View source for Skou languages

{{Short description|Language family of Papua New Guinea}}
{{Infobox language family
  |name=Skou
  |altname=Sko<br/>Vanimo Coast
  |region=northern [[New Guinea]] coast near [[Vanimo]]
  |familycolor=Papuan
  |fam1=[[Northwest Papuan languages|Northwest Papuan]]?
  |glotto=skoo1245
  |glottorefname=Sko
  |child1=''[[I'saka language|I'saka]]''
  |child2=[[Piore River languages|Piore River]]
  |child3=[[Serra Hills languages|Serra Hills]]
  |child4=[[Western Skou languages|Western Skou]]
}}

The '''Sko''' or '''Skou languages''' are a small [[language family]] spoken by about 7000 people, mainly along the [[Vanimo]] coast of [[Sandaun Province]] in [[Papua New Guinea]], with a few being inland from this area and at least one just across the border in the Indonesian province of [[Papua (Indonesia)|Papua]] (formerly known as Irian Jaya).

==Typology==
===Tone===
Skou languages are unusual among [[Papuan languages]] for being tonal; all Skou languages possess contrastive [[tone (linguistics)|tone]].<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/> [[Vanimo language|Vanimo]], for example, has three tones, ''high, mid, low.''

Example [[minimal pair|minimal sets]] illustrating tonal contrasts in various Skou languages:<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

*[[I'saka language|I’saka]]: ''ẽy''<sup>H</sup> ‘louse’, ''wey''<sup>L</sup> ‘butterfly’, ''wey''<sup>LH</sup> ‘house’, ''wey''<sup>HL</sup> ‘language’
*[[Barupu language|Barupu]]: ''e''<sup>H</sup> ‘tooth’, ''e''<sup>L</sup> ‘garden’, ''e''<sup>HL</sup> ‘mosquito’, ''e''<sup>HLH</sup> ‘write’
*[[Wutung language|Wutung]]: ''ho''<sup>H</sup> ‘roof thatch made from [[sago palm]] fronds’, ''ho''<sup>L</sup> ‘star’, ''ho''<sup>HL</sup> ‘grease’
*[[Skou language|Skou]]: ''ta''<sup>H</sup> ‘grass’, ''ta''<sup>L</sup> ‘hair’, ''ta''<sup>HL</sup> ‘arrow’

[[Lakes Plain languages]], spoken in a discontiguous area to the southwest, are also tonal. Because of the apparent phonological similarities and sharing of stable basic words such as ‘louse’, Foley speculates the potential likelihood of a distant relationship shared between the Skou and Lakes Plain families, but no formal proposals linking the two families have been made due to insufficient evidence.<ref name="Foley-NWNG">{{cite book |last=Foley |first=William A. |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The languages of Northwest New Guinea |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=433–568 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}</ref> Additionally according to Foley, based on some lexical and phonological similarities, the [[Keuw language]] (currently classified as a language isolate) may also possibly share a deep relationship with the Lakes Plain languages. Like the Lakes Plain languages, Keuw also possesses constrative tone.

[[Lepki language|Lepki]], [[Kaure language|Kaure]], and [[Kembra language|Kembra]], spoken in mountainous inland regions of the Indonesia-PNG border to the southwest of the Skou-speaking area, are also tonal.<ref name="Foley-NWNG"/>

===Morphology===
Skou languages can be [[isolating language|isolating]] or [[polysynthetic language|polysynthetic]].<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

*Isolating structure: [[Dumo language|Dumo]], an Inner Skou language
*Polysynthetic structure: [[Barupu language|Barupu]], a Piore River language

== Classification ==
Skou languages were first linked by G. Frederici in 1912. In 1941, K.H. Thomas expanded the family to its current extent.

The Sko family is not accepted by [[Søren Wichmann]] (2013), who splits it into two separate groups.<ref name="Wichmann2013">Wichmann, Søren. 2013. [http://www.langlxmelanesia.com/wichmann313-386.pdf A classification of Papuan languages]. In: Hammarström, Harald and Wilco van den Heuvel (eds.), History, contact and classification of Papuan languages (Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, Special Issue 2012), 313–386. Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.</ref>

Donohue (2007) and Donohue and Crowther (2005) list [[Nouri language|Nouri]] as a mixed language having features of both the Piore River and Serra Hills subgroups.<ref name="NCNG-Donohue">{{cite book | last1 = Donohue | first1 = Mark | last2 = Crowther | first2 = Melissa | year = 2005 | chapter = Meeting in the middle: interaction in North-Central New Guinea | editor = Andrew Pawley | editor-link = Andrew Pawley |editor2=Robert Attenborough |editor3=Robin Hide |editor4=Jack Golson | title = Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples | location = Canberra | publisher = Pacific Linguistics | pages = 167–184 | isbn = 0-85883-562-2 | oclc = 67292782 }}</ref><ref>Donohue, Mark P. 2007. [https://papuan.linguistics.anu.edu.au/Skou.php A Grammar of the Skou Language of New Guinea]. Unpublished manuscript.</ref>

