Hatam language

Hatam (also spelled Hattam, Atam) is a divergent language spoken on the island of New Guinea, specifically in the Indonesian province of West Papua.

Hatam
Native to	Papua
Region	Eastern Bird's Head
Native speakers	(16,000 cited 1993)[1]
Language family	West Papuan East Bird's Head (?) Hatam–Mansim Hatam
Dialects	Moi (Moire) Tinam Miriei Adihup Uran
Language codes
ISO 639-3	had
Glottolog	hata1243
ELP	Hatam[2]
Hatam Hatam Hatam
Coordinates: 1.14°S 134.04°E

Classification

Apart from Mansim (Borai), formerly listed as a dialect, Hatam is not closely related to any other language, and though Ross (2005) tentatively assigned it to the West Papuan languages, based on similarities in pronouns, Ethnologue and Glottolog list it as a language isolate[1] or small independent family.[3]

Distribution

Hatam is spoken on the island of New Guinea in the following regencies in the Indonesian province of West Papua:[4]

• Pegunungan Arfak Regency: Menyambouw District, Anggi District, Anggi Dida District, Catubouw District, and Hingk District
• Manokwari Regency: Manokwari Barat District, Manokwari Selatan District, Tanah Rubuh District, Warmare District, Prafi District
• Manokwari Selatan Regency: Oransbari District (Masabui 1 and Masabui 2 villages) and Ransiki District (Sabri village)

Phonology

The phonology of the Hatam language is listed below. In free form, both consonant and vowel phonemes can range to different sounds.[5]

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	c	k
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ
	geminated	pː	tː		kː
Nasal	voiced	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
	geminated	mː	nː
Fricative			s			h
Liquid			ɾ
Approximant		w		j

Phoneme	Allophones
/p/	[p, pʰ, pɸ, ɸ]
/t/	[t, tʰ]
/c/	[c, cʰ]
/k/	[k, kʰ, kx]
/ɡ/	[ɡ, k, ɡː]
/ɟ/	[ɟ, ɟː]
/d/	[d, t]
/b/	[b, p, bː]
/ɾ/	[ɾ, l, lː]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Phoneme	Allophones
/i/	[i, ɪ, ə]
/ɛ/	[ɛ, e]
/a/	[ä, a, ɐ]
/ɔ/	[ɔ, o]

References

1. Hatam at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Endangered Languages Project data for Hatam.
3. Hammarström, Harald; Forke, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2020). "Hatam". Glottolog 4.3.
4. Ronsumbre, Adolof (2020). Ensiklopedia Suku Bangsa di Provinsi Papua Barat. Yogyakarta: Penerbit Kepel Press. ISBN 978-602-356-318-0.
5. Reesink (1999), pp. 9–13

• Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.

Further reading

• Reesink, Ger P. (1999). A Grammar of Hatam: Bird's Head Peninsula, Irian Jaya. Pacific Linguistics: Series C, 146. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University. hdl:1885/146620. ISBN 978-0-85883-497-2.