The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian and non-

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

languages spoken on the western Pacific island of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geographical grouping, and does not imply a genetic relationship. The concept of Papuan (non-Austronesian) speaking Melanesians as distinct from Austronesian-speaking Melanesians was first suggested and named by Sidney Herbert Ray in 1892.

is the most linguistically diverse region in the world. Besides the Austronesian languages, there are some (arguably) 800 languages divided into perhaps sixty small language families, with unclear relationships to each other or to any other languages, plus many language isolates. The majority of the Papuan languages are spoken on the island of New Guinea, with a number spoken in the Bismarck Archipelago, Bougainville Island and the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

to the east, and in Halmahera,

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, also ...

and the Alor archipelago to the west. The westernmost language, Tambora in

Sumbawa Sumbawa is an Indonesian island, located in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands chain, with Lombok to the west, Flores to the east, and Sumba further to the southeast. Along with Lombok, it forms the province of West Nusa Tenggara, but th ...

, is extinct. One Papuan language, Meriam, is spoken within the national borders of Australia, in the eastern

Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost extremity of the Australian mai ...

. Several languages of Flores, Sumba, and other islands of eastern Indonesia are classified as Austronesian but have large numbers of non-Austronesian words in their basic vocabulary and non-Austronesian grammatical features. It has been suggested that these may have originally been non-Austronesian languages that have borrowed nearly all of their vocabulary from neighboring Austronesian languages, but no connection with the Papuan languages of Timor has been found. In general, the Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages are marked by a significant historical Papuan influence, lexically, grammatically, and phonologically, and this is responsible for much of the diversity of the Austronesian language family.

Speaker numbers

Most Papuan languages are spoken by hundreds to thousands of people; the most populous are found in the

New Guinea highlands The New Guinea Highlands, also known as the Central Range or Central Cordillera, is a long chain of mountain ranges on the island of New Guinea, including the island's tallest peak, Puncak Jaya , the highest mountain in Oceania. The range is home ...

, where a few exceed a hundred thousand. These include Western Dani (180,000 in 1993) and Ekari (100,000 reported 1985) in the western (Indonesian) highlands, and Enga (230,000 in 2000), Huli (150,000 reported 2011), and Melpa (130,000 reported 1991) in the eastern (PNG) highlands. To the west of New Guinea, the largest languages are

Makasae Makasae (also known as Makassai, Macassai, Ma'asae, Makasai) is a Papuan language spoken by about 100,000 people in the eastern part of East Timor, in the districts of Baucau and Viqueque, just to the west of Fataluku. It is the most widely spok ...

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...

(100,000 in 2010) and Galela in Halmahera (80,000 reported 1990). To the east, Terei (27,000 reported 2003) and Naasioi (20,000 reported 2007) are spoken on Bougainville.

History of classification

Although there has been relatively little study of these languages compared with the Austronesian family, there have been three preliminary attempts at large-scale genealogical classification, by

Joseph Greenberg Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915 – May 7, 2001) was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages. Life Early life and education Joseph Greenberg was born on ...

, Stephen Wurm, and Malcolm Ross. The largest family posited for the Papuan region is the Trans–New Guinea phylum, consisting of the majority of Papuan languages and running mainly along the highlands of New Guinea. The various high-level families may represent distinct migrations into New Guinea, presumably from the west.Wurm 1975 Since perhaps only a quarter of Papuan languages have been studied in detail, linguists' understanding of the relationships between them will continue to be revised. Statistical analyses designed to pick up signals too faint to be detected by the comparative method, though of disputed validity, suggest five major Papuan stocks (roughly Trans–New Guinea,

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

, and South Papuan languages); long-range comparison has also suggested connections between selected languages, but again the methodology is not orthodox in historical linguistics. The

Great Andamanese languages The Great Andamanese languages are a nearly extinct language family once spoken by the Great Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. History By the late 18th century, when the British first established a colonial presenc ...

may be related to some western Papuan languages, but are not themselves covered by the term Papuan.

Greenberg's classification

Joseph Greenberg proposed an Indo-Pacific phylum containing the (Northern)

Andamanese languages The Andamanese languages are a pair of language families spoken by the Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. The two language families are Great Andamanese and Ongan, while the Sentinelese language is spoken by an uncon ...

, all Papuan languages, and the

Tasmanian languages The Tasmanian languages were the languages indigenous to the island of Tasmania, used by Aboriginal Tasmanians. The languages were last used for daily communication in the 1830s, although the terminal speaker, Fanny Cochrane Smith, survived unt ...

, but not the Australian Aboriginal languages. Very few linguists accept his grouping. It is distinct from the Trans–New Guinea phylum of the classifications below.

Usher (2020)

Timothy Usher and Edgar Suter, with the advice of Papuan researchers such as

William Croft William Croft (baptised 30 December 1678 – 14 August 1727) was an English composer and organist. Life Croft was born at the Manor House, Nether Ettington, Warwickshire. He was educated at the Chapel Royal under the instruction of John Blow ...

