Geographicdistribution northern Papua | Glottolog sarm1241 | |
Linguistic classification AustronesianMalayo-PolynesianOceanicWestern OceanicNorth New Guinea ?Sarmi-Jayapura | ||
The Sarmi-Jayapura Bay languages consist of half a dozen languages spoken in Papua province of Indonesia:
Ross (1988) had considered Sarmi and Jayapura Bay (Kayapulau, Orma and Tobati) to be separate but related groups. Ross (1988) listed several additional Sarmi languages:
Anus (Korur) and Podena, Liki and Wakde (close to Sobei), Masimasi, Kaptiau, and Yamna.The inclusion of a supposed Yarsun language appears to be due to confusion of language names with island names. No such language is attested; the island is located between that of the Anus and Podena languages, and all three islands are reported to speak dialects of a single language according to the first source to mention it.
Sound correspondences
Grace (1971:34-37) published a table of sound correspondences for the Sarmi languages, from which the following forms are gleaned. The languages are arranged from west to east.