| Southeast Papuan | |
|---|---|
| Bird's Tail | |
| Geographic distribution: |
Southeastern peninsula of New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification: | Trans–New Guinea
|
| Subdivisions: | |
The Southeast Papuan or "Bird's Tail" languages are a geographic grouping of half a dozen small families of Papuan languages in the "Bird's Tail" (southeastern peninsula) of New Guinea: Koiarian, Kwalean, Manubaran, Yareban, Mailuan, and Dagan. They are all believed to be part of the Trans–New Guinea (TNG) phylum, but have not been shown to be any more closely related to each other than they are to other TNG families. However, they do all have in common ya for 'you' (plural) instead of proto-TNG *gi.
The Goilalan languages are customarily included in Southeast Papuan, but it is questionable whether they are even Trans–New Guinea.