===Sko (Laycock 1975)===
Laycock posited two branches, Vanimo and Krisa:

{{tree list}}
*'''Sko'''
**Vanimo branch
***[[Skou language|Skou]]
***[[Sangke language|Sangke]] (Nyao)
***[[Wutung language|Wutung]]
***[[Vanimo language|Vanimo]] (Dumo)
**Krisa branch
***[[I'saka language|I’saka]] (Krisa)
***[[Rawo language|Rawo]]
***[[Puari language|Puari]]
***[[Barupu language|Barupu]] (Warapu)
{{tree list/end}}

===Skou (Ross 2005)===
However, Krisa is poorly supported and [[Malcolm Ross (linguist)|Malcolm Ross]] abandoned it.

{{tree list}}
*'''Skou'''
**[[I'saka language|I’saka]] (Krisa)
**[[Barupu language|Barupu]] (Warapu)
**[[Puari language|Puari]]
**[[Rawo language|Rawo]]
**[[Womo language|Womo]]
**Vanimo branch:
*** [[Skou language|Skou]] (Tumawo)
***[[Leitre language|Leitre]]
***[[Sangke language|Sangke]] (Nyao)
***[[Wutung language|Wutung]]
***[[Vanimo language|Vanimo]] (Dumo)
***[[Dusur language|Dusur]]
{{tree list/end}}

===Macro-Skou (Donohue 2002)===
[[Mark Donohue (linguist)|Mark Donohue]] proposed a subclassification based on [[Sprachbund|areal diffusion]] he called ''Macro-Skou''.

{{tree list}}
*'''Macro-Skou'''
**[[I'saka language|I{{hamza}}saka]]
**Skou–Serra–Piore [[linkage (linguistics)|linkage]]
***Piore River: [[Nori language (Papuan)|Nori]] (strongly influenced by Womo), [[Barupu language|Barupu]]
***Serra Hills
****[[Puare language|Puare]]
****Rawo – Main Serra: [[Rawo language|Rawo]], [[Womo language|Womo]]
*** Skou (Vanimo) family
****[[Skou language|Skou]]
****Eastern Skou / Vanimo
*****[[Leitre language|Leitr]]e
*****West Coast
******Border: [[Nyao language|Nyao]], [[Wutung language|Wutung]]
******Vanimo proper: [[Dumo language|Dumo]], [[Dusur language|Dusur]]
{{tree list/end}}

Donohue (2004) notes that is unclear if extinct [[Nouri language|Nouri]] is in the Piore River or Serra Hills branch.

===Sko (Foley 2018)===
[[William A. Foley|Foley]] (2018) provides the following classification.<ref name="Foley-Sepik">{{cite book |last=Foley |first=William A. |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=197–432 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}</ref>

{{tree list}}
*'''Sko'''
**[[I'saka language|I'saka]]
**'''[[Piore River languages|Piore River]]'''
***[[Barupu language|Barupu]] / Warupu (Bauni)
***[[Uni language|Ramo]] (Uni)
***[[Bouni language|Sumo]] (Bouni)
**'''[[Serra Hills languages|Serra Hills]]'''
***[[Puare language|Puare]]
***{{tree list/branching}}
****[[Womo language|Womo]]
****[[Rawo language|Waro]]
**'''[[Inner Sko languages|Inner Sko]]'''
***[[Skou language|Skou]]
***{{tree list/branching}}
****[[Leitre language|Leitre]]
****{{tree list/branching}}
*****[[Dumo language|Dumo]]
*****[[Dusur language|Dusur]]
****{{tree list/branching}}
*****[[Nyao language|Nyao]] / Sangke
*****[[Wutung language|Wutung]]
{{tree list/end}}

Foley's ''Inner Sko'' corresponds to Donohue's ''Western Skou''.

===Miller (2017)===
The ''[[Piore River languages|Piore River]]'' branch was renamed ''Lagoon'' in Miller (2017).<ref>Miller, Steve A. 2017. Skou Languages Near Sissano Lagoon, Papua New Guinea. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia 35: 1–24.</ref> The older names of the Piore River languages were from village names; Miller has since renamed them as Bauni, Uni, Bouni, and Bobe, though it is debatable whether they are all distinct languages.

