Mawes is a recently extinct Papuan language of Indonesia.

Usher (2020) proposes that it may be related to the Kwerbic languages.New Guinea World Foley (2018) classifies Mawes as a language isolate, and so does Hammarström (2010).Harald Hammarström. 2010. The Genetic Position of the Mawes Language. Paper presented at the Workshop on the Languages of Papua 2, 8–12 February 2010, Manokwari, Indonesia. It had 850 native speakers in 2006, but was extinct by 2024.

Pronouns Pronouns are:

! !! sg !! pl |- ! 1 | kidam || inim |- ! 2 | nam || nɛm |- ! 3 | ɛbɛ || mia

Basic vocabulary Basic vocabulary of Mawes listed in Foley (2018):

|+ Mawes basic vocabulary ! gloss !! Mawes |- | ‘bird’ || ikinin |- | ‘blood’ || wɛrɛi |- | ‘bone’ || tuan |- | ‘ear’ || bɛr |- | ‘eat’ || nan |- | ‘egg’ || siwin |- | ‘eye’ || nonsum |- | ‘fire’ || kani |- | ‘leg, foot’ || yaʔ |- | ‘louse’ || sene |- | ‘name’ || dimanɛ |- | ‘one’ || mɛndakai |- | ‘see’ || nomo |- | ‘sky’ || kowan |- | ‘stone’ || fɛt |- | ‘sun’ || ɛsar |- | ‘tooth’ || wan |- | ‘tree’ || dengkin |- | ‘two’ || yakɛneu |- | ‘water’ || bo |- | ‘woman’ || yei

The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),Voorhoeve, C.L. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:

{| class="wikitable sortable" ! gloss !! Mawes |- | head || defar |- | hair || tere |- | eye || nonsom |- | tooth || wan |- | leg || ija |- | dog || wede |- | pig || was |- | bird || ikinin |- | egg || siwin |- | blood || werei |- | bone || tuan |- | skin || dukunen |- | tree || deŋkin |- | man || ke |- | sun || esar |- | water || bo |- | fire || kani |- | stone || feyt |- | name || dimane |- | eat || nano |- | one || mendakai |- | two || yakenew

Sentences Of the few sentences that have been documented for Mawes, some example sentences are:

Further reading Wambaliau, Theresia. 2006. Survey Report on the Mawes Language in Papua, Indonesia. (in Indonesian). Unpublished manuscript. Jayapura: SIL Indonesia. Hammarström, Harald. 2010. The genetic position of the Mawes language. Paper presented at the Workshop on the Languages of Papua 2. Manokwari, Indonesia, 8–12 February 2010.

References

External links Rosetta Project: Mawes Swadesh list