Abom language
| Abom | |
|---|---|
| Region | Papua New Guinea |
Native speakers | 3 (2018)[1] |
Trans–New Guinea
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | aob |
| Glottolog | abom1238 |
| ELP | Abom |
 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), Mutam (8°25′30″S 142°55′49″E / 8.424996°S 142.930364°E), and Tewara (8°22′27″S 142°27′23″E / 8.374194°S 142.45638°E) villages of Gogodala Rural LLG.[1][2]
Classification[edit]
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[edit]
Jore and Alemán (2002: 48) give pronouns for Abom as follows:[5]
| sg. | pl. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | nɛ: | gɛ: |
| 2 | gɛ: | |
| 3 | ete | dzi |
References[edit]
- ^ a b Abom at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b "Abom - newguineaworld".
Bibliography[edit]
- "Sociolinguistic survey of the Tirio language family", Tim Jore and Laura Aleman. Unpublished Manuscript.
- "Endangered languages listing: ABOM [aob]" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-24. Retrieved 2014-05-06.
External links[edit]
- Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Abom
- OLAC resources in and about the Abom language
- ELAR collection: Documentation and description of Bitur and preliminary investigation of the moribund Abom language deposited by Phillip Rogers