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 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, 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. 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, 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, 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,

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, and South 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, 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, 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 (= 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 – 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 (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 * 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 features 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'' (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 (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 Cenderawasih Bay (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 (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:'' *

(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) '' Sepik River:'' * Taiap language (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: * Burmeso language (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 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 (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 / 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 languages, Yuat- Maramba #''Kaure language, Kaure-Narau'' #Tirio languages, Tirio #Kayagar languages, Kayagar #Gogodala–Suki languages, Suki-Gogodala / '' Waia'' / Kiwaian languages, Kiwaian #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-13 ( Binanderean + Kowan languages, Kowan: ''ISO 639:bhg, Binandere, ISO 639:bjz, Baruga, ISO 639:koz, Kowan, ISO 639:kpr, Korafe, ISO 639:sue, Suena, ISO 639:wsk, Waskia, ISO 639:zia, Zia'') #''Fasu language, Fasu''-East Kutubuan languages, East Kutubu #'' Pawaia''- Teberan #Turama–Kikorian languages, Turama-Kikori # North Bougainville #Eleman languages, Eleman #Mairasi languages, Mairasi #''Touo language, Touo'' #ex-Kwalean-1 (''Humene language, Humene''-''Uare language, Uare'') #''Sumuri language, Tanahmerah'' #''Savosavo language, Savosavo'' #''Bilua language, Bilua'' #Manubaran languages, Manubaran #''Kuot language, Kuot'' #''Burmeso language, Burmeso'' #Amto–Musan languages, Amto-Musan / Left May / '' Busa'' #ex-Sentanic-1 (''Sowari language, Sowari'') #ex-Lower Sepik-Ramu-1 (''Ap Ma language, Ap Ma'') #''Taiap language, Taiap'' #ex-Sko-1 (''ISO 639:ksi, I'saka, ISO 639:skv, Skou, ISO 639:vam, Vanimo, ISO 639:wut, Wutung; Dusur language, Dusur, Leitre language, Leitre'') #ex-Lower Sepik-Ramu-2 (Nor–Pondo languages, Nor–Pondo: ''ISO 639:aog, Angoram, ISO 639:can, Chambri, ISO 639:mtf, Nor, ISO 639:xop, Kopar, ISO 639:yee, Yimas'') #Geelvink Bay languages, Geelvink Bay #''Konda language (Papuan), Konda''-''Yahadian language, Yahadian'' #South Bird's Head languages, South Bird's Head family / Inanwatan languages, Inanwatan #Nuclear Torricelli #''Urim language, Urim'' #'' Ata'' #Monumbo languages, Monumbo #ex-Sentanic-2 ( Sentani proper) #ex-Lower Sepik-Ramu-3 (''Banaro language, Banaro'') # Yawa #ex-Kwalean-2 (''Mulaha language, Mulaha'') #''Lavukaleve language, Lavukaleve'' #''Anêm language, Anem'' #ex-Morehead-Wasur-2 (''Kunja language (Papuan), Kunja'') #''Papi language, Papi'' #''Mpur language, Mpur'' #''Abun language, Abun'' / ''Maybrat language, Maybrat'' / West Bird's Head # Lakes Plain #''

'' #ex-Biksi-1 ('' Kimki'') #ex-Sko-2 (''ISO 639:rwa, Rawo, ISO 639:wra, Barupu; Poo language, Poo, Uni language, Ramo, Sumararo language, Sumararo, Womo language, Womo'') #ex-Biksi-2 (''Yetfa language, Yetfa'') #''Yele language, Yeli Dnye'' #Lepki–Murkim languages, Lepki–Murkim #ex-Pauwasi-2 (Eastern Pauwasi) # East Bird's Head #'' Kosare'' #'' Usku'' #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-14 (Croisilles languages, Croisilles) #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-15 (''Kobon language, Kobon'') # Senagi # Piawi #ex-Lower Sepik-Ramu-4 (''Rao language, Rao'') #ex-Lower Sepik-Ramu-5 (''ISO 639:geb, Kire, ISO 639:kct, Kaian, ISO 639:msy, Aruamu'') #ex-Nuclear Trans New Guinea-16 (Croisilles languages, 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 languages, Yuat, Kwalean, Mailuan * Lower Sepik, Monumbo languages, Monumbo * Lakes Plain, Wipi language, Wipi, Marind *

, Kimki *Biksi language, Biksi, Yele *Lepki-Murkim languages, Lepki-Murkim, Karkar-Yuri language, Karkar-Yuri *Skou languages, Skou, Kaure language, Kaure- Usku, Marienberg languages, Marienberg *Mairasi languages, Mairasi, Mpur language, Mpur *Touo language, Touo, Savosavo language, Savosavo, Bilua language, Bilua * Angan, Sepik *Binandere languages, Binandere, Waskia language, Waskia, Tiwi language, Tiwi, Senagi *Border languages, Border, Elseng *Kwerba languages, Kwerba, Nimboran * Mek, Tayap language, Tayap, Abau language, Abau, Yale language, Yale *

