Upper Sepik languages

Upper Sepik
Geographic distribution	Sepik River basin, Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classification	Sepik Upper Sepik
Subdivisions	Wogamusin Iwam Abau
Language codes

The Upper Sepik languages are a family of the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea. They were identified as a family by Donald Laycock in 1956, which he included in his Sepik family in 1965. Foley (2005) does not the unity family, but Ross (2005) reconstructs proto-Upper Sepik pronouns.

Pronouns

Ross reconstructs two sets of pronouns for proto–Upper Sepik. These are the default set (Set I), and a set with "certain interpersonal and pragmatic functions" (table 1.27):

Pronoun Set I

I	*an	we two	*nə-d	we	*nə-n
thou (M)	*nɨ	you two	*nə-p	you	*nə-m
thou (F)	(*nɨ-n)
he	*tə-	they two	(*rə-p)	they	*ra-m
she	*tɨ-

Pronoun Set II

I	*ka	we two	*krə-d	we	*krə-m
thou (M)	*kɨ	you two	*kə-p	you	*kə-m
thou (F)	?
he	*si	they two	*sə-p	they	(*sə-m)
she	(*sae)

References

• Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.
• Foley, William A. (2005). "Linguistic prehistory in the Sepik–Ramu basin". In Andrew Pawley, Robert Attenborough, Robin Hide, Jack Golson, eds. (ed.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 109–144. ISBN 0-85883-562-2. OCLC 67292782. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
• Laycock, Donald C. (1973). Sepik languages: checklist and preliminary classification. Canberra: Dept. of Linguistcs, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-85883-084-4. OCLC 5027628.
• Laycock, Donald C. (1975). "The Sepik–Ramu phylum". In Stephen A. Wurm, ed. (ed.). Papuan languages and the New Guinea linguistic scene: New Guinea area languages and language study 1. Canberra: Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. pp. 731–763. OCLC 37096514. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)