The Kiwaian languages form a

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...

of New Guinea. They are a dialect cluster of half a dozen closely related languages. They are grammatically divergent from the Trans–New Guinea languages, and typically have singular, dual,

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

, and plural pronouns.

Classification

The Trans–New Guinea identity of Kiwaiian is supported by a relatively large number of basic lexical items. Ross (2005) tentatively linked Kiwaiian to the erstwhile

language isolate A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...

Porome. However, the evidence is only two pronouns, and the connection has not been accepted by other researchers.

Languages

* Kiwaian family: Kiwai, Bamu–Gama, Kerewo– Morigi, Waboda Kiwaian languages and respective demographic information listed by Evans (2018) are provided below. :

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:New Guinea World, Kiwai
/ref> : :

Pronouns

Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns as, :

Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are: :

Evolution

Kiwaian reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are: Southern Kiwai language: *''magota'' ‘mouth’ < *maŋgat *''amo'' ‘breast < *amu *''gare'' ‘ear’ < *kand(e,i)k(V] *''pitu'' ‘fingernail’ < *mb(i,u)t(i,u) *''baba'' ‘father’ < *mbapa *''sagana'' ‘moon’ < *takVn *''tuwo'' ‘ashes’ < *sumbu *''era'' ‘tree’ < *inda *''nimo'' ‘louse’ < *niman *''epuru'' ‘head’ < *kV(mb,p)utu *''kopu'' ‘short’ < *kutu(p,mb)a *''abida'' ‘sister’ < *pi(n,nd)a Other languages: * Waboda ''kepuru'' < *kV(mb,p)utu * Kerewo ''bena'' ‘shoulder’ < *mbena ‘arm’ * Morigi kota ‘leg’ < *k(a,o)ndok *N.E. Kiwai ''modi'' ‘nose’ < *mundu * Bamu ''kukamu'' ‘cold’ < *kukam(o,u)

References

External links

* Timothy Usher, New Guinea World
Proto-Kiwai
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiwai-Porome languages Language families Languages of Western Province (Papua New Guinea) Languages of Gulf Province Papuan languages