Gapun is a village in

Marienberg Rural LLG Marienberg Rural LLG (also Marienberg Hills Rural LLG) is a local-level government (LLG) of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. The Marienberg languages are spoken in this LLG, as well as various Lower Sepik-Ramu languages and the isolate Ta ...

East Sepik Province East Sepik is a province in Papua New Guinea. Its capital is Wewak. East Sepik has an estimated population of 433,481 people (2010 census) and is 43,426 km square in size. History Cherubim Dambui was appointed as East Sepik's first premier ...

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 ...

, located near the mouth of 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 ...

River. The

language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The num ...

Tayap is traditionally spoken in Gapun by the Tayap people. Gapun village is the sole Tayap settlement, while all other neighboring villages are inhabited by non-related ethnic groups. The sociolinguistic history of the village has been presented in textbooks as a case study on how and why

language shift Language shift, also known as language transfer or language replacement or language assimilation, is the process whereby a speech community shifts to a different language, usually over an extended period of time. Often, languages that are perceiv ...

and

language death In linguistics, language death occurs when a language loses its last native speaker. By extension, language extinction is when the language is no longer known, including by second-language speakers. Other similar terms include linguicide, the deat ...

occur. The village is called Saŋgap in the

Kopar language Kopar is a Lower Sepik language of Marienberg Rural LLG, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. Distribution The Kopar language is spoken in Kopar village (), Marienberg Rural LLG, East Sepik Province. It is also spoken in the villages of Wonga ...

. In 2018, the village was burned down and abandoned due to violence among households. The former residents fled to the nearby villages of Wongan (), Watam (), and Boroi.

Geography

Gapun is located on a small hill overlooking the southern banks of the

. The hill on which Gapun is located is part of a plateau that stretches from the village of Bosmun () in

Yawar Rural LLG Yawar Rural LLG is a local-level government (LLG) of Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. The Lower Ramu languages (Ottilien–Misegian) are all spoken in this LLG. Wards *01. Marangis ( Marangis language speakers) *02. Kaiyan (Kaian language spe ...

Madang Province Madang is a province of Papua New Guinea. The province is on the northern coast of mainland Papua New Guinea and has many of the country's highest peaks, active volcanoes and its biggest mix of languages. The capital is the town of Madang. D ...

in the east to Gapun in the west. The hill used to be an island a few thousand years ago before alluvial sediment deposits pushed the coastline further northeast. The village is located about 10 kilometers from the coast with an estimated a population of 110 in 1992.

Languages

Tok Pisin Tok Pisin (,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh ; Tok Pisin ), often referred to by English speakers as "New Guinea Pidgin" or simply Pidgin, is a creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an ...

is now the primary language spoken in Gapun, but Tayap was historically the primary language spoken within the village. Gapun is the only village where Tayap, a

, is spoken. Gapun is currently undergoing a

from Tayap to

, since the Tayap people associate Tok Pisin with Christianity and modernity, while they associate their own traditional language with paganism and "backwardness." Further contributing to the decline of Tayap is the fact that it is not spoken in any other neighboring villages, as Gapun is surrounded by

Lower Sepik-Ramu languages Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also *Nizhny Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́� ...

such as Kopar, Watam, and especially Adjora.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in East Sepik Province