View source for Upper Sepik languages

{{Infobox language family
|name=Upper Sepik
|altname=Upper Sepik River
|region=[[Sandaun Province]] and western [[East Sepik Province]], [[Papua New Guinea]]
|familycolor=Papuan
|fam1=[[Sepik languages|Sepik]]
|child1=Abau–Iwam 
|child2=Yellow and Wanibe Rivers
|map=Sepik_as_classified_by_William_A._Foley.svg
|mapcaption=The Sepik languages as classified by [[William A. Foley|Foley]] (2018)
|glotto=none
}}

The '''Upper Sepik languages''' are a group of ten to a dozen languages generally classified among the [[Sepik languages]] of northern [[Papua New Guinea]].<ref name="Foley-Sepik">{{cite book |last=Foley |first=William A. |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=197–432 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}</ref>

==Languages==
The Upper Sepik languages are:<ref>[https://sites.google.com/site/newguineaworld/families/sepik-river/upper-sepik-river Upper Sepik River], NewGuineaWorld</ref>

*'''Abau–Iwam'''
**[[Abau language|Abau]]
**[[Iwam languages]]
*'''Yellow and [[Wanibe River]]s'''
**Amal–Kalou
***[[Amal language|Amal]]
***[[Kalou language|Kalou]]
**[[Ram languages]] (see)
**[[Yellow River languages]] (see)

Although even the pronouns do not appear to be cognate, Foley classifies the Abau–Iwam languages with the [[Wogamus languages]] rather than with the Yellow and Wanibe River languages on the basis of a unique noun-class system in the numeral systems (see ''[[Wogamus languages#Noun classes]]''). Additionally, Foley considers [[Sepik Iwam language|Sepik Iwam]] and [[Wogamusin language|Wogamusin]] noun class prefixes to be likely cognate with each other. [[Abau language|Abau]] is more divergent, but its inclusion by Foley (2018) is based on the similarity of Abau verbal morphology to that of the Iwam languages.
Foley observes that much of the lexicon and pronouns of these languages do not derive from proto-Sepik.<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

==Numerals==
Upper Sepik morphological numerals are (Foley 2018):<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

:{| {{table}}
! gloss !! [[Abau language|Abau]] !! [[Sepik Iwam language|Sepik Iwam]] !! [[Wogamusin language|Wogamusin]] !! [[Chenapian language|Chenapian]]
|-
! ‘one’
| -eyn ~ -mon ~ -ron || -or || -Vd || -rə
|-
! ‘two’
| -(r)eys || -is || -us || -si
|-
! ‘three’
| -(r)ompri || -um || -um || -mu
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{Malcolm Ross Pronouns}}

{{Sepik languages}}
[[Category:Upper Sepik languages| ]]
[[Category:Sepik languages]]