The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian and non- Australian 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 Torres ...

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 Gui ...

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 Melanesians are the predominant and indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in a wide area from Indonesia's New Guinea to as far East as the islands of Vanuatu and Fiji. Most speak either one of the many languages of the Austronesian language fam ...

as distinct from Austronesian-speaking

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 isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The nu ...

s. The majority of the Papuan languages are spoken on the island of New Guinea, with a number spoken in the

Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km. History The first inhabitants o ...

Bougainville Island Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire-associated North Solomon Islands, North Solo ...

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 Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island. Ha ...

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, ...

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 Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, 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 Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and t ...

Sumba Sumba ( id, Pulau Sumba) is an island in eastern Indonesia. It is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands and is in the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Sumba has an area of , and the population was 779,049 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as a ...

, 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 The Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian (CEMP) languages form a proposed branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages consisting of over 700 languages (Blust 1993). Distribution The Central Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken in the Lesser Sun ...

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 in

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-w ...

(100,000 in 2010) and Galela in

(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 Stephen Adolphe Wurm ( hu, Wurm István Adolf, ; 19 August 1922 – 24 October 2001) was a Hungarian-born Australian linguist. Early life Wurm was born in Budapest, the second child to the German-speaking Adolphe Wurm and the Hungarian-sp ...

, and Malcolm Ross. The largest family posited for the Papuan region is the Trans–New Guinea

phylum In biology, a phylum (; plural: phyla) is a level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. Traditionally, in botany the term division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclature ...

, 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 South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

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 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 The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

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, but not the

Australian Aboriginal languages The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

. 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, John Lynch,

Andrew Pawley Andrew Kenneth Pawley (born 1941 in Sydney), FRSNZ, FAHA, is Emeritus Professor at the School of Culture, History & Language of the ''College of Asia & the Pacific'' at the Australian National University. Career Pawley was born in Sydney but ...

, 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 ''Glottolog'' is a bibliographic database of the world's lesser-known languages, developed and maintained first at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany (between 2015 and 2020 at the Max Planck Institute f ...

'' (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 Pyu, also spelled Phyu or Phyuu, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. is a town in Taungoo District, Bago Region in Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions requ ...

'') * 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 Etna Bay ( id, Teluk Etna, nl, Etna-baai) is a bay in eastern Kaimana Regency, situated in the southeastern corner of West Papua province, Indonesia. Teluk Etnaat GeoNames.Org (cc-by) post updated 2012-01-17; database downloaded on 2015-11-27 T ...

(= Mairasi) * Kaki Ae – Kerema Bay (= Eleman) * Keram and Ramu Rivers (= Ramu) *'' Kibiri-Porome'' * Kiwai *

Lakes Plains The Mamberamo Lakes Plains (Dutch Meervlakte, Malay ''dataran danau-danau'') are a large, flat low-lying area of the Mamberamo River basin in the Indonesian province Papua on the island of New Guinea. The plain is defined by the meandering tribu ...

* 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 (= 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 ca ...

, 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 Pauwasi may refer to: *Pauwasi languages * East Pauwasi languages * West Pauwasi languages *South Pauwasi languages The South Pauwasi languages are a likely small language family of New Guinea, potentially consisting of Yetfa, Kimki, Lepki, ...

(expands Pauwasi with several recently discovered languages) * Senagi *

Senu River The Senu River is a river in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. Senu Riverin Geonames.org (cc-by) post updated 2011-06-05; database downloaded 2015-06-22 See also *List of rivers of Papua New Guinea *Senu River languages The Senu River la ...

(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 remains unclassified. Extinct Tambora and the

East Papuan languages The East Papuan languages is a defunct proposal for a family of Papuan languages spoken on the islands to the east of New Guinea, including New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, and the Santa Cruz Islands. There is no evidenc ...

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

, listed below with the approximate number of languages in each family in parentheses. This was the scheme used by ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensi ...

'' 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. However, there are also many Austronesian languages that are grammatically similar to Trans–New Guinea languages due to the influence of contact and

bilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all ...

. 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 Amto–Musan is a language family of two closely related but mutually unintelligible Papuan languages, Amto and Siawi, spoken along the Samaia River of Sandaun Province of Papua New Guinea. Languages Foley (2018) and Usher (2020) agree that ...

