Mongol–Langam languages
The Mongol–Langam, Koam, or Ulmapo languages are a language group of Keram Rural LLG, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea belonging to the Ramu language family. Foley (2018) includes them within the Grass languages, but they were not included in Foley (2005).
The Koam languages are spoken next to the Yuat languages, but two groups are unrelated.
Names
The name Koam is used by Foley (2018), while the name Ulmapo (coined from the first two letters of each of the three daughter languages) is used by Barlow (2018) and Glottolog 4.0.
Languages
According to Summer Institute of Linguistics data from 2003, the member languages had the following number of speakers:
Classification
Donald Laycock (1973) noted that the Mongol–Langam languages mark nouns for pluralisation, like the Lower Sepik languages (Nor–Pondo languages) and Yuat languages, and also that the lexicon also shows many resemblances to Yuat languages, while pronouns are similar to the Grass (Keram) languages (Ramu). Malcolm Ross (2005) accepts them as Ramu languages based on their pronouns. With additional data from recent research, Usher confirms their position in the Keram branch of the Ramu family.
Notes
References
- Laycock, Donald C. (1973), Sepik languages – checklist and preliminary classification, Pacific linguistics Ser. B Monographs, The Australian National University, Research School of Pacific Studies, Dept. of Linguistics, ISBN 978-0-85883-084-4
- Lewis, M. Paul, ed. (2009) [first published 1951 by SIL], Ethnologue: Languages of the World (16 ed.), Dallas: SIL International, ISBN 9781556712166, OL 19636399W
- Ross, Malcolm (2005), "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages", in Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; et al. (eds.), Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, pp. 15–66, ISBN 0-85883-562-2, OCLC 67292782
External links
- Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–West Keram River