Tayap language: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:32, 1 March 2022

Revision as of 23:59, 20 April 2022

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In the 1970s Australian linguist [[Donald Laycock]] classified Tayap (which he called "[[Gapun]]") as a sub-phylum of the Sepik-Ramu language phylum, on the basis of Georg Höltker's 1938 word list and a few verb paradigms that Laycock gathered from two speakers.<ref>{{harvp|Laycock|1973}}</ref>

Kulick and Terrill (2019) found no evidence that Tayap is related to the Lower Sepik languages, another branch of the erstwhile Sepik-Ramu phylum. They conclude that Tayap is a [[language isolate]], though they do not compare it to other language families, as would be required to establish Tayap as an independent language family. Comparative vocabulary demonstrates the lexical aberrancy of Tayap as compared to the surrounding Lower Sepik languages: e.g. ''sene'' 'two' (cf. [[proto-Lower Sepik]] *ri-pa-), ''neke'' 'ear' (*kwand-), ''ŋgino'' 'eye' (*tambri), ''tar'' 'hear' (*and-), ''min'' 'breast' (*nɨŋgay), ''nɨŋg'' 'bone' (*sariŋamp), ''malɨt'' 'tongue' (*minɨŋ), ''mayar'' 'leaf' (*nɨmpramp) among the Holman ''et al.'' (2008) ranking of the [[Swadesh list]]. Cultural vocabulary such as 'village', 'canoe', 'oar', and 'lime', as well as the basic words ''awin'' 'water' (cf. *arɨm) and ''a'' 'eat' (cf. *am ~ *amb), may be shared with Lower Sepik languages. The word ''karep'' 'moon' is shared specifically with [[Kopar language|Kopar]] (''karep''). However, most basic vocabulary items have no apparent cognates in surrounding languages.<ref name="Foley-Sepik-Ramu">{{Cite book |last=Foley |first=William A. |title=Papuan Pasts: Cultural, Linguistic and Biological Histories of Papuan-Speaking Peoples |date=2005 |publisher=Pacific Linguistics |isbn=0-85883-562-2 |editor-last=Pawley |editor-first=Andrew |editor-link=Andrew Pawley |series=Pacific Linguistics 572 |___location=Canberra |pages=109–144 |language=en |chapter=Linguistic Prehistory in the Sepik-Ramu Basin |hdl=1885/146735 |author-link=William A. Foley |editor-last2=Attenborough |editor-first2=Robert |editor-last3=Hide |editor-first3=Robin |editor-last4=Golson |editor-first4=Jack |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

==Phonology==

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==Grammar==

Like many Sepik languages, Tayap is a [[synthetic language]]. Verbs are the most elaborated area of the grammar. They are complex, [[fusional|fusional]] and massively [[suppletive]], with opaque verbal morphology including unpredictable [[Grammatical conjugation|conjugation class]], both in terms of membership and formal marking.

There is a fundamental distinction in verbal morphology between [[realis]] and [[irrealis]] stems and suffixes. Grammatical relations are marked by verbal suffixes, which distinguish Subject/Agent (S/A) and Object (O). In some conjugations S/A is marked by discontinuous morphemes. Free pronouns and noun phrases mark the [[ergative case]] (A) compared to unmarked forms for the [[absolutive]] (S/O). As in many Papuan languages which have an ergative case, the ergative marker is optional and is frequently omitted.