Pawaia language
Pawala language spoken in Papua New Guinea
title: "Pawaia language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["languages-of-papua-new-guinea", "teberan–pawaian-languages"] description: "Pawala language spoken in Papua New Guinea" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawaia_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Pawala language spoken in Papua New Guinea ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Pawaia |
| region | Papua New Guinea |
| speakers | |
| date | 2000 |
| ref | e25 |
| familycolor | Papuan |
| fam1 | Papuan Gulf ? |
| fam2 | Teberan–Pawaian |
| iso3 | pwa |
| glotto | pawa1255 |
| glottorefname | Pawaia |
| dia1 | Aurama (Turoha, Uri) |
| dia2 | Hauruha |
| map | Pawaia language.svg |
| mapcaption | Map: The Pawaia language of New Guinea |
| :: |
|name=Pawaia |region=Papua New Guinea |speakers= |date=2000 |ref=e25 |familycolor=Papuan |fam1=Papuan Gulf ? |fam2=Teberan–Pawaian |iso3=pwa |glotto=pawa1255 |glottorefname=Pawaia |dia1=Aurama (Turoha, Uri) |dia2=Hauruha |map=Pawaia language.svg |mapcaption=Map: The Pawaia language of New Guinea
Pawaia, also known as Sira, Tudahwe, Yasa, is a Papuan language that forms a tentative independent branch of the Trans–New Guinea family in the classification of Malcolm Ross (2005).
Distribution
Pawaia is spoken in:
- Chimbu Province: Karimui District
- Eastern Highlands Province: Lufa District and Okapa District, Lamari River
- Gulf Province: Baimuru Rural LLG, Purari River near Oroi
Classification
Although Pawaia has reflexes of proto-Trans–New Guinea vocabulary, Ross considers its inclusion questionable on available evidence. Usher classifies it instead with the Teberan languages. Noting insufficient evidence, Pawley and Hammarström (2018) leave it as unclassified rather than as part of Trans-New Guinea.
Pawley and Hammarström (2018) do not consider there to be sufficient evidence for Pawaia to be classified as part of Trans-New Guinea, though they do note the following lexical resemblances between Pawaia and proto-Trans-New Guinea.
- emi ‘breast’
- in ‘tree’
- su ‘tooth’
Phonology
::data[format=table title="ConsonantsTrefry, D. ''A comparative study of Kuman and Pawaian''. B-13, vi + 99 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1969. {{doi|10.15144/PL-B13}}"]
| Labial | Alveolar | Dorsal | Plosive | Fricative | Nasal | Approximant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
::data[format=table title="Vowels"]
| Front | Central | Back | High | Mid | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Pawaia is also tonal, contrasting high and low tone.
Vocabulary
The following basic vocabulary words are from Macdonald (1973) and Trefry (1969),
:{| class="wikitable sortable" ! gloss !! Pawaia |- | head || mu |- | hair || muse; sị |- | ear || nȩᶦ; nɛ̣i |- | eye || to; toᵘ |- | nose || ho; họ |- | tooth || su |- | tongue || ha̧pi; hɛmina |- | leg || hɛ; si̧ʔi̧ |- | louse || po; poř |- | dog || hạ; hɛ̧ |- | pig || ya |- | bird || deř; ge |- | egg || ge džu; yo |- | blood || sɛni; su̧ |- | bone || džɛmɛ; yɛmi |- | skin || hɛʔȩ; hɛi |- | breast || ɛmi |- | tree || i̧; in |- | man || džʌʔla; yala |- | woman || oi; u |- | sun || ol; olsuɛ; sia |- | moon || we; wɛ |- | water || sa |- | fire || sia |- | stone || tobu; topu |- | road, path || sụ |- | name || hɛʔɛpi; hopi |- | eat || hatisụɛ; ti haʔayɛ |- | one || pɛʔɛmi; pomi |- | two || naʔau; nau |}
References
References
- [https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/papuan-gulf/tua-river New Guinea World, Tua River]
- [http://pg.geoview.info/oroi,1401043231n Oroi is next to Kaiau and is located in Central Province, Papua New Guinea.]
- (2018). "The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide". De Gruyter Mouton.
- Trefry, D. ''A comparative study of Kuman and Pawaian''. B-13, vi + 99 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1969. {{doi. 10.15144/PL-B13
- Macdonald, G.E. "[http://dx.doi.org/10.15144/PL-C26.111 The Teberan Language Family]". In Franklin, K. editor, ''The linguistic situation in the Gulf District and adjacent areas, Papua New Guinea''. C-26:111-148. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1973. {{doi. 10.15144/PL-C26.111
- Greenhill, Simon. (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea".
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