Nukuma languages

The Nukuma languages are a small family of three clearly related languages:^[1]

• Kwoma
• Kwanga–Mende
  • Kwanga
  • Seim

Nukuma
Ma
Geographic distribution	East Sepik Province, in the Sepik River basin of Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classification	Sepik Middle Sepik Nukuma
Language codes
Glottolog	nuku1256

They are generally classified among the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea; Malcolm Ross places them in a Middle Sepik branch of that family.

They are spoken to the north of the Sepik River near Ambunti, and west of the Ambulas-speaking region of Mapr (near Wosera town).^[2]

Pronouns

Pronouns in Nukuma languages:^[2]

pronoun	Kwoma	Mende
1SG	an	an ~ na ~ a
2SG.M	mɨ	mi
2SG.F	ni	ɲi
3SG.M	rɨ	or ~ ri
3SG.F	sɨ	os ~ si
1DU	si	ʃi
2DU	ki	ʃi
3DU	pɨr	fri
1PL	no	ni
2PL	kwo	ci
3PL	ye	li

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Foley (2005)^[3] and Laycock (1968),^[4] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.^[5]

The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. masək, masiki for “head”) or not (e.g. miːma, nogəpie for “woman”).

gloss	Kwoma	Mende
head	masək	masiki
ear	fuː; mabiya	mampla
eye	miː; miyi	məsokome
nose	sumojɨ; sumwonj	miñompo
tooth	pu; tarəkwi	fu
tongue	kwunja; tarekwoy	tarple
leg	yaːte; yati	kumpa
louse	nəkə; nɨka	nika
dog	asa	asa
pig	buri; poyi
bird	apu	afi
egg	apo; bey; mpei	fəla
blood	pi	fi
bone	apo; hapa	hapa
skin	mampə	maume
breast	muk; muku	muku
tree	me	mi
man	ma	ma
woman	miːma	nogəpie
sun	ya	ta
moon	nowəka; nɨwɨka	niyaka
water	uku	uku
fire	hi; hiː	hi
stone	papa	süŋkye
name	hi
eat	a
one	pochi
two	uprus	frišip

See also

• Kwoma people