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The term Papuan languages refers to those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them That is, the term is defined negatively and does not imply a linguistic relationship.

Contents

The languages

The majority of the Papuan languages are spoken on the island of New Guinea (which is divided between the country of Papua New Guinea and Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Irian Jaya), with a number spoken in the Bismarck Archipelago, Bougainville Island, and the Solomon Islands to the east, and in Halmahera, Timor, and the Alor archipelago to the west. New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the world's second largest island, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known Papua New Guinea (or ˈpæpjuːə in Tok Pisin: Papua Niugini) officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania Papua is the largest province of Indonesia, comprising a majority part of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands (see also West Papua ( Papua Barat; formerly West Irian Jaya or Irian Jaya Barat) with population around 800000 is the least populous province of The Bismarck Archipelago is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and part of Papua New Guinea. Bougainville is part of Papua New Guinea. Geographically, Bougainville is included in the chain of islands known as the Solomon Islands in Melanesia The Solomon Islands is a country in Melanesia, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands Halmahera (also Jilolo or Gilolo is the largest Island in the Maluku Islands. Timor is an Island at the south end of the Malay Archipelago, north of the Timor Sea. Alor may refer to Alor Archipelago, Indonesia Alor Island, Indonesia Alor Strait, Indonesia One Papuan language, Meriam Mir, is spoken within the national borders of Australia, in the eastern Torres Strait. Meriam (in the language itself Meriam Mìr; also Miriam, Meryam, Mer, Mir, Miriam-Mir, etc For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The Torres Strait is a body of water which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. The only Papuan languages with official recognition are those of East Timor. The Lingua franca and national language of East Timor is Tetum, an Austronesian language influenced by Portuguese, with which

New Guinea is perhaps the most linguistically diverse region in the world. Besides the Austronesian languages, there are some 800 languages divided into perhaps sixty small language families, with unclear relationships to each other or to anything else, plus a large number of language isolates. A language isolate, in the absolute sense is a Natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or "genetic" relationship with other living languages that is 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, Stephen Wurm, and Malcolm Ross. Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28 1915 – May 7 2001 was a prominent and controversial linguist and Africanist anthropologist known for his work in both typology Stephen Adolphe Wurm ( August 19, 1922 – October 24, 2001) was a Hungarian -born Australian linguist. Malcolm David Ross (born 1942 is a linguist and professor at the Australian National University. The largest family posited for the Papuan region is the Trans-New Guinea phylum, consisting of the majority of Papuan languages and running mainly along the highlands of New Guinea. Trans–New Guinea (TNG is a Hypothetical family of Papuan languages spoken in New Guinea and neighboring islands List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family 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.

Several languages of Flores and nearby islands, and especially the language of Savu Island (also called Sabu or Sawu) are usually thought to be Austronesian, but are reported to have large numbers of non-Austronesian words in their basic vocabulary. Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, an Island arc with an estimated area of 14300 km² extending east from the Java island of Indonesia Savu (also known as Sawu Sabu Sawoe Havu Hawu Hawoe is an island which is situated midway between Sumba and Rote, west of Timor, in Indonesia's It has been suggested that these may originally have been non-Austronesian languages that have since borrowed nearly all of their vocabulary from neighboring Austronesian languages, but no connection with the Papuan languages of Timor or Halmahera has been found.

The languages of the Andaman Islands may be related to some western Papuan languages, but are not themselves covered by the term Papuan. The Andaman Islands are a group of islands in the Bay of Bengal, and are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory of India.

Greenberg classification

Joseph Greenberg proposed an "Indo-Pacific" phylum containing the (Northern) Andamanese languages, all Papuan languages, and the Tasmanian languages, but not the Australian Aboriginal languages. The Andamanese languages form a proposed Language family spoken by the Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands, a Union territory The Tasmanian languages are the indigenous languages of the island of Tasmania, Australia. It has no equivalent to the Trans-New Guinea phylum of the classifications below. See Indo-Pacific languages for details. The Indo-Pacific language family proposed by Joseph Greenberg in 1971 consists of the non- Austronesian languages of New Guinea and neighboring islands Very few linguists, even among Greenberg's students, accept this grouping.

