Namia language
# Namia language

Namia (Namie, Nemia) is a Sepik language spoken in Namea Rural LLG, Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. It goes by various names, such as Edawapi, Lujere, Yellow River. Language use is "vigorous" (Ethnologue).

In Sandaun Province, it is spoken in Ameni (3°58′54″S 141°45′58″E﻿ / ﻿3.981559°S 141.766186°E﻿ / -3.981559; 141.766186﻿ (Ameni (Tipas))), Edwaki, Iwane (3°54′24″S 141°45′20″E﻿ / ﻿3.906643°S 141.755439°E﻿ / -3.906643; 141.755439﻿ (Iwani)), Lawo, Pabei (3°55′37″S 141°46′35″E﻿ / ﻿3.927006°S 141.776325°E﻿ / -3.927006; 141.776325﻿ (Pabei)), and Panewai villages in Namea Rural LLG, and in the Wiyari area. It is also spoken in 19 villages of Yellow River District in East Sepik Province.

## Dialects

Namie dialect groups are:

* Ailuaki: spoken in Yegarapi (3°52′14″S 141°48′02″E﻿ / ﻿3.870583°S 141.800527°E﻿ / -3.870583; 141.800527﻿ (Yegarapi)), Yaru (3°51′18″S 141°48′09″E﻿ / ﻿3.85512°S 141.802378°E﻿ / -3.85512; 141.802378﻿ (Yaru)), and Norambalip (3°48′51″S 141°49′42″E﻿ / ﻿3.814045°S 141.828438°E﻿ / -3.814045; 141.828438﻿ (Normbalip)) villages
* Amani: spoken in Augwom (3°59′34″S 141°43′01″E﻿ / ﻿3.99286°S 141.716817°E﻿ / -3.99286; 141.716817﻿ (Augwom)), Iwani (3°54′24″S 141°45′20″E﻿ / ﻿3.906643°S 141.755439°E﻿ / -3.906643; 141.755439﻿ (Iwani)), Pabei (3°55′37″S 141°46′35″E﻿ / ﻿3.927006°S 141.776325°E﻿ / -3.927006; 141.776325﻿ (Pabei)), Panewai, and Tipas (3°58′54″S 141°45′58″E﻿ / ﻿3.981559°S 141.766186°E﻿ / -3.981559; 141.766186﻿ (Ameni (Tipas))) villages
* Wiari: spoken in Alai (3°54′39″S 141°47′49″E﻿ / ﻿3.910948°S 141.797074°E﻿ / -3.910948; 141.797074﻿ (Alai)), Nami (3°53′48″S 141°52′46″E﻿ / ﻿3.896557°S 141.879322°E﻿ / -3.896557; 141.879322﻿ (Nami)), Worikori (3°55′25″S 141°52′45″E﻿ / ﻿3.923558°S 141.879066°E﻿ / -3.923558; 141.879066﻿ (Warkori)), Akwom (3°56′19″S 141°49′59″E﻿ / ﻿3.938724°S 141.833174°E﻿ / -3.938724; 141.833174﻿ (Akwom)), and Naum (3°55′25″S 141°50′00″E﻿ / ﻿3.923731°S 141.833466°E﻿ / -3.923731; 141.833466﻿ (Naum)) villages
* Lawo: spoken in Mokwidami (3°51′31″S 141°44′39″E﻿ / ﻿3.858705°S 141.744059°E﻿ / -3.858705; 141.744059﻿ (Mokwedami)), Mantopai (3°42′31″S 141°41′55″E﻿ / ﻿3.708668°S 141.698706°E﻿ / -3.708668; 141.698706﻿ (Mantopai)), Yawari (3°40′34″S 141°43′45″E﻿ / ﻿3.676068°S 141.729295°E﻿ / -3.676068; 141.729295﻿ (Yawari)), and Aiendami (3°56′40″S 141°48′24″E﻿ / ﻿3.944326°S 141.806744°E﻿ / -3.944326; 141.806744﻿ (Luwawo (Aiendami))) villages

## Phonology

Namia has only 10 phonemic consonants:

    LabialAlveolarPalatalVelar Nasal mn Plosive ptʧk Nasal lateral l rhotic r Semivowel wj

/t/ and /r/ are in nearly perfect complementary distribution with each other.

There are 6 vowels in Namia:

    FrontCentralBack Close iu Mid eəo Open a

## Grammar

Unlike other Sepik languages, Namia has an inclusive-exclusive distinction for the first-person pronoun, which could possibly be due to diffusion from Torricelli languages. Inclusive-exclusive first-person pronominal distinctions are also found in the Yuat languages and Grass languages.

## Vocabulary

The following basic vocabulary words are from Foley (2005) and Laycock (1968), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:

    glossNamia head magu ear mak eye eno nose nəmala; nɨmala tooth pinarɨ; pinarə tongue lar leg liː; lipala louse nanpeu dog ar; ara pig lwae bird eyu egg puna blood norə bone lak skin urarə breast mu tree mi man lu woman ere sun wuluwa moon yem water ijo; ito fire ipi stone lijei name ilei eat (t) one tipia two pəli
