The Goilalan or Wharton Range languages are a

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in his ...

spoken around the

Wharton Range The Wharton Range is a mountain range in Papua New Guinea.Wharton Range The Wharton Range is a mountain range in Papua New Guinea.Wharton Range The Wharton Range is a mountain range in Papua New Guinea.Wharton Range The Wharton Range is a mo ...

in the "Bird's Tail" of New Guinea. They were classified as a branch of the

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

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- ...

(1975), but only tentatively retained there in the classification of Malcolm Ross (2005) and removed entirely by Timothy Usher (2020).

Languages

The languages are,NewGuineaWorld - Wharton Range
/ref> * Fuyug * Tauade *Northern (Kunimaipa):

Biangai The Biangai people are an ethnic group living on the slopes of the upper Bulolo valley, in Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New G ...

, Kunimaipa, Weri The languages are clearly related, especially northern Biagai, Kunimaipa, and Weri, which might be considered divergent dialects.

Pronouns

Pronouns are: *Northern: 1sg ''ne'', 2sg ''ni'', 3sg ''pi'' * Tauade/ Fuyug: 1sg ''na'', 2sg ''nu'' Tauade also has the possessive pronouns , .

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from SIL field notes (1973, 1975, 1980), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database: :

Evolution

Fuyuge reflexes of purported proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are: *''baba'' ‘father’ < *mbapa *''sabe'' ‘saliva’ < *si(mb,p)at *''magata'' ‘mouth, jaw’ < *maŋgat *''mele-pila'' ‘tongue’ < *mele-mbilaŋ *''imu'' ‘eye’ < *(ŋg,k)amu *''ije'' ‘tree’ < *inda

References

* {{language families Binanderean–Goilalan languages Languages of Central Province (Papua New Guinea)