| New Ireland | |
|---|---|
| (reduced) | |
| Geographic distribution: |
New Ireland |
| Linguistic classification: | Austronesian
|
| Subdivisions: |
—
|
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: