Pawaia, also known as ''Sira, Tudahwe, Yasa'', is a Papuan language that forms a tentative independent branch of the
Trans–New Guinea family in the classification of
Malcolm Ross (2005).
Distribution
Pawaia is spoken in:
[
* Chimbu Province: Karimui District
*]Eastern Highlands Province
Eastern Highlands is a highlands province of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital is Goroka. The province covers an area of 11,157 km², and has a population of 579,825 (2011 census). The province shares a common administrative boundary w ...
: Lufa District and Okapa District, Lamari River
*Gulf Province
A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodie ...
: Baimuru Rural LLG
Baimuru Rural LLG is a local-level government (LLG) of Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea.
Wards
*01. Amipoke (Ipiko language
Ipiko (Epai, Higa, Ipikoi) is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea, the most divergent of the Inland Gulf languages. D ...
, Purari River near Oroi
Classification
Although Pawaia has reflexes of proto-Trans–New Guinea vocabulary, Ross considers its inclusion questionable on available evidence. Usher classifies it instead with the Teberan languages. Noting insufficient evidence, Pawley and Hammarström (2018) leave it as unclassified rather than as part of Trans-New Guinea.
Vocabulary
The following basic vocabulary words are from Macdonald (1973) and Trefry (1969), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
Further reading
*Trefry, David. 1969. ''A Comparative Study of Kuman and Pawaian''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
References
External links
* Timothy Usher, New Guinea World
Pawaia
{{language families
Languages of Papua New Guinea
Teberan–Pawaian languages