Kapauri–Sause languages
# Kapauri–Sause languages

The Kapauri–Sause (Kapori–Sause) languages form a small language family spoken along the middle Taritatu River in the Jayapura Regency of Papua, Indonesia. They are two languages, Kapauri (Kapori) and Sause, which are not particularly close.

## Classification

There is a history of linking at least Kapauri to the Kaure languages (see Kaure–Kapori languages). However, they show no particular affiliation, and Kapauri appears to be closer to Kwerba. Usher demonstrated a connection instead with another erstwhile isolate, Sause, together forming a branch of Kwerbic. A partial reconstruction of proto-Kapauri–Sause can be found there.

## Proto-language

### Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows. Apparent gaps may be due to poverty of data (e.g., there are /p/, /ɸ/ and /ɡ/ in the languages, but as of 2020 they have not been reconstructed for the protolanguage):

    *m*n *t*s*k *b *w*ɽ*j*h

    *i*u *e*ɵ*o *ɛ *a [*aː]

### Pronouns

Pronouns are reconstructed as follow.

| | proto-KS | Kapauri | Sause |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1sg | *ka | kaku | aʔ |
| 2sg | *ɵ | u | e |
| 3sg | *aɾ̃oC | aːnuʔ | arok |
| 1pl | *ne | aɽuʔ | ne |

### Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:

    glossProto-Kapauri-Sause head*baːɽ ear*t[o̝/u]waro̝ tooth*w₂ano̝ tongue*mɛn₂o̝ blood*ko̝mo̝ bone*aːᵘC breast*mɵ̝N louse*hɛno̝ dog*unu bird*ɽe̝Cne̝N egg*huwini sun*nisiki (?) moon*bɛ[N/nV] water/river*bo̝C path*nawaɽo̝ eat*na[N/nV] two*nɛbɽe̝[na]
