The Leonhard Schultze (Leonard Schultze) or Walio–Papi languages are a proposed language family, family of about 6 Papuan languages spoken in the Sepik River, Sepik river basin of northern Papua New Guinea. They are spoken along the border region of East Sepik Province and Sandaun Province, just to the south of the Iwam languages. The languages are named after the Leonhard Schultze River, which is in turn named after German anthropologist Leonhard Schultze-Jena.

Languages

The Leonard Schultze languages are: *Walio languages: Walio language, Walio, Pei language, Pei, Yawiyo language, Yawiyo, and Tuwari language, Tuwari *Papi–Asaba languages: Papi language, Papi and Suarmin language, Suarmin

Classification

The Leonhard Schultze languages were traditionally classified by Donald Laycock, Laycock and Z'graggen (1975) as part of the Sepik languages, Sepik language family. William A. Foley, Foley (2018) classifies the Leonhard Schultze languages separately as an independent language family rather than as part of the Sepik languages (as in previous classifications proposed by others). However, this classification is not accepted by Glottolog, which splits up the Walio and Papi branches and considers them each to be a primary language family.

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Conrad and Dye (1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database: :

References

{{language families Leonhard Schultze languages, Sepik languages Languages of Momase Region