(2) * ''

Burmeso language The Burmeso language – also known as Taurap – is spoken by some 300 people in Burmeso village along the mid Mamberamo River in Mamberamo Tengah subdistrict, Mamberamo Raya Regency, Papua province, Indonesia. It is surrounded by the Kwerba ...

'' (isolate) * '' Busa language'' (isolate) *

East Bird's Head languages 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 fa ...

(3) *

(36) * Geelvink Bay languages (12) * '' Yuri language'' (isolate) * ''

Porome language Porome, also known as Kibiri, is a Papuan language of southern Papua New Guinea. Classification Porome was classified as a language isolate by Stephen Wurm. Although Malcolm Ross linked it to the Kiwaian languages, there is no evidence fo ...

'' (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 The Sko or Skou languages are a small language family spoken by about 7000 people, mainly along the Vanimo coast of Sandaun Province in Papua New Guinea, with a few being inland from this area and at least one just across the border in the Indone ...

(7) *

Torricelli languages The Torricelli languages are a family of about fifty languages of the northern Papua New Guinea coast, spoken by about 80,000 people. They are named after the Torricelli Mountains. The most populous and best known Torricelli language is Arapesh, ...

(48) *

Trans–New Guinea languages Trans–New Guinea (TNG) is an extensive Language family, family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands ‒ corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as Western New Guinea, parts of Indonesia. ...

(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 The Abinomn language (Avinomen, Foya) is a likely language isolate initially reported by Mark Donohue from Papua province, Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the ...

'' (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 ...

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

.) ''

'' (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 mainland ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, where pronouns indicate details of relationship and social status rather than simply being grammatical pro-forms 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 In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west ...

. Both phenomena greatly increase the possibility of chance resemblances, especially when they are not confirmed by lexical similarities. * Trans–New Guinea (reduced to 466–493 languages) * ?

Extended West Papuan The West Papuan languages are a proposed language family of about two dozen non-Austronesian languages of the Bird's Head Peninsula (Vogelkop or Doberai Peninsula) of far western New Guinea, the island of Halmahera and its vicinity, spoken by a ...

(tentative) ** West Papuan languages (27) **

East Bird's Head – Sentani languages The East Bird's Head – Sentani languages form a family of Papuan languages proposed by Malcolm Ross which combines the East Bird's Head and Sentani families along with the Burmeso language isolate. Sentani had been a branch of Stephen Wurm's ...

(9) ** '' Yawa'' (1–2) *

Mairasi languages The Mairasi languages, also known as Etna Bay are a small independent family of Papuan languages in the classifications of Malcolm Ross and Timothy Usher, that had been part of Stephen Wurm's Trans–New Guinea proposal. They are named after E ...

(4) * East Cenderawasih (Geelvink Bay) languages (10) *

Lakes Plain languages The Lakes Plain languages are a family of Papuan languages, spoken in the Lakes Plain of Indonesian New Guinea. They are notable for being heavily tonal and for their lack of nasal consonants. Classification The Lakes Plain languages were tenta ...

(19; upper

Mamberamo River The Mamberamo (''Indonesian: Sungai Mamberamo'') is the second longest river on the island of New Guinea, after Sepik River (1,146 km) and third largest in Oceania by discharge (5,500 m3/s) volume after Fly River (7,500 m3/s) and Sepik (7,00 ...

) * Tor–Kwerba languages (17) *

Nimboran languages The Nimboran languages are a small family of Papuan languages, spoken in the Grime River watershed, that had been part of Stephen Wurm Stephen Adolphe Wurm ( hu, Wurm István Adolf, ; 19 August 1922 – 24 October 2001) was a Hungarian-bor ...

(5) *

Skou languages The Sko or Skou languages are a small language family spoken by about 7000 people, mainly along the Vanimo coast of Sandaun Province in Papua New Guinea, with a few being inland from this area and at least one just across the border in the Indone ...

(8) *

Border languages The Border or Upper Tami languages are an independent family of Papuan languages in Malcolm Ross's version of the Trans–New Guinea proposal. Unlike the neighboring Sepik languages and many other Papuan language families of northern New Guine ...

(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) *

(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 ha ...

(51) * Ramu – Lower Sepik languages (40) (first proposed by Foley) * Yuat languages (5) * Piawi languages (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 language family, family of Papuan languages spoken in the Oriomo Plateau to the west of the Fly River in New Guinea. Classification The languages constituted a branch ...

