Taupota language

Taupota
Native to	Papua New Guinea
Region	Milne Bay Province
Native speakers	(4,500 cited 2000–2001)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Western Oceanic Papuan Tip Nuclear Papuan Tip North Mainland – D'Entrecasteaux Taupota languages Taupota
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: tpa – Taupota wag – Wa'ema wed – Wedau
Glottolog	taup1242  Taupota waem1237  Wa'ema weda1241  Wedau

Taupota is an Oceanic language of the Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. It appears to be a dialect chain, with southern varieties called Wa'ema and western Wedau.

The Wedau variety, which varies between villages, was adopted by Anglican missionaries who settled in Dogura and so became the lingua franca for the southern coast of Goodenough Bay.^[2]

References

1. Taupota at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Wa'ema at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Wedau at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Miriam Kahn (30 December 1993). Always Hungry, Never Greedy: Food and the Expression of Gender in a Melanesian Society. Waveland Press. p. 16–18. ISBN 1478609184.

Further information

• Copland King (1901). Grammar & Dictionary of the Wedau Language (British New Guinea). W. A. Pepperday & Co.