The Sogeram languages are a family of languages in the Madang stock of New Guinea. They are named after the Sogeram River.
In earlier classifications, such as that of Wurm, most of the Sogeram family were called "Wanang", after the Wanang River. The exceptions were Faita, placed as a separate branch of the Southern Adelbert languages, and MumâÂÂSirva (then called the "Sikan" family), which were classified with the other branch, Josephstaal (Tomul River).
Daniels (2016) classifies the Sogeram languages in three branches, including some recently documented languages.
Daniels (2017), following Pawley, resolves the issue of Gants by classifying it as East Sogeram, closest to Kursav though he refrains from claiming the two languages form a clade. He notes that the name "East Sogeram" is no longer geographically appropriate, as Gants would be the westernmost Sogeram language.
Recently discovered Magèyi may also be a Sogeram language, with the forms of identified cognates closest to Mum.
Because these languages form a chain, where each influences its neighbors, the branching of the family is not clear. Usher divides the languages in nearly the same way, differing only in the placement of Manat:
Below are Sogeram language names in Daniels (2015) compared to names listed in Z'graggen (1975), along with their respective meanings.
A phonological reconstruction of Proto-Sogeram has been proposed by Daniels (2015).
Proto-Sogeram phonemic inventory according to Daniels (2015):
Daniels (2017) reconstructs the pronouns as follows:
Compare Ross's proto-Madang singular pronouns *ya, *na, *nu/*ua.
Selected lexical reconstructions from Daniels (2015) are listed below.
The following is a comparative table of reconstructed forms in Proto-Sogeram and Proto-Northern Adelbert.