Introduction

 

The Kamasau language is spoken by about 900 people living in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. This is the Webonary version of a dictionary first printed in 1995 under the name Wand Tuan Wand Puate:Yumbo Yumbo Buagi Raqe Wund. The English title is Kamasau Practical Tri-glot Dictionary. This dictionary was compiled by Arden and Joy Sanders and edited by Simon Amu and Ignas Amu. It was also checked by a committee of Wand Tuan speakers from all four dialects.

This dictionary has been up on the SIL PNG website since 1995 without the pictures that were in the original dictionary. Since then the dictionary was entered into FLEx and pictures have been added. Some of these are drawings by Augustine Womosa, some are photos taken in the village area. Audio recordings of a few words from recordings made in 2014 are included. If the recording is available, a circle with an arrow in it occurs by the entry. Click on the arrow to access the recording. At a later point we hope to be able to include video clips as well. Having the dictionary available on the web and being able to interact with it, will open new possibilities for improvement by Kamasau speakers with access to the internet. It will also enable younger speakers to hear their language and learn new vocabulary.

Joy and Arden Sanders