Wurm classification

The most widely used classification of Papuan languages is that of Wurm, listed below with the approximate number of languages in each family in parentheses. This is the scheme used by Ethnologue. Ethnologue Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics a Christian 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. Linguistic Typology is an international Peer-reviewed journal in the field of Linguistic typology, founded in 1997 Other linguists, including William Foley, have suggested that many of Wurm's phyla are based on areal features and structural similarities, and accepted only the lowest levels of his classification, most of which he inherited from prior taxonomies. William Foley is a linguist and professor at the University of Sydney. In Linguistics, an areal feature is any typological feature shared by languages within the same geographical area Foley (1986) deconstructs 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. Language contact occurs when speakers of distinct speech varieties interact For example, several of the main branches of his Trans-New Guinea (TNG) phylum have no vocabulary in common with other TNG languages, and were classified as TNG because they are similar grammatically. Morphology is the field of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words However, there are also many Austronesian languages that are grammatically similar to TNG languages due to the influence of contact and bilingualism. Similarly, several groups which do have substantial basic vocabulary in common with TNG languages are excluded from the phylum because they do not resemble it grammatically.

Papuan families proposed by Wurm (with approximate number of languages)

Two of Wurm's isolates have since been linked as the

and since Wurm's time another isolate and two languages belonging to a new family have been discovered,

Ross classification

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 means that this approach is largely restricted to pronouns. In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or 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 Trans-New Guinea languages. Trans–New Guinea (TNG is a Hypothetical family of Papuan languages spoken in New Guinea and neighboring islands )

It has been suggested that the families which 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 and Japan, 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. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. A pro-form is a type of Function word or expression that stands in for (expresses the same content as another word phrase clause or sentence whose meaning is recoverable )

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 which 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 which have been heavily transformed by contact with Papuan languages, much as the Takia language has. The Lower Mamberamo languages are a recently proposed Language family linking two languages spoken along the northern coast of Papua province, Indonesia near the Takia is an Austronesian language spoken by about 20000 people on Karkar Island Bagabag Island and coastal villages Megiar and Serang Madang Province, The Reef Islands-Santa Cruz family of Wurm's East Papuan phylum are a potential 24th family, but the pronouns suggest that they may also be highly divergent Austronesian languages. The term East Papuan languages refers to a defunct proposal for a family of Papuan languages spoken on the islands to the east of New Guinea, including

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 both short and utilise a reduced set of the language's phonemic inventory. The phoneME project is Sun Microsystems reference implementation of Java virtual machine and associated libraries of Java ME with source licensed under the GNU Both phenomena greatly increase the possibility of chance resemblances, especially when they are not confirmed by lexical similarities. In Linguistics, the lexicon (from Greek Λεξικόν of a language is its Vocabulary, including its words and expressions

Papuan families proposed by Ross

Language isolates proposed by Ross (sorted by location)

north Irian:

Sandaun Province:

Sepik River:

Bismarck Archipelago:

Other

Former isolates classified by Ross:

Unclassified due to lack of data:

Unaccounted for:

