Kambot language
Keram language spoken in Papua New Guinea
title: "Kambot language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["keram-languages", "languages-of-east-sepik-province", "language-isolates-of-new-guinea"] description: "Keram language spoken in Papua New Guinea" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kambot_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Keram language spoken in Papua New Guinea ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Kambot |
| nativename | Ap Ma |
| states | Papua New Guinea |
| region | East Sepik Province |
| speakers | 10,000 |
| date | 2010 |
| ref | e18 |
| familycolor | Papuan |
| fam1 | Ramu–Keram |
| fam2 | Keram |
| fam3 | East Keram |
| iso3 | kbx |
| glotto | apma1241 |
| glottorefname | Ap Ma |
| dia1 | Kambaramba |
| :: |
|name=Kambot |nativename=Ap Ma |states=Papua New Guinea |region=East Sepik Province |speakers=10,000 |date=2010 |ref=e18 |familycolor=Papuan |fam1=Ramu–Keram |fam2=Keram |fam3=East Keram |iso3=kbx |glotto=apma1241 |glottorefname=Ap Ma |dia1=Kambaramba
Kambot Ap Ma (Ap Ma Botin, Botin, also Karaube), is a Keram language of Papua New Guinea. Compared to its nearest relative, Ambakich, Kambot drops the first segment from polysyllabic words.
Kambot is spoken in Kambot village (), Keram Rural LLG, East Sepik Province.
Classification
Kambot was assigned to the Grass family within Ramu by Laycock and Z'graggen (1975). Foley (2005) finds the data does not support this assignment, but re-adds them to the Grass family in 2018. Foley and Ross (2005) agree that the language belongs to the Ramu – Lower Sepik family. Usher restores it to the Ramu family, but closer to the Mongol–Langam languages.
Phonology
Ap Ma consonants are:
:{| | p || t || || k |- | ᵐb || ⁿd || ᶮʤ || ᵑg |- | m || n || ɲ || ŋ |- | || s || || |- | || r ~ l || || |- | w || || j || |}
Pronouns
Foley (1986) proposed that Kambot had borrowed its pronouns from the Iatmul language of the Sepik family (Ndu languages). His suggestion was that nyɨ 'I' (1sg), wɨn 'thou' (2sg), and nun 'ye' (2pl) are taken from Iatmul nyɨn 'thou', wɨn 'I', and nɨn 'we', with a crossover of person. That is, the Iatmul may have called the Kambot nyɨn "you", and they then used that pronoun for themselves, resulting in it meaning "I". However, Ross (2005) and Pawley (2005) show that the pronoun set has not been borrowed. The Kambot pronouns are indigenous, as they have apparent cognates in Ramu languages. Similarly, the Iatmul pronouns have not been borrowed from Kambot, as they have cognates in other Ndu languages.
::data[format=table title="Comparison of Kambot PNs with Ramu languages"]
| PN | Kambot | Kambaramba | Banaro | Langam | Arafundi | 1sg | 2sg | 2pl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nyɨ | ni | (uŋɡu) | ñi | ñiŋ | ||||
| wɨn | wɨ | u | wo | (nan) | ||||
| nun | (wɨni) | nu | (wuni) | nuŋ | ||||
| :: |
References
References
- (August 2025). "East Keram River - newguineaworld}}{{Dead link".
- (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". [[SIL International]].
- United Nations in Papua New Guinea. (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange.
- Foley, William A.. (2018). "The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide". De Gruyter Mouton.
- Andrew Pawley, 2005, ''Papuan pasts'', p 56.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::