Nor–Pondo | |
---|---|
Lower Sepik | |
Geographic distribution |
New Guinea |
Linguistic classification | a primary language family |
Subdivisions | |
Glottolog | lowe1423 |
The Nor–Pondo a.k.a. Lower Sepik languages are a small language family of northern Papua New Guinea. They were identified as a family by K Laumann in 1951 under the name Nor–Pondo, and included in Donald Laycock's now-defunct 1973 Sepik–Ramu family. Malcolm Ross (2005) broke up the Nor branch and thus renamed the family Lower Sepik; he classifies it as one branch of a Ramu–Lower Sepik language family. Usher, following Foley, keeps Nor together but breaks up Pondo, and rejects the connection to Ramu.
Ross (2005) notes Murik does not share the /p/s characteristic of the first- and second-person pronouns of Kopar and the Pondo languages, so the latter may form a group: Murik vs Kopar–Pondo. Foley (2005) tentatively proposes that Chambri and Angoram may be primary branches: Nor, Chambari, Karawari–Yimas, Angoram.
The pronouns reconstructed for the proto-language are,