Matthew Dryer Matthew S. Dryer is a professor of linguistics at the State University of New York at Buffalo who has worked in typology, syntax, and language documentation. He is best known for his research on word order correlations, which has been widely cite ...

, John Lynch, Andrew Pawley, and Malcolm Ross, have reconstructed low-level constituents of Papuan language families to verify which purported members truly belong to them. In many cases Usher and Suter have created new names for the member families to reflect their geographic location. Much of their classification is accepted by '' Glottolog'' (though the names are not; ''Glottolog'' invents its own names). As of 2020, the following families are identified: *'' Abinomn'' * Arai and Samaia Rivers (unites Left May, Amto–Musan, and '' Pyu'') * Bulaka River *

Cenderawasih Bay Cenderawasih Bay ( id, Teluk Cenderawasih, "Bird of Paradise Bay"), also known as Sarera Bay ( id, Teluk Sarera) and formerly Geelvink Bay ( nl, Geelvinkbaai), is a large bay in northern Province of Papua, Central Papua and West Papua, New Guin ...

(= East Geelvink Bay) * East Trans-Fly (unites Eastern Trans-Fly, Pahoturi, and '' Waia'') * Enga – Southern Highlands * Etna Bay (= Mairasi) * Kaki Ae – Kerema Bay (= Eleman) * Keram and Ramu Rivers (= Ramu) *'' Kibiri-Porome'' * Kiwai * Lakes Plains * Lower Sepik River *

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century. Histo ...

– Upper Yuat River (unites Arafundi and Piawi) * Middle Yuat River * Morehead River (= Yam) *

Nawa River Nawa may refer to: * Nawa, Rajasthan, a city and Tehsil in Nagaur district in the Indian State of Rajasthan * Nawa District, a district in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan * Nawa, Afghanistan, a town in the central part of Nawa District, in Ghazni ...

(= Kaure–Kosare) * Northwest New Guinea (tentative. unites Fas, Sentani,

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

, Sko, and Tor–Kwerba–Nimboran) * Oro – Wharton Range (unites Binanderean and Goilalan) *

Papuan Gulf The Gulf of Papua is located in the southern coast region of New Guinea. It has a total surface area of . Geography Some of New Guinea's largest rivers, such as the Fly River, Turama River, Kikori River, Purari River, and Wawoi River flow ...

(tentative. unites Kutubuan– Kikorian, East Strickland, Doso–Turumsa, Gogodala–Suki, and Teberan–'' Wiru''–'' Pawaia'') * Pauwasi River (expands Pauwasi with several recently discovered languages) * Senagi * Senu River (unites '' Kwomtari'', '' Nagatman'', and '' Busa'') *

Sepik River The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Se ...

* Simbu – Western Highlands (= Chimbu–Wahgi) * Torricelli Range – Sepik Coast (= Torricelli) * Trans–New Guinea * West Papua In addition, poorly attested

Karami Karami (Arabic كرامي) is an Arabic-based Lebanese surname, particularly that of a famous Lebanese Sunni Muslim political family. It is often francicised in the media as Karamé. It is to be differentiated from the Classical Arabic term Karam ...

remains unclassified. Extinct Tambora and the East Papuan languages have not been addressed, except to identify Yele as an Austronesian language.

Wurm (1975)

The most widely used classification of Papuan languages is that of Stephen Wurm, listed below with the approximate number of languages in each family in parentheses. This was the scheme used by '' Ethnologue'' prior to Ross's classification (below). It is based on very preliminary work, much of it typological, and Wurm himself has stated that he doesn't expect it to hold up well to scrutiny. Other linguists, including William A. Foley, have suggested that many of Wurm's phyla are based on

areal feature In geolinguistics, areal features are elements shared by languages or dialects in a geographic area, particularly when such features are not descended from a proto-language, or, common ancestor language. That is, an areal feature is contrasted to ...

s and structural similarities, and accept only the lowest levels of his classification, most of which he inherited from prior taxonomies. Foley (1986) divides Papuan languages into over sixty small language families, plus a number of isolates. However, more recently Foley has accepted the broad outline if not the details of Wurm's classification, as he and Ross have substantiated a large portion of Wurm's Trans–New Guinea phylum. According to Ross (see below), the main problem with Wurm's classification is that he did not take contact-induced change into account. For example, several of the main branches of his Trans–New Guinea phylum have no vocabulary in common with other Trans–New Guinea languages, and were classified as Trans–New Guinea because they are similar

grammatically In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domains ...