, Timor-Alor-Pantar languages, Timor-Alor-Pantar *

, Dani, Oriomo languages, Oriomo, Morehead languages, Morehead *Meyah language, Meyah, Sougb language, Sougb, Hatam language, Hatam *Kainantu languages, Kainantu, Yareban-Manubaran languages, Manubaran * Kwomtari, Pawaia, Kwalean * Sentani, Busa, Amto-Musan languages, Amto-Musan, Left May *Lavukaleve language, Lavukaleve, Anem language, Anem, Urim language, Urim *Gorokan languages, Gorokan *Kaure language, Kaure, Makayam language, Makayam *Gogodala languages, Gogodala, Tabo language, Tabo, Kiwaian languages, Kiwaian, Madang *Kayagaric languages, Kayagaric, Mor, Bulaka River * North Bougainville, Eleman languages, Eleman * Engan, Duna-Bogaya languages, Duna-Bogaya * Marind, Asmat-Kamoro languages, Asmat-Kamoro, Mombum- Kolopom *Dubu-Towei languages, Dubu-Towei, Wiru *Tofanma language, Tofanma, Turama-Kikorian languages, Turama-Kikorian *Awyu languages, Awyu * Inland Gulf, Ok-Oksapmin languages, Ok-Oksapmin * Bosavi, East Strickland, Kapauku language, Kapauku, Doso * Kutubuan * Angan * Kamula, Awin-Pa languages, Awin-Pa, Goilalan, Leonard Schultze languages, Leonard Schultze * Koiarian * Purari, Kaki Ae *Chimbu-Wahgi languages, Chimbu-Wahgi, Finisterre-Huon languages, 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 Andrew Pawley, Pawley & Harald Hammarström, 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 South Bird's Head languages, South Bird's Head, East Bird's Head, Pauwasi, Kwomtari–Fas languages, Kwomtari, and Central Solomons languages, Central Solomons families are uncertain, and hence are marked below as "tentative." ''Papuan independent language families (43 families)'' *Trans New Guinea languages, Trans New Guinea (431) * Torricelli (50) * Sepik (45) * Lower Sepik-Ramu (35) *Yam languages, Yam (27) *Timor-Alor-Pantar languages, Timor-Alor-Pantar (26) *Tor-Kwerba languages, Tor-Kwerba (23) * Lakes Plain (20) *Border languages, Border (14) * Sko (13) *East Cenderawasih Bay languages, East Cenderawasih Bay (10) *

(10) *South Bird's Head languages, South Bird's Head (10) [tentative; 3 families?] *Kwomtari–Fas languages, Kwomtari (6) [tentative; 4 families?] *Leonard Schultze languages, Leonard Schultze (6) *Upper Yuat languages, Upper Yuat (6) * West Bird's Head (6) * East Bird's Head (5) [tentative; 2 families?] *Baining languages, Baining (5) * Pauwasi (5) [tentative; 2 families?] * Nimboran (5) *Yuat languages, Yuat (5) * Left May (5) *Pahoturi River languages, Pahoturi River (5) *Eleman languages, Eleman (5) * North Bougainville (4) * South Bougainville (4) *Central Solomons languages, Central Solomons (4) [tentative; 4 isolates?] *Oriomo languages, Oriomo (4) * Sentani (4) *Mairasi languages, Mairasi (3) *Butam–Taulil languages, Butam-Taulil (2) * Bayono-Awbono (2) * Teberan (2) *Kaure languages, Kaure (2) *Lepki languages, Lepki (2) * Senagi (2) *Tofanma languages, Tofanma (2) *Yawa languages, Yapen (2) *Amto–Musan languages, Amto-Musan (2) * Doso-Turumsa (2) *Komolom languages, Komolom (2) *Yelmek-Maklew languages, Yelmek-Maklew (2) ''Papuan isolates and unclassified languages (37 total)'' ;Bird's Head Peninsula / Bomberai Peninsula (5) *Abun language, Abun *Mpur language, Mpur *Maibrat language, Maibrat * Mor *Sumuri language, Tanah Merah ;North coast / hinterland (12) * Abinomn *Burmeso language, Burmeso * Elseng *Kapauri language, Kapauri * Kembra *Keuw language, Keuw * Kimki * Massep * Mawes * Molof * Usku *Yetfa language, Yetfa ;Central West Papua (province), West Papua (2) * Dem *Uhunduni language, Uhunduni ;Sepik-Ramu basin (3) * Busa *Taiap language, Taiap *Yadë language, Yadë ;Gulf of Papua / hinterland (8) * Dibiyaso * Kaki Ae * Kamula * Karami * Pawaia *Porome language, Porome * Purari *Tabo language, Tabo ;

