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 (formerly known as Irian Jaya).
Typology
Tone
Skou languages are unusual among Papuan languages for being tonal; all Skou languages possess contrastive tone. 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, Kaure, and Kembra, spoken in mountainous inland regions of the Indonesia-PNG border to the southwest of the Skou-speaking area, are also tonal.
Donohue (2007) and Donohue and Crowther (2005) list Nouri as a mixed language having features of both the Piore River and Serra Hills subgroups.
Sko (Laycock 1975)
Laycock posited two branches, Vanimo and Krisa:
- Sko
- Vanimo branch
- Skou
- Sangke (Nyao)
- Wutung
- Vanimo (Dumo)
- Krisa branch
- I’saka (Krisa)
- Rawo
- Puari
- Barupu (Warapu)
Skou (Ross 2005)
However, Krisa is poorly supported and Malcolm Ross abandoned it.
- Skou
- I’saka (Krisa)
- Barupu (Warapu)
- Puari
- Rawo
- Womo
- Vanimo branch:
- Skou (Tumawo)
- Leitre
- Sangke (Nyao)
- Wutung
- Vanimo (Dumo)
- Dusur
Macro-Skou (Donohue 2002)
Mark Donohue proposed a subclassification based on areal diffusion he called Macro-Skou.
- Macro-Skou
- Isaka
- Skou–Serra–Piore linkage
- Piore River: Nori (strongly influenced by Womo), Barupu
- Serra Hills
- Puare
- Rawo – Main Serra: Rawo, Womo
- Skou (Vanimo) family
- Skou
- Eastern Skou / Vanimo
- Leitre
- West Coast
- Border: Nyao, Wutung
- Vanimo proper: Dumo, Dusur
Donohue (2004) notes that is unclear if extinct Nouri is in the Piore River or Serra Hills branch.
Sko (Foley 2018)
Foley (2018) provides the following classification.
- Sko
- I'saka
- Piore River
- Barupu / Warupu (Bauni)
- Ramo (Uni)
- Sumo (Bouni)
- Serra Hills
- Puare
- Womo
- Waro
- Inner Sko
- Skou
- Leitre
- Dumo
- Dusur
- Nyao / Sangke
- Wutung
Foley's Inner Sko corresponds to Donohue's Western Skou.
Miller (2017)
The Piore River branch was renamed Lagoon in Miller (2017). 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.
- Lagoon (also Piore River)
- Bauni (Poo and Barapu/Warapu villages)
- Uni (Ramo village)
- Bouni (Sumo village)
- Bobe (Nouri village)
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.
- Vanimo Coast
- I'saka
- West
- Skou
- Leitre
- Dumo-Dusur (Vanimo)
- Sangke–Wutung
- Sangke (Nyao)
- Wutung
- East
- Piore River
- Barupu (Bauni–Uri–Bouni)
- Nouri
- Serra Hills
- Puare
- Rawo
- Pini
- Womo
- Sumararu
Pronouns
The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto-Skou are,
:{| class=wikitable
|-
| I || *na || we || *ne
|-
| thou || *me || you || ?
|-
| he || *ka || they () || *ke
|-
| she || *bo || they () || *de
|}
The Skou languages also have a dual, with a distinction between inclusive and exclusive we, but the forms are not reconstructable for the proto-language.
Pronouns in individual Skou languages:
:{| class="wikitable"
! Language (group) !! louse
|-
| Serra Hills || ni, nip, nipi
|-
| Warapu || mi
|-
| Western Sko || pi, fi, pĩ
|-
| Isaka || ẽĩ
|}
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1971, 1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database. More recent data from Marmion (2010) !! Wutung<br/>(Voorhoeve 1975) !! Skou<br/>(Voorhoeve 1971, 1975)