Haruai language

Haruai (less commonly Harway) is one of two languages of the Piawi family of New Guinea. The language has borrowings from Kalam. Young men are likely to know Kobon and Tok Pisin, but many Haruai are monolingual. Haruai is also commonly known as Waibuk, also Wiyaw, Wovan, Taman.

Dialects are North Waibuk (Hamil), Central Waibuk (Mambar), South Waibuk (Arama); word taboo is practiced but does not impede communication.

Language contact
Due to intensive language contact, Haruai shares 35 percent of its vocabulary with Kobon (a Trans-New Guinea language belonging to the Madang branch), which is the same proportion of vocabulary that Haruai shares with the related language Hagahai. Some lexical examples:


 * {| class="wikitable sortable"

! gloss !! native Harway word !! borrowed Harway word !! Kobon word
 * ‘sun’ || nayə || sdə || sda
 * ‘dog’ || wəɲə || kəyn || kayn
 * ‘father’ || acə || bəp || baap
 * ‘wife’s brother’ || (no native word) || bənəy || bane
 * ‘grandmother’ || (no native word) || əpsəw || aps
 * ‘ear’ || (no native word) || rmj || rmd
 * }
 * ‘wife’s brother’ || (no native word) || bənəy || bane
 * ‘grandmother’ || (no native word) || əpsəw || aps
 * ‘ear’ || (no native word) || rmj || rmd
 * }
 * ‘ear’ || (no native word) || rmj || rmd
 * }

Harway has both native and borrowed terms for words like ‘sun’, ‘dog’, and ‘father’, but in the case of ‘wife’s brother’, ‘grandmother’, and ‘ear’, only loanwords of Kobon origin are used.