External relations

Several linguists, including Joseph Greenberg and Timother Usher of the Rosetta Project, believe 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. Trans–New Guinea (TNG is a Hypothetical family of Papuan languages spoken in New Guinea and neighboring islands The Extended West Papuan Language family is a tentative proposal in Malcolm Ross 's classification of Papuan languages. The West Papuan languages are a hypothetical Language family of about two dozen Papuan languages of the Bird's Head Peninsula (Vogelkop or Doberai 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 The Yawa languages are a small family of two closely related Papuan languages, Yawa (or Yava and Saweru, which are often considered to be divergent The Mairasi languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, that had been part of Stephen Würm The East Geelvink Bay or East Cenderawasih languages are a Language family of a dozen Papuan languages along the eastern coast of Geelvink Bay The Lakes Plain languages are a small family of Papuan languages. The Mamberamo is a large River on the island of New Guinea, in the Indonesian province of Papua. The Tor-Kwerba languages are an independent family of Papuan languages proposed in 2005 by Malcolm Ross. The Nimboran languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, that had been part of Stephen Würm The Sko or Skou languages are a small Language family spoken by about 7000 people mainly along the coast of Sandaun Province in Papua New Guinea The Border (Tami languages are an independent family of Papuan languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, that had been part of Stephen Würm The Left May-Kwomtari languages are a small family of Papuan languages proposed by Malcolm Ross, which links the Left May (Arai family The Senagi languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, that had been part of Stephen Würm The Torricelli languages are a relatively young Language family of about fifty languages of the northern Papua New Guinea coast spoken by only about 80000 people The Sepik languages are a proposed family of some 50 Papuan languages spoken in the Sepik river basin of northern Papua New Guinea. The Ramu-Lower Sepik languages form a family of 35 Papuan languages spoken in the Ramu and Sepik river basins of northern Papua New Guinea The Yuat languages are an independent family of a dozen Papuan languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, that had been part of Stephen Würm The Piawi languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, that had been part of Stephen Würm The South-Central Papuan languages are a family of Papuan languages proposed in 2005 by Malcolm Ross. The Eastern Trans-Fly languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, that inherits much of the Trans For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The Yele-West New Britain languages are a tentative family proposed by Malcom Ross which unites three Language isolates Anêm and Ata The Yélî Dnye language, also known as Yele, is the language of Rossel island, the easternmost island in the Louisiade Archipelago off the eastern tip The Ata language, also known as Pele-Ata or Wasi, is a Language isolate spoken on New Britain island Papua New Guinea. The Baining or East New Britain languages are a small Language family spoken on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. The term East Papuan languages refers to a defunct proposal for a family of Papuan languages spoken on the islands to the east of New Guinea, including The South or East Bougainville languages are a small Language family spoken on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. The Central Solomons languages are four distantly but demonstrably related languages of the Solomon Islands. Papua is the largest province of Indonesia, comprising a majority part of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands (see also The Abinomn language is a Language isolate initially reported by Mark Donohue from Papua province, Indonesia. The Isirawa language is a Language isolate in Malcolm Ross ' classification of Papuan languages, and linked to the Dani languages within the Trans-New Sandaun Province, officially West Sepik Province, is the north-westernmost province of Papua New Guinea. The Yalë language, also known as Nagatman, is a Language isolate in northwestern Papua New Guinea. The Sepik is the longest river on the island of New Guinea. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG provinces of Sandaun Taiap (also called Gapun, after the name of the village where it is spoken is an endangered Language isolate spoken by around a hundred people in The Bismarck Archipelago is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and part of Papua New Guinea. The Sulka language is a possible Language isolate scattered across the eastern end of New Britain island Papua New Guinea. This article discusses the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea The Kol language is a language spoken in eastern New Britain island Papua New Guinea. The Kuot language, or Panaras, is a Language isolate, the only non- Austronesian language spoken on the island of New Ireland, Papua New New Ireland ( Tok Pisin: Niu Ailan) is a large Island in Papua New Guinea, approximately 8650 km² in area The Burmeso or Taurap language is spoken by some 300 people along the mid Mamberamo River in Papua province, Indonesia. 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 The Porome or Kibiri language is a Papuan language of southern Papua New Guinea. Trans–New Guinea (TNG is a Hypothetical family of Papuan languages spoken in New Guinea and neighboring islands Elseng is a Papuan language spoken by about 300 people ( in the Indonesian province of Papua. The Border (Tami languages are an independent family of Papuan languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, that had been part of Stephen Würm Amto-Musan is a Language family of two closely related but not mutually intelligible Papuan languages, Amto and Siawi, of the Sandaun Usku is a nearly extinct and poorly documented Papuan language spoken by about 20 people in Usku village, Papua, Indonesia The Bayono-Awbono languages are a small family of Papuan languages, Bayono and Awbono, each spoken by a hundred people in the southeast of Papua province Kazukuru is an extinct language that was once spoken in New Georgia, Solomon Islands. Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28 1915 – May 7 2001 was a prominent and controversial linguist and Africanist anthropologist known for his work in both typology The Rosetta Project is a global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers working to develop a contemporary version of the historic Rosetta Stone to The Andamanese languages form a proposed Language family spoken by the Andamanese peoples of the Andaman Islands, a Union territory Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar ( pjìdàunzṵ mjàmmà nàinŋàndɔ̀ is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia. Stephen Wurm 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 [. Stephen Adolphe Wurm ( August 19, 1922 – October 24, 2001) was a Hungarian -born Australian linguist. . . ] in a number of instances", but considered this to be due to a linguistic substratum. In Contact linguistics, a substratum ( lat sub: under + stratum: layer → lower layer) is a Language

Greenberg also suggested a connection to the Tasmanian languages. The Tasmanian languages are the indigenous languages of the island of Tasmania, Australia. 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 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. William Foley is a linguist and professor at the University of Sydney. Robert Malcolm Ward Dixon ( Gloucester, England, January 25 1939) is a Professor of Linguistics and formerly Director of the Research Centre East New Guinea Highlands is a 1975 proposal by Stephen Würm for a family of Papuan languages spoken in Papua New Guinea. 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 Torres Strait only 8000 years ago, and that a deep reconstruction would likely include languages from both. The Torres Strait is a body of water which lies between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. However, Dixon later abandoned his proto-Australian proposal, and Foley's ideas need to be re-evaluated in light of recent research.

References

External links

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