Dem language
Language spoken in New Guinea
Dem (Lem, Ndem) is a divergent Papuan language of West New Guinea. Although Palmer (2018) leaves it unclassified, it was tentatively included in the Trans-New Guinea family in the classification of Malcolm Ross (2005), and Timothy Usher ties it most closely to Amung.
01Pronouns
The only pronouns which have been recorded are:
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | nau | yu |
| 2nd person | aŋ |
02Vocabulary
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
gloss Dem head yagabuak hair ari; yakuli eye eŋgio tooth yavkasa leg abuo louse nduu dog kwa pig uwam; uwom bird bela egg au; onde blood miet skin aran; asi tree niye man ŋo sun uweməja water da; yat fire kunu stone (da)ŋat name aluŋ; gago eat nenawe one yagaŋ two ugwaŋ
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Dem language”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Dem language.svg by Kwamikagami, CC BY-SA 3.0
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