Massep language

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title: "Massep language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["languages-of-western-new-guinea", "kwerbic-languages", "language-isolates-of-new-guinea", "endangered-language-isolates"] description: "Foja Range language spoken in Indonesia" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massep_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Foja Range language spoken in Indonesia ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

Field	Value
name	Massep
nativename	Wotaf
region	Papua: Sarmi Regency, West Coast District, north coast (Masep village); also west of Sarmi near Apauwar River
states	Indonesia
ethnicity	85 (2000)
speakers	25
date	2000
ref	e25
familycolor	Papuan
fam1	Northwest Papuan?
fam2	Foja Range
iso3	mvs
glotto	mass1263
glottorefname	Massep
pushpin_map	Indonesia_Western New Guinea#Indonesia
coordinates
fam3	Kwerbic
::

| name = Massep | nativename = Wotaf | region = Papua: Sarmi Regency, West Coast District, north coast (Masep village); also west of Sarmi near Apauwar River | states = Indonesia | ethnicity = 85 (2000) | speakers = 25 | date = 2000 | ref = e25 | familycolor = Papuan | fam1 = Northwest Papuan? | fam2 = Foja Range | iso3 = mvs | glotto = mass1263 | glottorefname = Massep | pushpin_map = Indonesia_Western New Guinea#Indonesia | coordinates = | fam3 = Kwerbic

Massep (Masep, Potafa, Wotaf) is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by fewer than 50 people in the single village of Masep in West Pantai District, Sarmi Regency, Papua. Despite the small number of speakers, however, language use is vigorous. It is surrounded by the Kwerba languages, namely Airoran and Samarokena.

Classification

Clouse, Donohue, and Ma (2002) did not notice connections to any other language family. Ethnologue, Glottolog, and Foley (2018) list it as a language isolate. Usher classifies it as Greater Kwerbic. The pronouns are not dissimilar from those of Trans–New Guinea languages, but Massep is geographically distant from that family.

Phonology

Consonants: :{| class="wikitable IPA" | || t || c || k |- | || || || kʷ |- | || || || ᵑɡ |- | ɸ || s || ʃ || |- | β || || || ɣ |- | m || n || ɲ || |- | || r || || |- | w || || j || |}

Some probable consonant leniting sound changes from pre-Massep proposed by Foley (2018):

• *p ɸ
• *b β
• *d r
• *k ɣ (perhaps partially)

Vowels: :{| class="wikitable IPA" | i || u |- | e || o |- | a || |}

Pronouns

Pronouns are:

:{| ! !! sg !! pl |- ! 1 | ka || nyi |- ! 2 | gu || je |- ! 3 | evi || ive |}

Morphology

Massep case suffixes as quoted by Foley (2018) from Clouse (2002):

:{| ! suffix !! case |- | -o ~ -u ~ -a || accusative |- | -ɣoke || dative |- | -aveno || instrumental |- | -meno || associative |- | -(a)vri || locative |- | -ni || allative |- | -a || temporal |}

Sentences

Massep sentences as quoted by Foley (2018) from Clouse (2002):

|ka icin-o fartasi unu-ɣoke |1SG stone-ACC throw dog-DAT |‘I threw a stone at the dog.’}}

|je saremna yaf-avri |2PL sit house-LOC |‘You (pl.) sat in the house.’}}

|gu ko-war-emon |2SG 1SG.OBJ-see-SG.TNS |‘You see me.’}}

Word order is SOV.

References

References

1. (2002). "Survey Report of the North Coast of Irian Jaya".
2. (2020). "Massep". [[Glottolog]] 4.3.
3. Usher, Timothy. [https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/northwest-new-guinea/foja-range/west-foja-range/start West Foja Range]. ''New Guinea World''.
4. Foley, William A.. (2018). "The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide". De Gruyter Mouton.

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