Mawes is a
Papuan language
The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian and non-Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geogra ...
of
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
.
Usher (2020) proposes that it may be related to the
Kwerbic languages
The Kwerbic, or Greater Kwerba, languages are a family of just under a dozen Papuan languages spoken in Indonesia.
Classification
The Kwerba family is clearly established. Its closest relative appears to be Isirawa. Mawes is added by Ross (2005) ...
. Foley (2018) classifies Mawes as a
language isolate,
and so does Hammarström (2010).
Pronouns
Pronouns are:
:
Basic vocabulary
Basic vocabulary of Mawes listed in
Foley (2018):
:
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),, as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
:
Sentences
Of the few sentences that have been documented for Mawes, some example sentences are:
Further reading
*Wambaliau, Theresia. 2006. ''Survey Report on the Mawes Language in Papua, Indonesia''. (in Indonesian). Unpublished manuscript. Jayapura: SIL Indonesia.
*Hammarström, Harald. 2010.'' The genetic position of the Mawes language''. Paper presented at the Workshop on the Languages of Papua 2. Manokwari, Indonesia, 8–12 February 2010.
References
External links
Rosetta Project: Mawes Swadesh list
{{Tor–Kwerba languages
Foja Range languages
Languages of western New Guinea
Language isolates of New Guinea