{{tree list}}
*'''Lagoon''' (also ''[[Piore River languages|Piore River]]'')
**[[Bauni language|Bauni]] (Poo and Barapu/Warapu villages)
**[[Uni language|Uni]] (Ramo village)
**[[Bouni language|Bouni]] (Sumo village)
**[[Bobe language (Papuan)|Bobe]] (Nouri village)
{{tree list/end}}

===Usher (2020)===
Usher groups the languages as follows, with each node being a reconstructable clade, and giving the family a geographic label rather than naming it after a single language. The Eastern languages are typologically quite distinct from the Western languages and I'saka.<ref>[https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/northwest-new-guinea/vanimo-coast New Guinea World, Vanimo Coast]</ref>

{{tree list}}
*'''Vanimo Coast'''
**[[I'saka language|I'saka]]
**'''[[West Vanimo Coast languages|West]]'''
***[[Skou language|Skou]]
***[[Leitre language|Leitre]]
***[[Dumo-Dusur language|Dumo-Dusur]] (Vanimo)
***Sangke–Wutung
****[[Sangke language|Sangke]] (Nyao)
****[[Wutung language|Wutung]]
**'''East'''
***'''[[Piore River languages|Piore River]]'''
****[[Barupu language|Barupu]] (Bauni–Uri–Bouni)
****[[Nouri language|Nouri]] 
***'''[[Serra Hills languages|Serra Hills]]'''
****[[Puare language|Puare]]
****[[Rawo language|Rawo]]
****Pini
*****[[Womo language|Womo]]
*****[[Sumararu language|Sumararu]]
{{tree list/end}}

==Pronouns==
The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto-Skou are,

:{| class=wikitable
|-
| '''I''' || ''*na'' || '''we''' || ''*ne''
|-
| '''thou''' || ''*me'' || '''you''' || ?
|-
| '''he''' || ''*ka'' || '''they ({{gcl|M}})''' || ''*ke''
|-
| '''she''' || ''*bo'' || '''they ({{gcl|F}})''' || ''*de''
|}

The Skou languages also have a [[dual (grammatical number)|dual]], with a distinction between [[inclusive and exclusive we]], but the forms are not reconstructable for the proto-language.

Pronouns in individual Skou languages:<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

:{| {{table}}
! pronoun !! [[I'saka language|I'saka]] !! [[Barupu language|Barupu]] !! [[Wutung language|Wutung]] !! [[Skou language|Skou]]
|-
! {{gcl|1SG}}
| nana || něná || niɛ || nì
|-
! {{gcl|2SG}}
| mama || měmá || mɛ || mè
|-
! {{gcl|3MSG}}
| kia || yá || ʔe || ke
|-
! {{gcl|3FSG}}
| umu || bó || ce || pe
|-
! {{gcl|1PL}}
| numu || měmí || nɛtu || ne
|-
! {{gcl|2PL}}
| yumu || mŏpú || ɛtu || e
|-
! {{gcl|3PL}}
| i.e. || yéi || tɛtu || te
|}

==Cognates==
Sko family cognates ([[I'saka language|I'saka]], [[Barupu language|Barupu]], [[Wutung language|Wutung]], [[Skou language|Skou]]) listed by [[William A. Foley|Foley]] (2018):<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

:{| {{table}}
|+ Sko family cognates
! gloss !! [[I'saka language|I'saka]] !! [[Barupu language|Barupu]] !! [[Wutung language|Wutung]] !! [[Skou language|Skou]]
|-
| ‘hand’ || dou || eno || noʔɛ̃ || no
|-
| ‘tooth’ || kũ || e || ʔũ || kə̃
|-
| ‘breast’ || ni || to || no || no
|-
| ‘woman’ || bu || bom || wũawũa || pɛɨma
|-
| ‘bird’ || yũ || ru || tĩ || tã
|-
| ‘dog’ ||  || naki || naʔi || nake
|-
| ‘water’ || wi || pi ||  || pa
|-
| ‘old’ || tuni || tɔra ||  || rõtoto
|-
| ‘eat’ || a || ou || (u)a || a
|}

A cognate set for 'louse' in Sko languages (reconstructing roughly to *nipi in Proto-Sko) as compiled by Dryer (2022):<ref name="Dryer 2022">{{cite book|title=Trans-New Guinea IV.2: Evaluating Membership in Trans-New Guinea|first=Matthew S.|last=Dryer|date=2022}}</ref>

:{| class="wikitable"
! Language (group) !! ''louse''
|-
| [[Serra Hills languages|Serra Hills]] || ni, nip, nipi
|-
| [[Warapu language|Warapu]] || mi
|-
| [[West Vanimo Coast languages|Western Sko]] || pi, fi, pĩ
|-
| [[Isaka language|Isaka]] || ẽĩ
|}