. However, there are also many Austronesian languages that are grammatically similar to Trans–New Guinea languages due to the influence of contact and bilingualism. Similarly, several groups that do have substantial basic vocabulary in common with Trans–New Guinea languages are excluded from the phylum because they do not resemble it grammatically. Wurm believed the Papuan languages arrived in several waves of migration with some of the earlier languages (perhaps including the Sepik–Ramu languages) being related to the Australian languages, a later migration bringing the West Papuan, Torricelli and the East Papuan languages and a third wave bringing the most recent pre-Austronesian migration, the Trans–New Guinea family. * Amto–Musan languages (2) * '' Burmeso language'' (isolate) * '' Busa language'' (isolate) * East Bird's Head languages (3) * East Papuan languages (36) * Geelvink Bay languages (12) * '' Yuri language'' (isolate) * '' Porome language'' (isolate) * Kwomtari–Baibai languages (6) *

Left May languages The Left May or Arai languages are a small language family of half a dozen closely related but not mutually intelligible languages in the centre of New Guinea, in the watershed of the Left May River. There are only about 2,000 speakers in all. Fo ...

(7) * Sepik–Ramu languages (104) * Sko languages (7) * Torricelli languages (48) * Trans–New Guinea languages (598) * West Papuan languages (26) * '' Yalë language'' (isolate) Two of Wurm's isolates have since been linked as the * Lower Mamberamo languages (2), and since Wurm's time another isolate and two languages belonging to a new family have been discovered, * '' Abinomn language'' (isolate) * Bayono–Awbono languages (2).

Foley (2003)

Foley summarized the state of the literature. Besides Trans–New Guinea and families possibly belonging in TNG ( see), he accepted the proposals for, * Lower Sepik-Ramu ( Lower Sepik + Lower Ramu) * Middle Sepik (incl. Ndu and maybe Sepik Hill) * Torricelli * Sko * Lakes Plain and

(probably related) * East Bird's Head * West Bird's Head * Marind * Bougainville (2 branches not close to each other: North Bougainville + South Bougainville)

Ross (2005)

Malcolm Ross re-evaluated Wurm's proposal on purely lexical grounds. That is, he looked at shared vocabulary, and especially shared idiosyncrasies analogous to English ''I'' and ''me'' vs. German ''ich'' and ''mich''. The poor state of documentation of Papuan languages restricts this approach largely to

pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not c ...

s. Nonetheless, Ross believes that he has been able to validate much of Wurm's classification, albeit with revisions to correct for Wurm's partially typological approach. (See Trans–New Guinea languages.) '' Ethnologue'' (2009) largely follows Ross. It has been suggested that the families that appear when comparing pronouns may be due to pronoun borrowing rather than to genealogical relatedness. However, Ross argues that Papuan languages have closed-class pronoun systems, which are resistant to borrowing, and in any case that the massive number of languages with similar pronouns in a family like Trans–New Guinea preclude borrowing as an explanation. Also, he shows that the two cases of alleged pronoun borrowing in New Guinea are simple coincidence, explainable as regular developments from the protolanguages of the families in question: as earlier forms of the languages are reconstructed, their pronouns become ''less'' similar, not more. (Ross argues that open-class pronoun systems, where borrowings are common, are found in hierarchical cultures such as those of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

and Japan, where pronouns indicate details of relationship and social status rather than simply being grammatical

pro-form In linguistics, a pro-form is a type of function word or expression that stands in for (expresses the same content as) another word, phrase, clause or sentence where the meaning is recoverable from the context. They are used either to avoid rep ...

s as they are in the more egalitarian New Guinea societies.) Ross has proposed 23 Papuan language families and 9–13 isolates. However, because of his more stringent criteria, he was not able to find enough data to classify all Papuan languages, especially many isolates that have no close relatives to aid in their classification. Ross also found that the Lower Mamberamo languages (or at least the Warembori language—he had insufficient data on Pauwi) are Austronesian languages that have been heavily transformed by contact with Papuan languages, much as the Takia language has. The Reef Islands – Santa Cruz languages of Wurm's East Papuan phylum were a potential 24th family, but subsequent work has shown them to be highly divergent Austronesian languages as well. Note that while this classification may be more reliable than past attempts, it is based on a single parameter, ''pronouns,'' and therefore must remain tentative. Although pronouns are conservative elements in a language, they are short and utilise a reduced set of the language's phonemic inventory. Both phenomena greatly increase the possibility of chance resemblances, especially when they are not confirmed by

lexical Lexical may refer to: Linguistics * Lexical corpus or lexis, a complete set of all words in a language * Lexical item, a basic unit of lexicographical classification * Lexicon, the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge * Lex ...

similarities. * Trans–New Guinea (reduced to 466–493 languages) * ? Extended West Papuan (tentative) ** West Papuan languages (27) ** East Bird's Head – Sentani languages (9) ** '' Yawa'' (1–2) * Mairasi languages (4) * East Cenderawasih (Geelvink Bay) languages (10) * Lakes Plain languages (19; upper Mamberamo River) * Tor–Kwerba languages (17) * Nimboran languages (5) * Skou languages (8) * Border languages (15) * Left May – Kwomtari languages (13) (problematic) ** Left May (7) ** Fas (2) **? Kwomtari (3) *

Senagi languages The Senagi languages are a small family of Papuan languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, that had been part of Stephen Wurm's Trans–New Guinea proposal. They consist of the two languages Angor and Dera. The Angor language is unusu ...

