Pagi
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionSandaun Province
Native speakers
2,100 (2003)[1]
Border
  • Bewani Range
    • Poal River
      • Pagi
Dialects
  • Bewani (Western)
  • Imbinis (Eastern)
  • Bembi
  • Eastern Pagi & Western Pagi
  • Pagei[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3pgi
Glottologpagi1244
ELPPagi

Pagi, or Bembi, is a Papuan language spoken by 2,000 people in five villages in Sandaun Province and in Vanimo District of Papua New Guinea, near the border with Indonesian Papua.

Overview

The name "Bewani" attributes to the mountains that form a boundary between Vanimo and Amanab Districts.

The Imbinis dialect of Pagi is spoken in Imbinis (2°57′51″S 141°22′51″E / 2.964235°S 141.380826°E / -2.964235; 141.380826 (Imbrinis)) and Imbio (2°54′23″S 141°25′46″E / 2.906373°S 141.429381°E / -2.906373; 141.429381 (Imbio 1)) villages.[3]

Neighboring languages include Ainbai and Kilmeri,[3] also Border languages belonging to the Bewani branch.[4]

Usage

Pagi is spoken near Bewani Station (3°01′23″S 141°10′04″E / 3.023119°S 141.167741°E / -3.023119; 141.167741 (Bewani Station)), Idoli (3°01′30″S 141°08′20″E / 3.025053°S 141.138885°E / -3.025053; 141.138885 (Idoli)), and Amoi (3°01′16″S 141°10′36″E / 3.020995°S 141.176724°E / -3.020995; 141.176724 (Amoi)) villages in Bewani-Wutung Onei Rural LLG. Tok Pisin is generally used by the government officials and in families where husband and wife belong to communities speaking different indigenous languages. The region is also influenced by English, which is the main language used in schools of the region, accompanied occasionally by Tok Pisin.[3][5]

References

  1. ↑ Pagi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ "OLAC resources in and about the Pagi language". www.language-archives.org.
  3. 1 2 3 Brown, Robert. 1981. A sociolinguistic survey of Pagi and Kilmeri. Workpapers in Papua New Guinea Languages 29. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  4. ↑ Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  5. ↑ "A sociolinguistic survey of Pagi and Kilmeri". SIL International. June 12, 2014.
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