Piame language

Piame
Biami
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	East Sepik Province
Ethnicity	Hewa
Native speakers	(Less than 100 cited 1988)[1]
Language family	Sepik Sepik Hill Southwest Piame
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pin
Glottolog	piam1243
ELP	Piame

Piame, or Biami, is a Sepik language, which in 1988 was spoken in the village of Piame in northwestern Papua New Guinea.^[2]: 249

Relationship to other languages

Piame is closely related to Niksek, with cognate percentages ranging from 44% to 53% for the different Niksek dialects.^[2]: 249

Sociolinguistics

In 1988, it was spoken by less than a hundred people, in the single village of Piame.^[2]: 249 The village was primarily monolingual. Two or three men had begun to learn Tok Pisin, the lingua franca of Papua New Guinea.^[2]: 254

The language is today described as moribund.^[3][4]

Vocabulary

The table below is a sample of words in Piame:^[2]: 261

Piame	English
pasikofi	afternoon
bawe	arrow
mokuawo	baby
mekia	back
wɔřou	cassowary
a yopakaři	chin
yabi	dog
peni	ear
yelia kaia	egg
wauwuo	fat
aise	father
mɔmiyaři məməni moku'awo	girl
yelia kowane	good
kouřinobo	hair
nɔti	hand
u'kwəti	knee
misaři	knife
mekwa	leaf
yelia meisa	long
məmini'nɔni	man
ake/kɔřisib̵ab̵e	many
ka'lami	neck
ake/akutu	new
akelmeisi	old
mekwa	one
a'kaifɔ/fɔ	pig
nou	rain
wamo	rat
kařinei	sand
yelia nɔpo	short
fɔ'yəni	tail
sawi	taro
you'wei	vine
akaipəsi	wallaby
a'sei	water
kařu	yam
nɔifi	yesterday

References

1. Some language and sociolinguistic relationships in the Upper Sepik region of Papua New Guinea.
2. "Some language and sociolinguistic relationships - ProQuest". www.proquest.com. ProQuest 1297882138. Retrieved 2025-02-22.
3. "Glottolog 5.1 - Piame". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2025-02-22.
4. "Piame | Ethnologue". 2013-06-03. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 2025-02-22.