(2) (perhaps related to Sepik) * Torricelli languages (40–50) (perhaps related to Sepik) *

Sepik languages The Sepik or Sepik River languages are a family of some 50 Papuan languages spoken in the Sepik river basin of northern Papua New Guinea, proposed by Donald Laycock in 1965 in a somewhat more limited form than presented here. They tend to have ...

(51) *

Ramu – Lower Sepik languages The Ramu River is a major river in northern Papua New Guinea. The headwaters of the river are formed in the Kratke Range from where it then travels about northwest to the Bismarck Sea. Along the Ramu's course, it receives numerous tributaries ...

(40) (first proposed by Foley) *

Yuat languages The Yuat languages are an independent family of five Papuan languages spoken along the Yuat River in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea. They are an independent family in the classification of Malcolm Ross, but are included in Stephen Wurm' ...

(5) *

Piawi languages The Piawi languages are a small family of Papuan languages spoken in the Schraeder Range of the Madang Highlands of Papua New Guinea that had been part of Stephen Wurm's Trans–New Guinea proposal. They are now connected to the Arafundi and M ...

(2) (perhaps in Ramu) * South-Central Papuan languages (22) *

Eastern Trans-Fly languages The Eastern Trans-Fly (or Oriomo Plateau) languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages spoken in the Oriomo Plateau The Oriomo Plateau is a plateau in Western Province, Papua New Guinea.Oriomo Plateau The Oriomo Plateau i ...

(4; one in Australia) * ? Yele – West New Britain languages (tentative) ** '' Yélî Dnye'' (Yele) (isolate) ** '' Anêm'' (isolate) ** '' Ata'' (Pele-Ata, Wasi) (isolate) * Baining (East New Britain) languages (8) * North Bougainville languages (4) * South Bougainville languages (9) * Central Solomons languages (4) ;Language isolates Sorted by location ''north

Irian New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

:'' * Abinomn language (Baso, Foia) * Isirawa language (Donohue links it to Kwerba) ''

Sandaun Province Sandaun Province (formerly West Sepik Province) is the northwesternmost mainland province of Papua New Guinea. It covers an area of 35,920 km2 (13868 m2) and has a population of 248,411 (2011 census). The capital is Vanimo. In July 1998 the a ...

:'' * Karkar language (Yuri) – since shown to be a Pauwasi language * Busa language * Yalë language (Nagatman) ''

:'' *

Taiap language Tayap (also spelled Taiap; called Gapun in earlier literature, after the name of the village in which it is spoken) is an endangered Papuan language spoken by fewer than 50 people in Gapun village of Marienberg Rural LLG in East Sepik Province ...

(Gapun), located on what had been an offshore island 4000 BCE '' Bismarck Archipelago:'' *

Sulka language Sulka is a language isolate of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. In 1991, there were 2,500 speakers in eastern Pomio District, East New Britain Province. Villages include Guma () in East Pomio Rural LLG.Reesink, Ger. 2005. Sulka of East New Brita ...

, on New Britain * Kol language, on New Britain * Kuot language (Panaras), on New Ireland ;Other Former isolates classified by Ross: * Burmeso language (Taurap), in the East Bird's Head – Sentani languages * Porome language (Kibiri), in the Kiwai family of Trans–New Guinea * Morwap language (Elseng), in the Border languages (on basic lexical resemblances) Languages reassigned to the Austronesian family: * Lower Mamberamo (Donohue argues this is a relexified Papuan family;

Yoke A yoke is a wooden beam sometimes used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. There are several types of yoke, u ...

may not belong) * Kazukuru language (2007) * Reef Islands – Santa Cruz (2007) Unclassified due to lack of data: * Amto–Musan languages (2) * Kenati (isolate) * Komyandaret (isolate) * Maramba (unattested) * Massep (isolate) * Molof (isolate) * Momuna family: Momina, Momuna (Somahai) * Samarokena (apparently Kwerba) *

Saponi The Saponi or Sappony are a Native American tribe historically based in the Piedmont of North Carolina and Virginia.Raymond D. DeMaillie, "Tutelo and Neighboring Groups," pages 286–87. They spoke a Siouan language, related to the languages of ...

