This article is about the nearly extinct language spoken in Papua New Guinea. For the organization certifying physicians specializing in obesity medicine, see American Board of Obesity Medicine.

Abom is a nearly extinct language spoken in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. According to a 2002 census, only 15 people still speak this language. All of the speakers are older adults. Middle-aged adults have some understanding of it, but no children speak or understand Abom.

Abom
Region	Papua New Guinea
Native speakers	3 (2018)[1]
Language family	Trans–New Guinea Abom
Language codes
ISO 639-3	aob
Glottolog	abom1238
ELP	Abom
Map of the Abom language in relation to other Papuan languages.   The Abom language (located bottom center, to the west of the gulf)   Other Trans–New Guinea languages   Other Papuan languages   Austronesian languages   Uninhabited
Abom is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Abom is spoken in Lewada (8.335225°S 142.780449°E / -8.335225; 142.780449 (Lewada)), Mutam (8.424996°S 142.930364°E / -8.424996; 142.930364 (Mutam)), and Tewara (8.374194°S 142.45638°E / -8.374194; 142.45638 (Dewala)) villages of Gogodala Rural LLG.^[1][2]

Classification

Abom is not close to other languages. Pawley and Hammarström (2018) classify Abom as a divergent Tirio language on the basis of morphological evidence; Abom shares the same gender ablaut pattern as other Tirio languages.^[3] Evans (2018), however, lists Abom as a separate branch of Trans-New Guinea.^[4] Suter & Usher find that it is not an Anim language (the Trans–New Guinea family that includes the Tirio languages), but does appear to be divergent Trans–New Guinea.^[5] Part of the problem lies in the fact that many recorded Abom words are loans from the Inland Gulf languages, reducing the material needed for comparison.

Pronouns

Jore and Alemán (2002: 48) give pronouns for Abom as follows:^[5]

	sg.	pl.
1	nɛ:	gɛ:
2	gɛ:
3	ete	dzi