(4; one in

) * ?

Yele – West New Britain languages Yele – West New Britain is a tentative language family proposal by Malcolm Ross that unites three languages: Anêm and Ata (Wasi) of western New Britain, and more dubiously Yélî Dnye (Yele) of Rossel Island. These were classified as East ...

(tentative) ** '' Yélî Dnye'' (Yele) (isolate) ** '' Anêm'' (isolate) ** '' Ata'' (Pele-Ata, Wasi) (isolate) * Baining (East New Britain) languages (8) *

North Bougainville languages The North Bougainville or West Bougainville languages are a small language family spoken on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. They were classified as East Papuan languages by Stephen Wurm, but this does not now seem tenable, and wa ...

(4) *

South Bougainville languages The South Bougainville or East Bougainville languages are a small language family spoken on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. They were classified as East Papuan languages by Stephen Wurm, but this does not now seem tenable, and wa ...

(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 ...

:'' *

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

Sandaun Province Sandaun Province (formerly West Sepik Province) is the northwesternmost mainland Provinces of Papua New Guinea, 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 capita ...

:'' *

Karkar language The Karkar language, also known as Yuri, is the sole Eastern Pauwasi language of Papua New Guinea. There are about a thousand speakers along the Indonesian border spoken in Green River Rural LLG, Sandaun Province. Writing system Dialects ...

(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 ''

:'' * Sulka language, on

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the D ...

* Kol language, on New Britain *

Kuot language The Kuot language, or Panaras, is a language isolate, the only non- Austronesian language spoken on the island of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea. Lindström (2002: 30) estimates that there are 1,500 fluent speakers of Kuot. Perhaps due to the s ...

(Panaras), on New Ireland ;Other Former isolates classified by Ross: *

(Taurap), in the

(Kibiri), in the Kiwai family of Trans–New Guinea * Morwap language (Elseng), in the

(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: *

(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) *

(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 The Taritatu or Idenburg River also called Baliem River is a river in the northern part of the Indonesian province of Papua. It is the largest tributary of Mamberamo River with a total length of . Name During the Dutch colonial era it was known ...

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 (2013) accepts the following 109 groups as coherent Papuan families, based on computational analyses performed by the

Automated Similarity Judgment Program The Automated Similarity Judgment Program (ASJP) is a collaborative project applying computational approaches to comparative linguistics using a database of word lists. The database is open access and consists of 40-item basic-vocabulary lists ...

(ASJP) combined with Harald Hammarström'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 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 ki ...

'') #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'' / 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 North Halmahera Regency ( id, Kabupaten Halmahera Utara) is a regency (on Halmahera Island) of North Maluku Province, Indonesia. It was declared a Regency on 31 May 2003. The capital town of the regency lies at the port of Tobelo. The Regency, whi ...

#'' 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'' #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 The West Bomberai languages are a family of Papuan languages spoken on the Bomberai Peninsula of western New Guinea and in East Timor and neighboring islands of Indonesia. Languages Two of the languages of the mainland, Baham and Iha, are clos ...

#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 Fasu, also known as Namo Me, is one of the Kutubuan languages of New Guinea. Varieties Wurm and Hattori (1981) considered its three principal dialects, Fasu, Some and Namumi, to be three languages, which they called the West Kutubuan family. Ho ...

''- East Kutubu #'' Pawaia''- Teberan # Turama-Kikori # North Bougainville # Eleman # Mairasi #'' Touo'' #ex-Kwalean-1 ('' Humene''-'' Uare'') #'' Tanahmerah'' #'' 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: '' Angoram, Chambri, Nor, Kopar, Yimas'') # Geelvink Bay #'' Konda''-'' Yahadian'' #

South Bird's Head The South Bird's Head or South Doberai languages are three families of Papuan languages. They form part of the Trans–New Guinea languages in the classifications of Malcolm Ross (2005) and Timothy Usher (2020), though Pawley and Hammarström (2 ...

family / Inanwatan #Nuclear Torricelli #''

Urim In the Hebrew Bible, the Urim ( he, ''ʾŪrīm'', "lights") and the Thummim ( he, ''Tummīm'', meaning uncertain, possibly "perfections") are elements of the ''hoshen'', the breastplate worn by the High Priest attached to the ephod. They are ...