(shares basic vocab, but not pronouns, with Lakes Plains) * Tause (Ross placed it provisionally in East Bird's Head – Sentani to encourage research, but does not claim it is related) * Tofamna (isolate) * Usku (isolate) Unaccounted for: * Bayono-Awbono (TNG) * Pyu (isolate, has been classified as Kwomtari–Baibai) * Kosare * Kapori * Purari (has been linked to Eleman, but with little evidence) * There is a cluster of languages in West Papua between the upper Taritatu River and the PNG border, including Molof, Usku, and Tofamna listed above but also Namla, Murkim, Lepki, and Kembra, which do not appear to be related to each other or to other languages in the area. Namla, recently discovered, may prove to be related to Tofamna once more data comes in. Murkim and Lepki show some similarities to each other, though these may not be genetic. * Tambora (unclassified, with one lexical item possibly connecting it to languages of Timor) * Doso * Kimki

Wichmann (2013)

Søren Wichmann Søren Wichmann (born 1964) is a Danish linguist specializing in historical linguistics, linguistic typology, Mesoamerican languages, and epigraphy. Since June 2016, he has been employed as a University Lecturer at Leiden University Centre for Li ...

(2013) accepts the following 109 groups as coherent Papuan families, based on computational analyses performed by the Automated Similarity Judgment Program (ASJP) combined with

Harald Hammarström Harald Hammarström (born 1977 in Västerås, Sweden) is a Swedish linguist. He is currently an Associate Senior Lecturer at Uppsala University. Hammarström is especially known for his extensive work on curating ''Glottolog'', a bibliographic dat ...

's (2012) classification. Some of the groups could turn out to be related to each other, but Wichmann (2013) lists them as separate groups pending further research. 9 families have been broken up into separate groups in Wichmann's (2013) classification, which are: * Biksi (2 groups) * Dibiyaso- Doso-Turumsa (2 groups) * Kwalean (2 groups) * Lower Sepik-Ramu (5 groups) * Morehead-Wasur (2 groups) * Nuclear Trans-New Guinea (16 groups) * Pauwasi (2 groups: ''Western'' and ''Eastern'') * Sentanic (2 groups) * Sko (2 groups) # West Timor-Alor-Pantar /

-'' Bunaq'' # South Bougainville #'' Wiru'' # Namla-Tofanma #ex-Pauwasi-1 (Western Pauwasi) #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-1 ( Asmat–Kamoro) # Mombum # Marindic #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-2 ( Awyu–Dumut) # Inland Gulf #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-3 ('' Oksapmin'') #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-4 ( Ok) #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-5 ( Finisterre-Huon) # Goilalan #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-6 ( Chimbu–Wahgi) #''

Kamula Kamula (Kamira, Wawoi) is a Trans–New Guinea language that is unclassified within that family in the classification of Malcolm Ross (2005). Noting insufficient evidence, Pawley and Hammarström (2018) leave it as unclassified. Demographics ...

'' / Awin–Pa / Bosavi / East Strickland #ex-Dibiyaso-Doso-Turumsa-1 ('' Dibiyaso'') # Angan # Duna-Bogaya #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-7 ( Engan) #

Sepik The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Se ...

/ Ndu / Walio # Greater Kwerba / Tor-Orya # Nimboran / '' Kapauri'' /

#'' Elseng'' # North Halmahera #'' Yalë'' #ex-Dibiyaso-Doso-Turumsa-2 ( Doso-Turumsa) # Kwomtari #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-8 ( Mek) #ex-Morehead-Wasur-1 ('' Yey, Nambu'') # Hatam-Mansim #'' Mor'' # Pahoturi / Eastern Trans-Fly #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-9 ( Kainantu-Goroka) # Yareban / Mailuan #''

Dem DEM was the ISO 4217 currency code for the Deutsche Mark, former currency of Germany Computing * Digital elevation model, a digital representation of ground-surface topography or terrain ** .dem, a common extension for USGS DEM files * Discret ...

'' #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-10 ( Southern Adelbert: '' Nend, Atemble, Apali, Faita, Anamgura, Mum, Musak, Moresada, Utarmbung, Anam, Paynamar, Sileibi, Wadaginam'') #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-11 ( Dani) # West Bomberai #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-12 ( Wissel Lakes) # Koiarian #'' Kaki Ae'' #'' Moraori'' #'' Mawes'' # Kolopom # Bulaka River #'' Molof'' # Yuat- Maramba #'' Kaure-Narau'' # Tirio # Kayagar # Suki-Gogodala / '' Waia'' / Kiwaian #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-13 ( Binanderean + Kowan: '' Binandere, Baruga, Kowan, Korafe, Suena, Waskia, Zia'') #'' Fasu''- East Kutubu #'' Pawaia''- Teberan # Turama-Kikori # North Bougainville # Eleman # Mairasi #'' Touo'' #ex-Kwalean-1 ('' Humene''-'' Uare'') #''

Tanahmerah Tanah Merah (or Tanamerah, literally means ''Red Land'') is a town in South Papua province of Indonesia (not to be confused with Tanahmerah Bay) on the bank of Digul river, located some two hundred miles from Merauke within the interior of Wester ...

