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Abom language

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Abom
RegionPapua New Guinea
Native speakers
3 (2018)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3aob
Glottologabom1238
ELPAbom
Map: The Abom language of New Guinea
  The Abom language (located bottom center, to the west of the gulf)
  Other Trans–New Guinea languages
  Other Papuan languages
  Austronesian languages
  Uninhabited

Abom is a nearly extinct language spoken in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. According to a 2002 census, only 15 people still speak this language. All of the speakers are older adults. Middle-aged adults have some understanding of it, but no children speak or understand Abom.

Abom is spoken in Lewada (8°20′07″S 142°46′50″E / 8.335225°S 142.780449°E / -8.335225; 142.780449 (Lewada)), Mutam (8°25′30″S 142°55′49″E / 8.424996°S 142.930364°E / -8.424996; 142.930364 (Mutam)), and Tewara (8°22′27″S 142°27′23″E / 8.374194°S 142.45638°E / -8.374194; 142.45638 (Dewala)) villages of Gogodala Rural LLG.[1][2]

Classification

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Abom is not close to other languages. Pawley and Hammarström (2018) classify Abom as a divergent Tirio language on the basis of morphological evidence; Abom shares the same gender ablaut pattern as other Tirio languages.[3] Evans (2018), however, lists Abom as a separate branch of Trans-New Guinea.[4] Suter & Usher find that it is not an Anim language (the Trans–New Guinea family that includes the Tirio languages), but does appear to be divergent Trans–New Guinea.[5] Part of the problem lies in the fact that many recorded Abom words are loans from the Inland Gulf languages, reducing the material needed for comparison.

Pronouns

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Jore and Alemán (2002: 48) give pronouns for Abom as follows:[5]

sg. pl.
1 nɛ: gɛ:
2 gɛ:
3 ete dzi


References

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  1. ^ a b Abom at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  3. ^ Pawley, Andrew; Hammarström, Harald (2018). "The Trans New Guinea family". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 21–196. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  4. ^ Evans, Nicholas (2018). "The languages of Southern New Guinea". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 641–774. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  5. ^ a b "Abom - newguineaworld".

Bibliography

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