==Vocabulary comparison==
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1971, 1975),<ref name="Voorhoeve-1971">Voorhoeve, C.L. "Miscellaneous Notes on Languages in West Irian, New Guinea". In Dutton, T., Voorhoeve, C. and Wurm, S.A. editors, ''Papers in New Guinea Linguistics'' No. 14. A-28:47-114. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1971. {{doi|10.15144/PL-A28.47}}</ref><ref name="Voorhoeve-1975">Voorhoeve, C.L. ''Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists''. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. {{doi|10.15144/PL-B31}}</ref> as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://transnewguinea.org/family/skou |title=TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea |last=Greenhill |first=Simon |date=2016| access-date=2020-11-05}}</ref> More recent data from Marmion (2010)<ref name="Marmion-2010"/> has been added for [[Wutung language|Wutung]] and from Donohue (2002)<ref name="Donohue-2002"/> (as cited in the [[ASJP]] Database) for [[Skou language|Skou]].

The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. ''lúrtô'', ''rəto'' for “eye”) or not (e.g. ''hlúqbùr'', ''kəsu'' for “head”).

:{| class="wikitable sortable"
! gloss !! [[ISO 639:wut|Wutung]]<br/>(Marmion 2010)<ref name="Marmion-2010">{{cite book|last=Marmion|first=Doug|title=Topics in the Phonology and Morphology of Wutung|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/156711131.pdf|year=2010|publisher=Australian National University|location=Canberra}}</ref> !! [[ISO 639:wut|Wutung]]<br/>(Voorhoeve 1975)<ref name="Voorhoeve-1975"/> !! [[ISO 639:skv|Skou]]<br/>(Donohue 2002)<ref name="Donohue-2002">Donohue, Mark. ''Skou Dictionary Draft''. Ms.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://asjp.clld.org/languages/SKOU |title=The ASJP Database |last=Wichmann |first=Søren |date=2020| access-date=2021-01-20}}</ref> !! [[ISO 639:skv|Skou]]<br/>(Voorhoeve 1971, 1975)<ref name="Voorhoeve-1971"/><ref name="Voorhoeve-1975"/>
|-
! head
| hlúqbùr || kəsu. || rebi || röbe; rö́e
|-
! hair
| tàng || ta || ta || ta
|-
! ear
| qúrlùr ||  || le || lö
|-
! eye
| lúrtô || rəto ||  lu; luto  || lutɔ̀
|-
! nose
|  ||  ||  ha || ha
|-
! tooth
| qúng || kə ||  ke* || kö
|-
! leg
|  || knaŋku ||  || tãe
|-
! louse
|  || hehe || fi || fi
|-
! dog
| náqî || naki || nakE || nakɛ́
|-
! pig
| cà || tyamu ||  || pálɛ
|-
! bird
| tîng ||  || ta*  || tåå; tãŋã
|-
! egg
|  || kuekue || ku || tã kò
|-
! blood
| hnjie || hi || hi || hi
|-
! bone
| qêy || e || e || ee
|-
! skin
| mà; nua || na || ro || nö re; nö rɔ̀
|-
! breast
| no ||  || no* || nɔ
|-
! tree
|  || ri || ri; rite || ri
|-
! man
| panyua || teba || kE ba || ba; keba; kébanè; teba
|-
! woman
| wungawunga ||   || 3mE || pemɛ̀
|-
! sun
| hlàng || hrã || ra* || rãã́
|-
! moon
|  ||   || kE || ke
|-
! water
| câ || tya || pa || pa
|-
! fire
| hie || hae || ra || ra
|-
! stone
| wólòng || koŋũ || wu* || hũ; wũ
|-
! eat
| sàqèngpùà ({{gcl|1SG}}) ||  || a*  || kã; pã; tã
|-
! one
| ófà || ofa || ali* || alì
|-
! two
| hnyûmò || hime || hi*tu* || hĩ́to
|}

==See also==
*[[Papuan languages]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book | last = Laycock | first = Donald C. | author-link = Donald Laycock | year = 1975 | chapter = Sko, Kwomtari, and Left May (Arai) phyla | editor = Stephen A. Wurm | editor-link = Stephen Wurm | title = Papuan languages and the New Guinea linguistic scene: New Guinea area languages and language study 1 | location = Canberra | publisher = Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University | pages = 849–858 | oclc = 37096514 }}
* {{Malcolm Ross Pronouns}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*[http://transnewguinea.org/family/skou Skou languages database at TransNewGuinea.org]

{{Skou languages}}
{{Papuan languages}}
{{language families}}

[[Category:Skou languages| ]]
[[Category:Language families]]
[[Category:Northwest Papuan languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Sandaun Province]]