The Rai Coast languages are a
family of languages in the
Madang stock of New Guinea.
Sidney Herbert Ray
Sidney Herbert Ray (28 May 1858 – 1 January 1939) was a British comparative and descriptive linguist who specialised in Melanesian languages.Papers and field notes relating to his linguistic work are held bSOAS Special Collections/ref>
In 189 ...
identified what was then known of the Rai Coast languages as a unit in 1919. They were linked with the Mabuso languages in 1951 by
Arthur Capell in his Madang family.
Languages
Though the validity of Rai Coast is well established, there are ongoing adjustments to membership and internal classification.
Malcolm Ross added two languages to Rai Coast,
Tauya and Biyom, from the small erstwhile
Brahman branch of Madang.
The languages are as follows,
[ ]
* Rai Coast
** ''
Pulabu''
**Evapia–Kabenau
***
Evapia River
****
Kow
****
Kesawai,
Sausi
***
Kolom (Migum),
Siroi
***West
Kabenau River
Kabenau River (also Gabina or St. Augustin River) is a river in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. It is located at about . It was discovered in 1887 by geologist C. Schneider and explored in 1888 by Hugo Zöller. It flows westward and empties ...
:
Arawum–
Lemio,
Dumpu
**Brahman – Peka River
***
Brahman:
Biyom,
Tauya
***
Peka River
The Bigei River or Peka River is a river in northern Papua New Guinea. Bigei Riverin Geonames.org (cc-by)
GeoNames (or GeoNames.org) is a user editable geographical database available and accessible through various web services, under a Cr ...
****North:
Sumau,
Sop (Usino)
****South:
Danaru, Kobuga (=
Urigina?)
**
Nuru River
***
Uya (Usu)
***
Kwato (Waube)
***Lower Nuru River:
Ogea (Erima),
Uyaji–Amowe
**Awung–
Guabe River
The Guabe River is a river in northern Papua New Guinea. Guabe Riversa Geonames.org (cc-by)
GeoNames (or GeoNames.org) is a user editable geographical database available and accessible through various web services, under a Creative Commons ...
s
***
Awung River
The Awung River is a river in northern Papua New Guinea. Awung Riverin Geonames.org (cc-by)
GeoNames (or GeoNames.org) is a user editable geographical database available and accessible through various web services, under a Creative Commons ...
:
Jilim, Among (=
Rerau?)
***
Yangulam
Ross (2000, 2005) reconstructs pronouns for proto-Sub-Rai, which is more-or-less synonymous with Rai Coast as a whole, proto-Mindjim, proto-Yaganon, and proto-Kow–Usino.
References
Bibliography
*
*
Ross, Malcolm. 2014
Proto-Rai-Coast ''TransNewGuinea.org''.
*
Ross, Malcolm. 2014
Proto-Sub-Rai ''TransNewGuinea.org''.
*Z'graggen, J.A. ''A comparative word list of the Rai Coast languages, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea''. D-30, xvi + 196 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1980.
{{Madang languages
Languages of Papua New Guinea
Central Madang languages