'' #'' 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 Maybrat may refer to the following topics from Southwest Papua, Indonesia: * Maybrat language * Maybrat people * Maybrat Regency Maybrat Regency is a regency of Southwest Papua Province of Indonesia. It has an area of , and had a population of 33, ...

'' / West Bird's Head # Lakes Plain #''

'' #ex-Biksi-1 ('' Kimki'') #ex-Sko-2 ('' Rawo, Barupu; Poo,

Ramo {{other uses A ramo (Kwaio: ''lamo'') was a warrior-leader among certain tribes on Malaita in the Solomon Islands. A ramo was recognized when he had killed an adversary in personal combat, and established an intimidating reputation. This was also b ...

, 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 Wipi, also known as Gidra, Jibu or Oriomo, is a Papuan language of New Guinea. It is a member of the Eastern Trans-Fly languages, Eastern Trans-Fly family, the other languages of this family being Gizrra, Meriam Mir and Bine language, Bine. The f ...

, Marind *

, 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 ...

, Timor-Alor-Pantar *

, Dani, Oriomo, Morehead *

Meyah Meyah (Meax) is a West Papuan language spoken in Miyah District, Tambrauw Regency of West Papua, Indonesia. The Meyah language is agglutinative and head-marking and has no grammatical cases. It has subject-object-verb word order, which comes ...

Sougb Sougb, or Sogh, is a Papuan language of the East Bird's Head language family spoken in the east of the Bird's Head Peninsula to the east of Meyah and to the south of Manokwari, including the area of Soug Jaya District, Teluk Wondama Regency. It ...

, Hatam *

Kainantu Kainantu is a town in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. It had some historical significance as an airstrip town during WWII. It functions primarily as a market town for local produce growers and cash croppers. It is located on the "High ...

, Yareban- Manubaran * Kwomtari, Pawaia, Kwalean * Sentani, Busa, Amto-Musan, Left May * Lavukaleve, Anem,

* 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 * Kamula, 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

, 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) *

(10) *

(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 The Pahoturi, or Paho River, is a river in southwestern Papua New Guinea. Pahoturi Riverin Geonames.org (cc-by) post updated 2011-07-09; database downloaded 2015-06-22 See also *List of rivers of Papua New Guinea This is a list of rivers of Papu ...

(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 /

Bomberai Peninsula Bomberai Peninsula ( id, Semenanjung Bomberai), otherwise known as the Bird's Beak Peninsula ( id, Semenanjung Paruh Burung), is located in the Western New Guinea region, opposite to and to the south of the Bird's Head Peninsula. To the west lies ...

(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) * Dem * 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 * Kamula * Karami * Pawaia * Porome * Purari * Tabo ;

(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 The Louisiade Archipelago is a string of ten larger volcanic islands frequently fringed by coral reefs, and 90 smaller coral islands in Papua New Guinea. It is located 200 km southeast of New Guinea, stretching over more than and spre ...

) (1) * Yélî Dnye

''Glottolog'' 4.0 (2019)

'' 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) *

(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) *

(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) *

(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 * Dem * Dibiyaso * Duna * Elseng *

* Guriaso * Kaki Ae * Kapori * Karami * Kaure-Narau * Kehu * Kembra * Kibiri * Kimki * Kol * Kosadle * Kuot * Lavukaleve * Marori * Massep * Mawes * Maybrat-Karon * Molof * Mor * Mpur * Odiai * Papi * Pawaia * Pele-Ata * Purari *

* Sause * Savosavo * Sulka * Tabo * Taiap * Tambora * Tanahmerah * Touo * Usku * Wiru *

* Yele * Yerakai * Yetfa

External relations

proposed that the

(or at least the Great Andamanese languages) 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 C. Wells, Joh ...

are related to the Papuan or West Papuan languages.

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 In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...

from an earlier migration to New Guinea from the west. Greenberg also suggested a connection to the Tasmanian languages. 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- Australian 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

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

Speaker numbers

History of classification

Greenberg's classification

Usher (2020)

Wurm (1975)

Foley (2003)

Ross (2005)

Wichmann (2013)

Palmer (2018)

''Glottolog'' 4.0 (2019)

External relations

Typology

See also

References

Notes

General references

Further reading

External links