(6) * Anêm * Ata *Kol language (Papua New Guinea), Kol *Kuot language, Kuot *Makolkol language, Makolkol *Sulka language, Sulka ;Rossel Island (Louisiade Archipelago) (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'': ** Madang (106) **Finisterre-Huon languages, Finisterre-Huon (61) **Asmat-Awyu-Ok languages, Asmat-Awyu-Ok (49) **Kainantu-Goroka languages, Kainantu-Goroka (28) **Chimbu-Wahgi languages, Chimbu-Wahgi (17) **Enga-Kewa-Huli languages, Enga-Kewa-Huli (14) ** Dani (13) **Greater Binanderean languages, Greater Binanderean (13) ** Mek (8) **Paniai Lakes languages, Paniai Lakes (5) *Nuclear Torricelli languages, Nuclear Torricelli (55) * Sepik (36) * Lower Sepik-Ramu (30) *Timor-Alor-Pantar languages, Timor-Alor-Pantar (23) * Lakes Plain (20) * Morehead-Wasur (19) *Anim languages, Anim (17) *Border languages, Border (15) *

(15) * Angan (13) * Ndu (13) *Tor-Orya languages, Tor-Orya (13) *Geelvink Bay languages, Geelvink Bay (10) * Sko (10) *Dagan languages, Dagan (9) * South Bougainville (9) *Greater Kwerba languages, Greater Kwerba (8) * Koiarian (8) * Mailuan (8) * Bosavi (7) *Baining languages, Baining (6) * East Strickland (6) * Goilalan (6) *Kiwaian languages, Kiwaian (6) * Left May (6) *South Bird's Head languages, South Bird's Head (6) *Eleman languages, Eleman (5) *Nimboranic languages, Nimboranic (5) * Pauwasi (5) * West Bird's Head (5) * Yareban (5) *Yuat languages, Yuat (5) * Arafundi (4) * Eastern Trans-Fly (4) * North Bougainville (4) *Sentanic languages, Sentanic (4) *Suki-Gogodala languages, Suki-Gogodala (4) *Turama-Kikori languages, Turama-Kikori (4) *Walioic languages, Walioic (4) * East Bird's Head (3) *Kamula-Elevala languages, Kamula-Elevala (3) *Kayagaric languages, Kayagaric (3) * Kolopom (3) * Kwalean (3) *Mairasic languages, Mairasic (3) *Ulmapo languages, Ulmapo (3) *

(3) *Amto-Musan languages, Amto-Musan (2) *Baibai-Fas languages, Baibai-Fas (2) *Bayono-Awbono languages, Bayono-Awbono (2) *Bogia languages, Bogia (2) * Bulaka River (2) *Doso-Turumsa languages, Doso-Turumsa (2) *East Kutubu languages, East Kutubu (2) *Hatam-Mansim languages, Hatam-Mansim (2) *Inanwatan languages, Inanwatan (2) *Konda-Yahadian languages, Konda-Yahadian (2) *Kwomtari-Nai languages, Kwomtari-Nai (2) *Lepki-Murkim languages, Lepki-Murkim (2) *Manubaran languages, Manubaran (2) *Mombum-Koneraw languages, Mombum-Koneraw (2) *Namla-Tofanma languages, Namla-Tofanma (2) * Pahoturi (2) * Piawi (2) * Senagi (2) *Somahai languages, Somahai (2) *Taulil-Butam languages, Taulil-Butam (2) * Teberan (2) *Yawa-Saweru languages, Yawa-Saweru (2) ;Isolates (55) * Abinomn *Abun language, Abun *Ambakich language, Ambakich *Anem language, Anem *Ap Ma language, Ap Ma *Asabano language, Asabano *Bilua language, Bilua *Bogaya language, Bogaya *Burmeso language, Burmeso *Damal language, Damal * Dem * Dibiyaso *Duna language, Duna * Elseng *Fasu language, Fasu *Guriaso language, Guriaso * Kaki Ae * Kapori * Karami *Kaure-Narau language, Kaure-Narau *Kehu language, Kehu * Kembra *Kibiri language, Kibiri * Kimki *Kol language (Papua New Guinea), Kol *Kosadle language, Kosadle *Kuot language, Kuot *Lavukaleve language, Lavukaleve *Marori language, Marori * Massep * Mawes *Maybrat-Karon language, Maybrat-Karon * Molof * Mor *Mpur language, Mpur *Odiai language, Odiai *Papi language, Papi * Pawaia *Pele-Ata language, Pele-Ata * Purari *

*Sause language, Sause *Savosavo language, Savosavo *Sulka language, Sulka *Tabo language, Tabo *Taiap language, Taiap * Tambora *Sumuri language, Tanahmerah *Touo language, Touo * Usku * Wiru *Yale language, Yale * Yele *Yerakai language, Yerakai *Yetfa language, Yetfa

External relations

proposed that the Andamanese languages (or at least the Great Andamanese languages) off the coast of Burma 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 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 East New Guinea Highlands languages, 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 Australia (continent), single landmass for most of their human history, having been separated by the Torres Strait 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 languages, West Papuan, Lower Mamberamo, and most Torricelli languages are all head (linguistics), left-headed, as well as the languages of

and New Ireland. These languages all have SVO word order, with the exception of the language isolate Kuot language, Kuot, which has VSO word order. All other Papuan languages are head (linguistics), right-headed. Tone (linguistics), Tonal Papuan languages include the Skou languages, Sko, Lepki, Kaure language, Kaure, Kembra, Lakes Plain, and Keuw language, 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
*[http://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 Papuan languages, Languages of Indonesia Languages of Papua New Guinea