Irian Highlands languages
| West Trans–New Guinea | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution: |
Highlands of Irian Jaya, in and around Timor |
| Linguistic classification: |
Trans–New Guinea
|
| Subdivisions: |
|
| Glottolog: | None |
Map: The West Trans–New Guinea languages of New Guinea
The West Trans–New Guinea languages
Other Trans–New Guinea languages
Other Papuan languages
Austronesian languages
Uninhabited
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The West Trans–New Guinea languages are a suggested linguistic linkage of Papuan languages, not well established as a group, proposed by Malcolm Ross in his 2005 classification of the Trans–New Guinea languages. Ross suspects they are an old dialect continuum, because they share numerous features that have not been traced to a single ancestor using comparative historical linguistics. The internal divisions of the languages are also unclear. William A. Foley considers the TNG identity of the Irian Highlands languages at least to be established.
The West Trans–New Guinea languages are a group of small families and isolates within Trans–New Guinea which are only tentatively connected. The Irian Highlands families (Dani and Paniai Lakes) appear to belong together, and the Timor and West Bomberai languages share two probable innovations in their pronouns, compared to the rest of TNG.
The following classification is from Ross (2005), Schapper et al. (2012), and Holton et al. (2012).
Bunak and the Alor–Pantar languages are sometimes grouped together as "West Timor".
The Savu languages (Hawu and Dhao) appear to be non-Austronesian, but do not align with the languages of Timor and Alor. Indeed, most of the languages of East Nusa Tenggara and Maluku appear to have some non-Austronesian influence.
Pronouns are:
reflecting pTNG *na, *ni, *ga, *gi. The pTNG dual/inclusive *-pi- may be reflected in East Timor 1excl *ini, 1incl *api, in West Timor *ni, *pi, and reversed in West Bomberai *bi, *in, but are not attested from the Irian Highlands. The *k of the second person is only found on the mainland; in TAP the forms are *a and *i.
Despite their geographic proximity, the Papuan languages of Timor are not closely related, and demonstration of a relationship between any of them is difficult, apart from the clearly related Alor–Pantar languages on the islands neighboring Timor.
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