South-Central Papuan languages

The South-Central Papuan languages are a hypothetical family of Papuan languages proposed in 2005 by Malcolm Ross. It inherits much of the Trans-Fly – Bulaka River family posited by Stephen Wurm as a branch of his 1975 Trans–New Guinea proposal. Wurm himself concluded that some of the Trans-Fly – Bulaka River languages were not Trans–New Guinea but rather heavily influenced by Trans–New Guinea languages. Ross concurred and removed the South-Central Papuan and Eastern Trans-Fly branches from Wurm's family, leaving only Tirio, Kiwaian, and Moraori within Trans–New Guinea, and the Trans–New Guinea identity of Kiwaian suspect.

Classification

The three South-Central Papuan families are only distantly related. Ross (2005) places them only tentatively together. A more conservative approach would postulate three independent stocks.

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

See also

References