The Pahoturi River languages are a small family of Papuan languages spoken around the Pahoturi (Paho River). This family includes eight language varieties including Agöb (Dabu), Em,[1] Ende, Idan,[2]Idi, Idzuwe,[3] Kawam, and Taeme, which are spoken in the Pahoturi River area south of the Fly River, just west of the Eastern Trans-Fly languages. Idzuwe is no longer spoken. Ross (2005) tentatively includes them in the proposed Trans-Fly – Bulaka River family,[4] though more recent work has classified Pahoturi River as an independent family within the region.[5]
Some Pahoturi River speakers were originally hunter-gatherers, but have recently shifted to becoming gardeners.[5]: 649
Classification
Wurm (1975) and Ross (2005) suggest that the Pahoturi languages may be related to the Tabo (Waia) language just north of the Fly delta. However, they present no evidence, and the pronouns do not match.[6]
Evans and colleagues (2018) classify the Pahoturi River languages as an independent language family.[5]
Languages
Five of the varieties have traditionally been grouped[5] into the following two language groups:
Preliminary work on the language family suggests that these varieties form a dialect chain. It is assumed that Em is more closely related to Agob and Ende, while Idan and Idzuwe are more closely related to Idi and Taeme.
Pahoturi River languages and respective demographic information listed by Evans (2018) are provided below.[5]
The Pahoturi River languages are all under various states of documentation. The following table lists some general lexical, grammatical, textual, and typological resources that have been identified for each of the currently spoken Pahoturi River languages.
^ abRoss, Malcom. "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Pacific Linguistics: 15–66.
^ abcdeEvans, Nicholas; et al. (Wayan Arka, Matthew Carroll, Yun Jung Choi, Christian Döhler, Volker Gast, Eri Kashima, Emil Mittag, Bruno Olsson, Kyla Quinn, Dineke Schokkin, Philip Tama, Charlotte van Tongeren and Jeff Siegel) (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. ISBN978-3-11-028642-7.
^Hammarström, Harald. "Tabo". Glottolog. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
