The Upper Yuat languages consist of two small language families, namely Arafundi and Piawi, spoken in the region of the upper Yuat River of New Guinea. The connection was first suggested by

William A. Foley William A. Foley (''William Auguste "Bill" Foley;'' born 1949) is an American linguist and professor at Columbia University He was previously located at the University of Sydney. He specializes in Papuan and Austronesian languages. Foley develo ...

and confirmed by Timothy Usher, who further links them to the Madang languages.New Guinea World, Upper Yuat River
/ref> Upper Yuat languages display more typological similarities with Trans-New Guinea than the other neighboring language families of the Sepik-Ramu basin (namely the

Lower Sepik-Ramu Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eight ...

and Yuat families). The Madang languages are frequently included in Trans–New Guinea classifications, but the connection is not yet demonstrated. The Piawi languages are morphologically much simpler than the Arafundi languages.

Pronouns

Pronouns are: : The individual languages are as follows: : 3rd-person *nu (number uncertain) corresponds to Piawi 3 singular and Arafundi 2/3 plural, *ne to Piawi 2/3 plural and Arafundi 2/3 dual.

Phonology

Upper Yuat languages typically have 7 vowels: :

Pronouns

Phonology

References

Further reading