One of the areas that have the most widespread language diversity is the land of Papua. The reason is that there are many small tribes that exist in Papua, be it in the mountains area or in the coastal area. Every tribe has its own language that is different from other tribes. One of them is the Awe language.
In fact, Awe is one of the regional languages of Papua that still exist today. The speakers are indeed fewer as time went by, but it is still there. This is because the users of the language are limited, which is only in a few villages. Then, where is the language of Awe spoken and who are the speakers?
Here are all the things you should know about the language of Awe!
The Places Where the Language of Awe is Spoken
Because it is limited to certain areas, many people want to know where the Awe language is spoken. This is very reasonable because almost every village in the land of Papua speaks a different regional language. Moreover, if a tribe inhabits only one or two villages.
The fact is, the use of the Awe language is in the Benawa II Village area. However, aside from that, speakers of this language also exist in Benawa I Village, Kabareme Village, and Sumano Village. Locals also know the language of Awe as the Maweyo language or the Kaburi language.
Then, the Benawa II village itself is located in North Kokoda District, South Sorong Regency, West Papua Province. The villagers around the Benawa II Village also use other languages besides the language of Awe.
For example, in the eastern part, there is Ugadada Village whose villagers speak Eme language. Then, in the west, there is Puragi Village which has four tribes living there. Those four tribes are Iwaro, Iwar, Nerage, and Augama. The four of them speak the Iwaro language.
Then, in the north, there are the villagers of the Benawa I Village that use the language of Awe. Last but not least, there are the villagers of the Negeri Besar Village who speak the Eme language.
The Speakers of the Language of Awe
Then, who are the speakers of the Awe language? The people who use this language in their daily life are the Mareno Tribe. Locals also know them as the Marane Tribe or the Kosiriago Tribe. However, they used the name Kosiriago in the past, namely during the Hongi War.
Later, the name changed to Marane and is being used by the government. There are several clans that speak this language. Starting from the clan of Aume, Kabie, Ohame, Yare, Oraite, More, Modupe, and Bodie. Then, the number of Awe language speakers according to the records is around 395 people.
Most people in tribes of all ages still use this language in their daily life. However, to communicate with outsiders, they use Indonesian or Papuan Malay, mostly. This is because most people from outside the tribes cannot understand the language. So, they use the language of unity instead.
The Differences between the Language of Awe with Any Other Languages
Basically, Awe is a language and not just a dialect. This is based on dialect metric calculations that show if the language of Awe has differences from any other languages. The percentage difference is also quite high, around 98%, in other languages like Maibrat language. It is in terms of lexical and phonological.
This shows that the language of Awe is unique and different from any other regional languages that exist in Papua. However, not many speakers of the language, there are only a few hundred of them.
Fortunately, almost all generations, including the younger one, still use Awe language. This is certainly effective in avoiding this language from the brink of extinction.
