| East Pauwasi | |
| Also Known As: | East Pauwasi River |
| Region: | Western New Guinea, Papua New Guinea |
| Familycolor: | Papuan |
| Fam1: | Pauwasi |
| Glotto: | east2530 |
| Glottorefname: | Eastern Pauwasi |
| Child1: | Yafi |
| Child2: | Emumu–Karkar |
The East Pauwasi languages are a family of Papuan languages spoken in north-central New Guinea, on both sides of the Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border. They may either form part of a larger Pauwasi language family along with the Western Pauwasi languages, or they could form an independent language family.[1]
According to Timothy Usher, the East Pauwasi languages, which seem to form a dialect chain, are:[2]
Usher also identified the Karkar (Yuri) language as Pauwasi.
Some lexical reconstructions of Proto-East Pauwasi by Usher (2020) are:[2]
| gloss | Proto-East Pauwasi | |
|---|---|---|
| head/hair |
| |
| leaf/hair |
| |
| ear |
| |
| eye |
| |
| nose |
| |
| seed/tooth |
| |
| tongue |
| |
| foot/leg |
| |
| blood |
| |
| bone |
| |
| skin/bark |
| |
| breast |
| |
| louse |
| |
| pig |
| |
| bird |
| |
| egg |
| |
| tree |
| |
| man/husband |
| |
| woman |
| |
| sun/sky |
| |
| moon |
| |
| water |
| |
| fire/wood |
| |
| stone |
| |
| path |
| |
| name |
| |
| eat/drink |
| |
| one |
| |
| two |
|
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1971, 1975),[3] [4] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.[5]
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. məndai, məndini, mindimna for “head”) or not (e.g. kolk, əndai, gwane for “bone”).
| Language | Towei | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| head | yebikol | məndai | məndini | mindimna | |
| hair | yebipai | mepai | məndini-teke; məndini- teke | mindi-teke | |
| ear | waigi | faʔa | |||
| eye | yu | dji; ji | ei; i | ei | |
| nose | məŋai | məndi | |||
| tooth | jokol | djurai; jurai | kle | kəreser | |
| tongue | metaləp | klemalbo | |||
| leg | puke | fu(ŋi) | puŋwa | popnoa | |
| louse | yemare | jemar; yemar | mi | ||
| dog | ende | jendru; yendru | |||
| pig | fər | sər | |||
| bird | olmu | awe | lumu; olmu | yemu | |
| egg | yen | sen | alani; membi | jek | |
| blood | mobe | mob | teri; təri | edefi | |
| bone | kolk | əndai | gwane; gwano | pana | |
| skin | abe | fou; wu | ser | ser | |
| breast | muam | mamu | |||
| tree | nare; walti | nare; war; wiŋgu | wejalgi; weyalgi | wemu | |
| man | yube | arab | toŋkwar | tokwar | |
| woman | elim | keke | |||
| sun | yəmar | djəmar; jemar | maʔa | yimap | |
| moon | djunk | wuluma | |||
| water | ende | djewek; yender | ai | eye | |
| fire | yau | dau; ju | we | we | |
| stone | yomei | andrur | kwola | mafi | |
| road, path | mai | fiaʔa | |||
| name | ei | awei; djei; jei | kini | ken | |
| eat | fer | fel; fer | ne | nembra | |
| one | gərakam | aŋgətəwam; əŋətəwam | kərowali | giona | |
| two | anəŋgiar | anəŋgar | kre | krana |