Waskia (Vaskia, Woskia) is a Papuan language of Papua New Guinea. It is spoken on half of Karkar Island, and a small part of the shore on the mainland, by 20,000 people; language use is vigorous. The Waskia share their island with speakers of Takia, an Oceanic language which has been restructured under the influence of Waskia, which is the inter-community language. Waskia has been documented extensively by Malcolm Ross and is being further researched by Andrew Pick.
Waskia is spoken in Tokain (), a village in Malas ward, Sumgilbar Rural LLG on the coast of mainland New Guinea, and on Karkar Island, with the island and mainland varieties being lexically divergent from each other.
Phonology
Consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarPlosivevoicelessptkvoicedbdɡFricativesNasalmnŋApproximantwljTrillr /ɡ/ can be pronounced as a fricative [ɣ] when in intervocalic positions.
Vowels FrontCentralBackHighiuMideoLowa
Comparisons Below are some Waskia lexical forms compared with Amako and Proto-Northern Adelbert.
gloss Waskia Amako Proto-NorthernAdelbert hornbill baram bar *baram pig buruk bur *buruk sit – beng- *bug- year barat – *barat skin guang – *guaŋ thick gurum uŋur *gurum liver gomang gom *gemaŋ turn gira- girka- *girik- breadfruit – kid *kidar banana – kud *kudi lime kaur ka *kapur day, sun kam – *kam nape komang kumandup *kumaŋ plate tawir taw *tabir LOC te te *te rain tiwik tiv *t(e/i)ik
References
Further reading