Mawes language

Mawes is a recently extinct Papuan language of Indonesia.

Mawes
Region	Papua: Sarmi Regency, Bonggo District - Mawes Dai, Mawes Mukti, and Mawes Wres villages to the west of the Buri River
Extinct	by 2024[1]
Language family	Northwest Papuan? Foja Range Mawes
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mgk
Glottolog	mawe1251
ELP	Mawes

Usher (2020) proposes that it may be related to the Kwerbic languages.^[2] Foley (2018) classifies Mawes as a language isolate,^[3] and so does Hammarström (2010).^[4] It had 850 native speakers in 2006, but was extinct by 2024.^[5]

Pronouns

Pronouns are:^[3]

	sg	pl
1	kidam	inim
2	nam	nɛm
3	ɛbɛ	mia

Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary of Mawes listed in Foley (2018):^[3]

Mawes basic vocabulary

gloss	Mawes
‘bird’	ikinin
‘blood’	wɛrɛi
‘bone’	tuan
‘ear’	bɛr
‘eat’	nan
‘egg’	siwin
‘eye’	nonsum
‘fire’	kani
‘leg, foot’	yaʔ
‘louse’	sene
‘name’	dimanɛ
‘one’	mɛndakai
‘see’	nomo
‘sky’	kowan
‘stone’	fɛt
‘sun’	ɛsar
‘tooth’	wan
‘tree’	dengkin
‘two’	yakɛneu
‘water’	bo
‘woman’	yei

The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),^[6] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:^[7]

gloss	Mawes
head	defar
hair	tere
eye	nonsom
tooth	wan
leg	ija
dog	wede
pig	was
bird	ikinin
egg	siwin
blood	werei
bone	tuan
skin	dukunen
tree	deŋkin
man	ke
sun	esar
water	bo
fire	kani
stone	feyt
name	dimane
eat	nano
one	mendakai
two	yakenew

Sentences

Of the few sentences that have been documented for Mawes, some example sentences are:^{[3]: 497–8}

(1)

ɛbɛ

3SG

marsya

yesterday

nomtak

come

ɛbɛ marsya nomtak

3SG yesterday come

‘He came yesterday.’

(2)

wɛdɛ

dog

ɛbɛ

3SG

ketes

bite

wɛdɛ ɛbɛ ketes

dog 3SG bite

‘The dog bit him.’

(3)

ke-me

man-?

totoso

money

kida-wɛn

1SG-POSS

mamɛnta

father

fɛn

DAT/ALL

tamu(k)

give

ke-me totoso kida-wɛn mamɛnta fɛn tamu(k)

man-? money 1SG-POSS father DAT/ALL give

‘That man gave money to my father.’

(4)

ɛbɛ-mɛ

3sg-?

dengkin

tree

nambuak

machete

kom

INSTR

sorna

cut

ɛbɛ-mɛ dengkin nambuak kom sorna

3sg-? tree machete INSTR cut

‘He is cutting wood with a machete.’

(5)

ke-me

man-?

sau

village

fɛn

DAT/ALL

banak

go

ke-me sau fɛn banak

man-? village DAT/ALL go

‘That man went to the village.’

(6)

ke-me

man-?

sau-er

village-ABL

nom

come

ke-me sau-er nom

man-? village-ABL come

‘That man came from the village.’

(7)

ke-me

man-?

yei

woman

dete

COM

banak

go

ke-me yei dete banak

man-? woman COM go

‘That man went with his wife.’

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.