Gapun | |
|---|---|
  Gapun Location within Papua New Guinea | |
| Coordinates: 4°01′43″S 144°30′11″E / 4.028746°S 144.50304°E | |
| Country | Papua New Guinea |
| Province | East Sepik Province |
| LLG | Marienberg Rural LLG |
| Languages | |
| • Main languages | Tok Pisin and Tayap |
| Time zone | UTC+10 (AEST) |
Gapun is a village in Marienberg Rural LLG, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, located near the mouth of the Sepik River. The language isolate Tayap is traditionally spoken in Gapun by the Tayap people. Gapun village is the sole Tayap settlement, while all other neighboring villages are inhabited by non-related ethnic groups.[1] The sociolinguistic history of the village has been presented in textbooks as a case study on how and why language shift and language death occur.[2]
The village is called Saŋgap in the Kopar language.[3]: 47
In 2018, the village was burned down and abandoned due to violence among households. The former residents fled to the nearby villages of Wongan (3°59′58″S 144°31′56″E / 3.999326°S 144.532123°E), Watam (3°54′24″S 144°32′43″E / 3.906592°S 144.545246°E), and Boroi.[3]: 16
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Foley-Sepikwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Kulick, Don (2019). A Death in the Rainforest: How a Language and a Way of Life Came to an End in Papua New Guinea. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books. ISBN 9781616209049.
- ^ a b Kulick, Don; Terrill, Angela (2019). A Grammar and Dictionary of Tayap: The Life and Death of a Papuan Language. Pacific Linguistics 661. Boston/Berlin: Walter de Gruyter Inc. ISBN 9781501512209.