'' #'' Savosavo'' #'' Bilua'' # Manubaran #'' Kuot'' #'' Burmeso'' # Amto-Musan / Left May / '' Busa'' #ex-Sentanic-1 ('' Sowari'') #ex-Lower Sepik-Ramu-1 ('' Ap Ma'') #'' Taiap'' #ex-Sko-1 ('' I'saka, Skou,

Vanimo Vanimo is the capital of Sandaun Province (West Sepik) in north-westernmost Papua New Guinea and of Vanimo-Green River District. It is located on a peninsula close to the border with Indonesia. Religion Its Holy Cross Pro-Cathedral is the epi ...

, Wutung; Dusur, Leitre'') #ex-Lower Sepik-Ramu-2 (

Nor–Pondo The Lower Sepik a.k.a. Nor–Pondo languages are a small language family of East Sepik Province in northern Papua New Guinea. They were identified as a family by K Laumann in 1951 under the name Nor–Pondo, and included in Donald Laycock's now-d ...

: ''

Angoram Angoram is a town and seat of Angoram District in East Sepik Province in north-western Papua New Guinea. The area is noted for its rubber and Theobroma cacao, cocoa plantations and the town is situated on the Sepik River. The town is served by Ango ...

, Chambri, Nor, Kopar, Yimas'') # Geelvink Bay #'' Konda''-'' Yahadian'' # South Bird's Head family / Inanwatan #Nuclear Torricelli #'' Urim'' #'' Ata'' # Monumbo #ex-Sentanic-2 ( Sentani proper) #ex-Lower Sepik-Ramu-3 ('' Banaro'') # Yawa #ex-Kwalean-2 ('' Mulaha'') #'' Lavukaleve'' #'' Anem'' #ex-Morehead-Wasur-2 ('' Kunja'') #'' Papi'' #'' Mpur'' #'' Abun'' / '' Maybrat'' / West Bird's Head # Lakes Plain #'' Pyu'' #ex-Biksi-1 ('' Kimki'') #ex-Sko-2 ('' Rawo, Barupu; Poo, Ramo, Sumararo, Womo'') #ex-Biksi-2 ('' Yetfa'') #'' Yeli Dnye'' # Lepki–Murkim #ex-Pauwasi-2 (Eastern Pauwasi) # East Bird's Head #'' Kosare'' #'' Usku'' #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-14 ( Croisilles) #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-15 ('' Kobon'') # Senagi # Piawi #ex-Lower Sepik-Ramu-4 ('' Rao'') #ex-Lower Sepik-Ramu-5 ('' Kire, Kaian, Aruamu'') #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-16 ( Croisilles) An automated computational analysis ( ASJP 4) by Müller, Velupillai, Wichmann et al. (2013)Müller, André, Viveka Velupillai, Søren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown, Eric W. Holman, Sebastian Sauppe, Pamela Brown, Harald Hammarström, Oleg Belyaev, Johann-Mattis List, Dik Bakker, Dmitri Egorov, Matthias Urban, Robert Mailhammer, Matthew S. Dryer, Evgenia Korovina, David Beck, Helen Geyer, Pattie Epps, Anthony Grant, and Pilar Valenzuela. 2013.
ASJP World Language Trees of Lexical Similarity: Version 4 (October 2013)
'. found lexical similarities among the following language groups. Note that some of these automatically generated groupings are due to chance resemblances. * Yuat, Kwalean, Mailuan * Lower Sepik, Monumbo * Lakes Plain, Wipi, Marind * Pyu, Kimki * Biksi, Yele * Lepki-Murkim, Karkar-Yuri * Skou, Kaure- Usku,

Marienberg Marienberg is a town in Germany. It was the district capital of the Mittlerer Erzgebirgskreis (Central Ore Mountains district) in the southern part of Saxony, and since August 2008 it has been part of the new district of Erzgebirgskreis. As of ...

* Mairasi, Mpur * Touo, Savosavo, Bilua * Angan,

* Binandere, Waskia, Tiwi, Senagi *

, Elseng * Kwerba, Nimboran * Mek, Tayap, Abau,

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

* North Halmahera, Timor-Alor-Pantar * West Bomberai, Dani, Oriomo, Morehead * Meyah, Sougb, Hatam * Kainantu, Yareban- Manubaran * Kwomtari, Pawaia, Kwalean * Sentani, Busa, Amto-Musan, Left May * Lavukaleve, Anem, Urim * Gorokan * Kaure, Makayam * Gogodala, Tabo, Kiwaian,

* Kayagaric, Mor, Bulaka River * North Bougainville, Eleman * Engan, Duna-Bogaya * Marind, Asmat-Kamoro, Mombum- Kolopom * Dubu-Towei, Wiru * Tofanma, Turama-Kikorian * Awyu * Inland Gulf, Ok-Oksapmin * Bosavi, East Strickland, Kapauku, Doso * Kutubuan * Angan *

