The Baining languages are a small
language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in h ...
spoken by the
Baining people
The Baining people are among the earliest continuously located inhabitants of the Gazelle Peninsula of East New Britain, Papua New Guinea; they currently live in the Baining Mountains, from which they take their name. The Baining are thought to h ...
on the
Gazelle Peninsula of
New Britain in
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 ...
. They appear to be related to the neighboring
Taulil–Butam languages, which immigrated from
New Ireland.
Languages
The languages are:
*
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...
(2,200 speakers)
*
Qaqet (6,400 speakers)
*
Kairak (900 speakers)
*
Simbali (450 speakers)
*
Ura (1,900 speakers)
Extinct
Makolkol neighbored the (other) Baining languages to their southwest but is unattested.
Vocabulary comparison
The following basic vocabulary words are from SIL field notes (1970, 1971, 1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:
:
References
{{Papuan languages
East New Britain languages
Languages of East New Britain Province