The Asmat – Kamrau Bay languages are a family of a dozen Trans–New Guinea languages spoken by the Asmat and related peoples in southern Western New Guinea. They are believed to be a recent expansion along the south coast, as they are all closely related, and there is little differentiation in their pronouns.

Languages The languages are:New Guinea World, Asmat – Kamrau Bay Kamrau Bay (Sabakor):New Guinea World, Kamrau Bay Buruwai (Sabakor) Kamrau North Kamberau (Iria) South Kamberau (Asienara) Asmat–KamoroNew Guinea World, Asmat–Kamoro Kamoro Sempan Asmat languages

Proto-language Phonemes Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:

| m || n || || |- | p || [t] || || k |- | b || [d] || ɟ || ɡ |- | [ɸ] || s || || |- | w || r || j ||

There is near complementary distribution between *p and *ɸ. *t and *d are marginal, appearing in only a few words. *r does not occur initially. There are no consonant clusters.

Vowels are *a *e *i *o *u.

Pronouns Ross (2005) reconstructs the proto-Asmat–Kamoro pronouns as:

! !!sg!!pl |- !1 |*no[ro]||*na[re] |- !2 |*o[ro]/we[rV]||*ca[re] |- !3 |*a[re]||

Usher (2020) reconstructs the free proto–Asmat–Kamrau Bay pronouns as: + sgpl1*no-rV*na-rV2*o-rV*ɟa-rV3*a-rV   +Proto-Kamrau sgpl1*nor*nar2*or-or*er-er3*ar-ar   + sgpl1*no-ro*na-rV2*o-ro*ca-rV3*a-rV

Basic vocabulary Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! gloss !! Proto-Asmat-Kamrau !! Proto-Kamrau Bay !! Proto-Asmat-Kamoro !! Proto-Asmat !! Proto-Muli Strait |- ! head | *uɸu || *jebin || *ufu || *kowisi 'head/skull' || *ɣo̝p 'head/hair'; *uɔndVro̝m 'head/skull' |- ! hair | *ɸini || *ɸin || *fini || *ɸinV 'hair/feather(s)' || *sin |- ! ear | *jiɸ[a/o]ne || *jaɸ[a/o]m || *jafane || *jaɸane || *ie̝pær |- ! eye | *manaN || *manam || *mana || *mana || *musiɣ |- ! nose | *miC || *mik || *mi || *mi || *mæne̝ɣ 'nose/tip' |- ! tooth | *siC || *sik || *sisi || *sisV || *ziɣ |- ! tongue | *komane || *[a]mam || *komane || *komVne || *ndupæn |- ! foot/leg | *mawu || *mawu || *mawu || *mawi || *kaŋg 'leg' |- ! blood/red | *ese || *et || *ese || || *ir 'blood' |- ! fruit/seed/bone | *eake || *eke || *eake || || |- ! skin/bark | || *ɸu || *pitini || *pitʲini || *par |- ! breast | *awo || *awo || *awo || || *abuɣ |- ! louse | *amo || *om || *amo || || *am |- ! dog | *juwuɾi || *iwuɾ || *juwuri || *juwVɾi || *i[u]bui |- ! pig | *oɸo || *ok || *ofo || || *up |- ! bird | || *geɟ || || *sakV || |- ! egg | *[a]sa || *asa || *sa || *sa || |- ! tree/wood | *ose || *o || *ose || || *to̝ 'tree' |- ! man/male | || *bewu || || || *nam 'man/person' |- ! woman | *ɟawoɟa || *jawoɟa || *cawoca || *jipitʲi || *ie̝t 'woman/wife' |- ! sun | *jawu || *asi 'sun/day' || *jawu || *jawi || *zaua |- ! moon | *buɾa || *buɾa || *pura || *piɾa || *irind |- ! water | *m[oi/ui] || *moɟ || *mui || *mui || *mo̝i |- ! fire/firewood | *usa || *usa || *usa || *jusa || *ua[nd/r] 'fire' |- ! stone | *jeta || *eta || *j[e]ka || || *mæte̝ |- ! path | || *matoC; *mak || *mato || || |- ! name | *uwase || *u || *uwase || *juwase || *ur |- ! eat/drink | *n[a]- || *n[a]- || *n[e/a] || *ne- || *no̝ku |- ! one | *ɟawa[kV] || *-ɟawa || *cawak[e/a] || *tʲawaka || |- ! two | *kaboma || *aboma || *kapoma; *jam[i/u]nV || ||

Evolution

Proto-Asmat-Kamoro reflexes (Voorhoeve 2005)Voorhoeve, Clemens L. 2005. Asmat-Kamoro, Awyu-Dumut and Ok: An enquiry into their linguistic relationship. In Pawley, Andrew and Robert Attenborough and Golson, Jack and Hide, Robin (eds.), Papuan Pasts: Studies in the Cultural, Linguistic and Biological History of the Papuan-speaking Peoples, 145-166. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma, as listed in Pawley & Hammarström (2018):

*fiti 'fingernail' < pTNG *mb(i,u)t(i,u)C *isi 'mosquito' < *kasin *ese 'blood' < *kenja *masap or *masip 'saliva' < *si(mb,p)atV *yi 'urine' < *[si]si *asa 'excrement' < *asa *manaka 'eye' < *mun(a,e,i)ka *sisi 'tooth' < *(t,s)i(t,s)i *yirama 'night' < *k(i,u)tama *tama 'morning' < *k(i,u)tama *na- 'eat' < *na-

References

Bibliography Drabbe, Piet. 1953. Spraakkunst van de Kamoro-taal. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. Drabbe, Piet. 1963. Drie Asmat-dialecten. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, No. 42. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.

Voorhoeve, C.L. 1965. The Flamingo Bay Dialect of the Asmat language. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, No. 46. The Hague. Voorhoeve, C.L. 1968. "The Central and South New Guinea Phylum: a report on the language situation in south New Guinea." Pacific Linguistics, Series A, No. 16: 1–17. Canberra: The Australian National University. Voorhoeve, C.L. 1975. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist, Preliminary Classification, Language Maps, Wordlists. Pacific Linguistics, Series B, No. 31. Canberra: The Australian National University. Voorhoeve, C.L. 1980. The Asmat Languages of Irian Jaya. Pacific Linguistics, Series B, No. 64. Canberra: The Australian National University. Wurm, Stephan Adolphe. 1983. The Papuan Languages of Oceania. Ars Linguistica 7. Tübingen: Narr.

External links Timothy Usher & Edgar Suter, New Guinea World, Proto–Asmat – Kamrau Bay