Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 21, 2026

Nor language

Murik, or Nor, is a Lower Sepik language spoken in Papua New Guinea. It is spoken in Murik ward of Marienberg Rural LLG, East Sepik Province, which is located around a large coastal lagoon.

Last revised
Jul 21, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
305 w
Citations
8
Source
Murik
Nor
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionEast Sepik Province
Native speakers
(1,000 cited 2000)1
Language codes
ISO 639-3mtf
Glottologmuri1260
ELPMurik
Nor is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
Coordinates: 3°47′42″S 143°59′55″E / 3.794976°S 143.998682°E / -3.794976; 143.998682 (Aramut)

Murik, or Nor, is a Lower Sepik language spoken in Papua New Guinea. It is spoken in Murik ward (3°47′42″S 143°59′55″E / 3.794976°S 143.998682°E / -3.794976; 143.998682 (Aramut)) of Marienberg Rural LLG, East Sepik Province, which is located around a large coastal lagoon.23

Phonology

Consonants4
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Plosive p b t d k g
Prenasalized ᵐb ⁿd ⁿdʒ ᵑg
Fricative s
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Approximant w r j
Vowels4
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e ə o
Low a

Pronouns

Murik independent pronouns are:4

singular dual paucal plural
1 ma ga-i ag-i e<*a+i
2 mi ga-u ag-u o<*a+u
3 mən məndəb məŋgə mwa

Nouns

Murik nouns are inflected for four numbers.5: 897 

‘person’ ‘house’
singular nor iran
dual normbo irambo
paucal norgə iramoara
plural normot iranmot
References

References

  1. Murik at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
  3. United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  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. Foley, William A. (2018). "The morphosyntactic typology of Papuan languages". 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. 895–938. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.