South-Central Papuan languages

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The South-Central Papuan languages are a family of Papuan languages proposed in 2005 by Malcolm Ross. It inherits much of the Trans Fly-Bulaka River branch of Stephen Würm's Trans-New Guinea proposal. Wurm himself concluded that some of the Trans Fly-Bulaka River languages were not Trans-New Guinea at all but rather heavily influenced by Trans-New Guinea languages. Ross removed the South-Central Papuan and Eastern Trans-Fly languages from Wurm's family.

Contents 1 Classification 2 Pronouns 3 See also 4 References

[edit] Classification

The three South-Central Papuan families are only distantly related.

South-Central Papuan

• Bulaka River family: Yekmek, Maklew
• Pahoturi family: Agöb (Dabu), Idi, Waia
• Morehead & Upper Maro Rivers family:
  • Yey language
  • Nambu branch: Namo (Dorro), Nambo (Nambu), Neme, Namat, Nama, Nen
  • Tonda branch: Blafe (Tonda), Rema, Guntai, Kunja, Arammba, Wára, Ngkâlmpw Kanum, Bädi Kanum, Sota Kanum, Smärky Kanum

[edit] Pronouns

The pronouns Ross reconstructs for the three families are,

Proto-Morehead-Upper Maro

I/we	*ni
you	*bu
s/he/they	*be

Proto-Pahoturi

I	*ŋa-na	we	?
thou	*ba or *be	you	*-bi
s/he	*bo	they	?

Proto-Bulaka River

I	*ŋöl	we	*ŋag
thou	*ob	you	*el
s/he	*ib	they	*im

[edit] See also

• Papuan languages

[edit] References