The Central and South New Guinea languages (CSNG) are a proposed
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of
Trans–New Guinea languages
Trans–New Guinea (TNG) is an extensive family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands ‒ corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as parts of Indonesia.
Trans–New Guinea is the third-la ...
(TNG). They were part of Voorhoeve & McElhanon's original TNG proposal, but have been reduced in scope by half (nine families to four) in the classification of
Malcolm Ross. According to Ross, it is not clear if the pronoun similarities between the four remaining branches of Central and South New Guinea are retentions for proto-TNG forms or shared innovations defining a single branch of TNG. Voorhoeve argues independently for an Awyu–Ok relationship, and Foley echoes that Asmat may be closest to Awyu and Ok of the TNG languages. Regardless, the four individual branches of reduced Central and South New Guinea are themselves clearly valid families.
* Central and South New Guinea (Asmat–Ok)
**
Asmat–Kamoro family
recent expansion along the south coast**
Greater Awyu family
**
Mombum family
**
Ok–Oksapmin family
''
Ethnologue'' (2009) retains only Awyu–Dumut and Ok, calling the branch ''Ok–Awyu,'' and places Asmat and Mombum as independent branches of TNG. Loughnane & Fedden (2011) link Ok to the
Oksapmin language
Oksapmin is a Trans–New Guinea language spoken in Oksapmin Rural LLG, Telefomin District, Sandaun, Papua New Guinea.
The two principal dialects are distinct enough to cause some problems with mutual intelligibility.
Oksapmin has dyadic kin ...
.
[Loughnane, Robyn and Fedden, Sebastian (2011) 'Is Oksapmin Ok?-A Study of the Genetic Relationship between Oksapmin and the Ok Languages', Australian Journal of Linguistics, 31: 1, 1-42.]
/ref> However, van den Heuvel & Fedden (2014) argue that Greater Awyu and Greater Ok are not genetically related, but that their similarities are due to intensive contact.[van den Heuvel, W. & Fedden, S. (2014). Greater Awyu and Greater Ok: Inheritance or Contact? ''Oceanic Linguistics'' 53(1), 1-36. University of Hawai'i Press.]
The Somahai languages and Bayono-Awbono may also belong here, but there is little data to go on.
History
In the mid 1960s, Alan Healey, a colleague of Laycock, noted connections between the Ok, Asmat, and Awyu–Dumut families. Voorhoeve (1968) expanded on this and coined the name CSNG; his proposal added Trans-Fly and Marind to the mix. Collaboration with McElhanon and his Finisterre–Huon family in 1970 found a connection between them, which was named Trans–New Guinea. Wurm's 1975 expansion of TNG also expanded CSNG, with the addition of Awin–Pa, Bosavi, Duna–Pogaya, East Strickland, Mombum, and Momuna. Ross's recension in 2005 retained nothing from Voorhoeve and only Mombum from Wurm, though the Momuna languages were too sparsely attested for him to classify.
See also
* Central West New Guinea languages
References
*
External links
Online Bibliography of Asmat Ethnographic Resources
{{Trans–New Guinea languages
Languages of Indonesia
Languages of Papua New Guinea
Trans–New Guinea languages
Proposed language families
Western New Guinea