, Awin-Pa, Goilalan, Leonard Schultze * Koiarian * Purari, Kaki Ae * Chimbu-Wahgi, Finisterre-Huon

Palmer (2018)

Bill Palmer et al. (2018) propose 43 independent families and 37 language isolates in the Papuasphere, comprising a total of 862 languages. A total of 80 independent groups are recognized. While Pawley & Hammarström's internal classification of Trans-New Guinea largely resembles a composite of Usher's and Ross' classifications, Palmer et al. do not address the more tentative families that Usher proposes, such as Northwest New Guinea. The coherence of the South Bird's Head, East Bird's Head, Pauwasi, Kwomtari, and Central Solomons families are uncertain, and hence are marked below as "tentative." ''Papuan independent language families (43 families)'' *

Trans New Guinea Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom * ''Trans'' (fil ...

(431) * Torricelli (50) *

(45) * Lower Sepik-Ramu (35) * Yam (27) * Timor-Alor-Pantar (26) * Tor-Kwerba (23) * Lakes Plain (20) *

(14) * Sko (13) * East Cenderawasih Bay (10) * North Halmahera (10) * South Bird's Head (10) entative; 3 families?* Kwomtari (6) entative; 4 families?* Leonard Schultze (6) * Upper Yuat (6) * West Bird's Head (6) * East Bird's Head (5) entative; 2 families?* Baining (5) * Pauwasi (5) entative; 2 families?* Nimboran (5) * Yuat (5) * Left May (5) * Pahoturi River (5) * Eleman (5) * North Bougainville (4) * South Bougainville (4) * Central Solomons (4) entative; 4 isolates?* Oriomo (4) * Sentani (4) * Mairasi (3) * Butam-Taulil (2) * Bayono-Awbono (2) * Teberan (2) * Kaure (2) * Lepki (2) * Senagi (2) * Tofanma (2) *

Yapen Yapen (also Japan, Jobi) is an island of Papua, Indonesia. The Yapen Strait separates Yapen and the Biak Islands to the north. It is in Cenderawasih Bay off the north-western coast of the island of New Guinea. To the west is Mios Num Island ...

(2) * Amto-Musan (2) * Doso-Turumsa (2) * Komolom (2) * Yelmek-Maklew (2) ''Papuan isolates and unclassified languages (37 total)'' ;

Bird's Head Peninsula The Bird's Head Peninsula ( Indonesian: ''Kepala Burung'', nl, Vogelkop) or Doberai Peninsula (''Semenanjung Doberai''), is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indonesian provinces ...

/ Bomberai Peninsula (5) * Abun * Mpur * Maibrat * Mor * Tanah Merah ;North coast / hinterland (12) * Abinomn * Burmeso * Elseng * Kapauri * Kembra * Keuw * Kimki * Massep * Mawes * Molof * Usku * Yetfa ;Central West Papua (2) *

* Uhunduni ;

- Ramu basin (3) * Busa * Taiap * Yadë ;

Gulf of Papua The Gulf of Papua is located in the southern coast region of New Guinea. It has a total surface area of . Geography Some of New Guinea's largest rivers, such as the Fly River, Turama River, Kikori River, Purari River, and Wawoi River flow ...

/ hinterland (8) * Dibiyaso * Kaki Ae *

* Pawaia * Porome * Purari * Tabo ; Bismarck Archipelago (6) * Anêm * Ata * Kol * Kuot * Makolkol * Sulka ;

Rossel Island Rossel Island (named after de Rossel, a senior officer on the French expedition of d'Entrecasteaux, 1791-1793; also known as Yela) is the easternmost island of the Louisiade Archipelago, within the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. Tree Isl ...

( Louisiade Archipelago) (1) * Yélî Dnye

''Glottolog'' 4.0 (2019)

'' Glottolog'' 4.0 (2019), based partly on Usher, recognizes 70 independent families and 55 isolates. ;Families (70) * Nuclear Trans-New Guinea (314) **''Subgroups'': **

(106) ** Finisterre-Huon (61) ** Asmat-Awyu-Ok (49) ** Kainantu-Goroka (28) ** Chimbu-Wahgi (17) ** Enga-Kewa-Huli (14) ** Dani (13) ** Greater Binanderean (13) ** Mek (8) ** Paniai Lakes (5) * Nuclear Torricelli (55) *

(36) * Lower Sepik-Ramu (30) * Timor-Alor-Pantar (23) * Lakes Plain (20) * Morehead-Wasur (19) *

Anim Anim or ANIM may refer to: Places *A city in the mountains of Judah, now el-Ghuwein, near Eshtemoh, about 10 miles south-west of Hebron *An alternative spelling for the biblical city of Anem, now Jenin * Anim synagogue, a synagogue in Israel ...

