The Ramu languages are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of some thirty languages of Northern

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. They were identified as a family by

John Z'graggen John Z'graggen (born Hans Anton Z'graggen on 24 June 1932 in Schattdorf, Canton of Uri, Switzerland; died 20 May 2013 in Menzingen, Switzerland) was a Swiss Roman Catholic priest, missionary, linguist, and anthropologist known for his extensive wo ...

in 1971 and linked with the

Sepik languages The Sepik or Sepik River languages are a family of some 50 Papuan languages spoken in the Sepik river basin of northern Papua New Guinea, proposed by Donald Laycock in 1965 in a somewhat more limited form than presented here. They tend to have ...

Donald Laycock Donald Laycock (1936–1988) was an Australian linguist and anthropologist. He is best remembered for his work on the languages of Papua New Guinea. Biography He was a graduate of University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and later ...

two years later. Malcolm Ross (2005) classifies them as one branch of a Ramu – Lower Sepik language family. Z'graggen had included the

Yuat languages The Yuat languages are an independent family of five Papuan languages spoken along the Yuat River in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. They are an independent family in the classification of Malcolm Ross, but are included in Stephen Wurm's ...

, but that now seems doubtful. With no comprehensive grammar yet available for any of the Ramu languages, the Ramu group remains one of the most poorly documented language groups in the

Sepik The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Sepi ...

Ramu The Ramu River is a major river in northern Papua New Guinea. The headwaters of the river are formed in the Kratke Range from where it then travels about northwest to the Bismarck Sea. Along the Ramu's course, it receives numerous tributaries ...

basin.

Classification

The small families listed below in boldface are clearly valid units. The first five, sometimes classified together as ''Lower Ramu,'' are relatable through lexical data, so their relationship is widely accepted. Languages of the Ottilien family share plural morphology with

Nor–Pondo The Lower Sepik a.k.a. Nor–Pondo languages are a small language family of East Sepik Province in northern Papua New Guinea. They were identified as a family by K Laumann in 1951 under the name Nor–Pondo, and included in Donald Laycock's now-d ...

Late 20th century

Laycock (1973) included the Arafundi family, apparently impressionistically, but Arafundi is poorly known. Ross (2005) retains it in Ramu without comment, but Foley (2005) and Usher reject inclusion. Laycock (1973) also includes the

Piawi languages The Piawi languages are a small family of Papuan languages spoken in the Schraeder Range of the Madang Highlands of Papua New Guinea that had been part of Stephen Wurm's Trans–New Guinea proposal. They are now connected to the Arafundi and M ...

as a branch, but Ross (2005), Foley (2005) and Usher all reject their inclusion.

Usher (2018)

Usher breaks up the Grass/Keram family. His classification of Ramu (with both his own and traditional names) as of 2018 is as follows: ;Ramu and Keram Rivers *

Keram River The Keram River is a river in northern Papua New Guinea.Keram Riverin Geonames.org (cc-by) post updated 2012-01-17; database downloaded 2015-06-22 See also *List of rivers of Papua New Guinea *Keram languages *Keram Rural LLG Keram Rural LLG is ...

** Kambot– Ambakich (East Keram River) ** Mongol–Langam (West Keram River) *Ramu River **'' Banaro'' (Waran) **

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

and Moam Rivers ***

Guam River The Guam River is a river in northern Papua New Guinea. Guam Riverin Geonames.org (cc-by) post updated 2012-01-17; database downloaded 2015-06-22 See also *List of rivers of Papua New Guinea * Guam River languages *Moam River The Moam River is ...

(Tamolan) ***

Moam River The Moam River is a river in northern Papua New Guinea. Moam Riverin Geonames.org (cc-by) post updated 2011-07-09; database downloaded 2015-06-22 See also *List of rivers of Papua New Guinea This is a list of rivers of Papua New Guinea. In alph ...

(Ataitan) *** Porapora (Grass proper) ** Lower Ramu River *** Ramu Coast (Ottilien) *** Ruboni Range (Misegian) ** Middle Ramu River (Annaberg)

Foley (2018)

Foley (2018) provides the following classification, with 5 main branches recognized. ;Ramu family *

Middle Ramu languages The Middle Ramu or Annaberg languages are a small language family of Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. It is no longer accepted as a valid grouping by Glottolog, but is accepted by Foley (2018). Wurm (1982) classified Aian, at his 'family' level ...

Tamolan languages The Tamolan languages are a small family of clearly related languages spoken in the region of the Guam River in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. Languages The Tamolan languages are: *Inapang (dialect continuum) ** Midsivindi ** Itutang (Isar ...

* Tangu languages *

Lower Ramu languages The Lower Ramu or Ottilien–Misegian languages consist of two branches in the Ramu language family. They are all spoken in Yawar Rural LLG, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. Classification The Lower Ramu languages as classified by Usher and by ...

Ottilien languages The Ottilien or Watam-Awar-Gamay languages languages are a small family of clearly related languages, : Watam– Kaian, Gamei (Mbore), and Bosman–Awar. They are generally classified among the Ramu languages of northern Papua New Guinea. Th ...

** Ruboni languages *?

Grass languages The Grass languages are a group of languages in the Ramu language family. It is accepted by Foley (2018), but not by Glottolog. They are spoken in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, with a small number of speakers also located just across th ...

exically divergent** Porapora languages ** Koam languages ** Banaro ** Ap Ma ( Kambot / Botin)

and Tangu languages are sparsely documented, and are mostly attested by short word lists.

are lexically divergent, sharing very few cognates with the other Ramu languages, with Banaro and Ap Ma sharing almost none. Foley (2018: 205) leaves open the possibility of Grass being a third branch of the Lower Sepik-Ramu family, with Lower Sepik and Ramu being sister branches.

Pronouns

The pronouns reconstructed by Ross (2005) for Proto-Ramu are: : However,

have the innovations *ɲi ‘1sg’ and *re ‘3sg’.

Cognates

Proto-Ramu forms that are widespread across the family (except for the

) are: : Foley also reconstructs 7 vowels for proto-Ramu: : This 7-vowel system is also typical of

Ndu languages The Ndu languages are the best known family of the Sepik languages of East Sepik Province in northern Papua New Guinea. ''Ndu'' is the word for 'man' in the languages that make up this group. The languages were first identified as a related family ...

Classification

Late 20th century

Usher (2018)

Foley (2018)

Pronouns

Cognates

Further reading

References

External links