New Ireland | |
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(reduced) | |
Geographic distribution: |
New Ireland |
Linguistic classification: | Austronesian
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Subdivisions: |
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The New Ireland languages are a group of the Meso-Melanesian languages. They are largely spoken on the island of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea.
A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database[1] removed the Northwest Solomonic and Nehan–Bougainville languages from the traditional New Ireland family, but fully supported the unity of the remainder of the languages that were considered. These are:
Madara is conventionally included within Lavongai–Nalik, but the 2008 analysis only supported this classification at a 60% confidence level.
Not considered in the 2008 analysis were the following traditional branches: