The Seimat language is one of three Western Admiralty Islands languages, the other two being Wuvulu-Aua and the extinct Kaniet. The language is spoken by approximately 1000 people on the Ninigo and the Anchorite Islands in western Manus Province of Papua New Guinea.[2] It has subject–verb–object (SVO) word order.[2]

Names

The alternate names for Seimat are Admiralitäts-inseln and Ninigo.[3]

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Stop p t̪ k
Fricative s x h
Lateral l
Approximant w

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i ĩ u ũ
Mid ɛ ɛ̃ ɔ ɔ̃
Low a ã

[4]

Numbers

Seimat has a quinary numeral system; numbers from one to five are unique, whereas most all other numbers are simply combinations of these. For example, numbers from six to nine are compounds based on five, combined with the words for one to four. Twenty is also a unique word, meaning "person"; it presumably refers to a full set of fingers and toes.[5]

Seimat English
tehu one
hũõhu two
toluhu three
hinalo four
te-panim (lit. 'one hand') five
te-panim tehu six
te-panim hũohu seven
te-panim toluhu eight
te-panim hinalo nine
hũõ-panim (lit. 'two hands') ten
hũõ-panim tehu eleven
hũõ-panim hũõhu twelve
tolupa  (lit. 'three hands') fifteen
tolupa tehu sixteen
tolupa hũõhu seventeen
seilon tel (lit. 'one man') twenty
seilon tel tehu twenty-one
seilon tel hũõhu twenty-two
seilon tolu thirty
seilon hinalo fourty
patei tel hundred

References

  1. ^ Seimat at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b "Seimat". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2020-08-23.
  3. ^ "Glottolog 5.1 - Seimat". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
  4. ^ Wozna & Wilson 2005.
  5. ^ "Seimat". lingweb.eva.mpg.de. Retrieved 2025-02-13.

Further reading

  • Wozna, B.; Wilson, T. (2005), Seimat Grammar Essentials (PDF), Data Papers on Papua New Guinea Languages, volume 48, Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea: Summer Institute of Linguistics


Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seimat_language
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