Geographic
distribution northern Papua | Glottolog sarm1241 | |
Linguistic classification Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian
Oceanic
Western Oceanic
North New Guinea ?
Sarmi-Jayapura | ||
The Sarmi-Jayapura Bay languages consist of half a dozen languages spoken in Papua province of Indonesia:
Sobei, Bonggo, Tarpia (Sarmi), Kayupulau, Ormu, Tobati (Jayapura Bay)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.