Upper Sepik languages

Upper Sepik
Geographic distribution	Sepik River basin, Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classification	Sepik Upper Sepik
Subdivisions	Wogamusin Iwam Abau
Language codes
Glottolog	iwam1259  (Iwam–Wogamus) abau1245  (Abau)

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)