(17) *

(15) * North Halmahera (15) * Angan (13) * Ndu (13) * Tor-Orya (13) * Geelvink Bay (10) * Sko (10) * Dagan (9) * South Bougainville (9) * Greater Kwerba (8) * Koiarian (8) * Mailuan (8) * Bosavi (7) * Baining (6) * East Strickland (6) * Goilalan (6) * Kiwaian (6) * Left May (6) * South Bird's Head (6) * Eleman (5) * Nimboranic (5) * Pauwasi (5) * West Bird's Head (5) * Yareban (5) * Yuat (5) * Arafundi (4) * Eastern Trans-Fly (4) * North Bougainville (4) * Sentanic (4) * Suki-Gogodala (4) * Turama-Kikori (4) * Walioic (4) * East Bird's Head (3) * Kamula-Elevala (3) * Kayagaric (3) * Kolopom (3) * Kwalean (3) * Mairasic (3) * Ulmapo (3) * West Bomberai (3) * Amto-Musan (2) * Baibai-Fas (2) * Bayono-Awbono (2) * Bogia (2) * Bulaka River (2) * Doso-Turumsa (2) * East Kutubu (2) * Hatam-Mansim (2) * Inanwatan (2) * Konda-Yahadian (2) * Kwomtari-Nai (2) * Lepki-Murkim (2) * Manubaran (2) * Mombum-Koneraw (2) * Namla-Tofanma (2) * Pahoturi (2) * Piawi (2) * Senagi (2) * Somahai (2) * Taulil-Butam (2) * Teberan (2) * Yawa-Saweru (2) ;Isolates (55) * Abinomn * Abun * Ambakich * Anem * Ap Ma * Asabano * Bilua * Bogaya * Burmeso * Damal *

* Dibiyaso * Duna * Elseng * Fasu * Guriaso * Kaki Ae * Kapori *

* Kaure-Narau * Kehu * Kembra * Kibiri * Kimki * Kol * Kosadle * Kuot * Lavukaleve * Marori * Massep * Mawes * Maybrat-Karon * Molof * Mor * Mpur * Odiai * Papi * Pawaia * Pele-Ata * Purari * Pyu * Sause * Savosavo * Sulka * Tabo * Taiap * Tambora *

* Touo * Usku * Wiru *

* Yele * Yerakai * Yetfa

External relations

proposed that the

(or at least the

) off the coast of

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

are related to the Papuan or West Papuan languages. Stephen Wurm stated that the lexical similarities between Great Andamanese and the West Papuan and Timor–Alor families "are quite striking and amount to virtual formal identity ..in a number of instances". However, he considered this not evidence of a connection between (Great) Andamanese and Trans–New Guinea, but of a substratum from an earlier migration to New Guinea from the west. Greenberg also suggested a connection to the

. However, the Tasmanian peoples were isolated for perhaps 10,000 years, genocide wiped out their languages before much was recorded of them, and few linguists expect that they will ever be linked to another language family. William A. Foley (1986) noted lexical similarities between R. M. W. Dixon's 1980 reconstruction of proto-

and the languages of the East New Guinea Highlands. He believed that it was naïve to expect to find a single Papuan or Australian language family when New Guinea and Australia had been a single landmass for most of their human history, having been separated by the

only 8000 years ago, and that a deep reconstruction would likely include languages from both. However, Dixon later abandoned his proto-Australian proposal, and Foley's ideas need to be re-evaluated in light of recent research. Wurm also suggested the Sepik–Ramu languages have similarities with the Australian languages, but believed this may be due to a substratum effect, but nevertheless believed that the Australian languages represent a linguistic group that existed in New Guinea before the arrival of the Papuan languages (which he believed arrived in at least two different groups).

Typology

The West Papuan, Lower Mamberamo, and most Torricelli languages are all left-headed, as well as the languages of New Britain and New Ireland. These languages all have

SVO word order SVO may refer to: * Saturn Valley Online, an EarthBound MMORPG * Sheremetyevo International Airport, one three major airports serving Moscow, Russia, IATA Airport Code * Social value orientations, a psychological construct * Sparse voxel octree, a ...

, with the exception of the language isolate Kuot, which has VSO word order. All other Papuan languages are right-headed. Tonal Papuan languages include the Sko, Lepki, Kaure, Kembra, Lakes Plain, and Keuw languages.

References

Notes

General references

* * * * * * * *

External links

TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea
(by Simon Greenhill)
2003 bibliography of languages (Papuan and Austronesian) of Indonesian PapuaSummer Institute of Linguistics site on languages (Papuan and Austronesian) of Papua New Guinea
* ttp://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/research_projects/delp/papuan.php Bill Foley on Papuan languages
Dryer's Papuan Language Families and GeneraTimothy Usher's Newguineaworld site
{{Authority control Languages of Indonesia Languages of Papua New Guinea