| Tirio | |
|---|---|
| Lower Fly River | |
| Geographic distribution | New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Trans–New Guinea |
| Glottolog | tiri1259 |
 Map: The Tirio languages of New Guinea The Tirio languages Other Trans–New Guinea languages Other Papuan languages Austronesian languages Uninhabited | |
The Tirio languages are a family of Trans–New Guinea languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross. The Tirio languages have about 40% of their lexicon in common.
Evans (2018) lists the Tirio languages as: [2]
Baramu is somewhat more divergent in vocabulary, but this may reflect language contact rather than divergence in its position within the family. Pronouns are only available for Tirio itself (Makayam).
The moribund language Abom was once classified as a divergent Tirio language, sharing only an eighth of its lexicon with the others, but it turns out to not belong to the family at all, nor to the Anim family that Tirio is a branch of. [3]
A survey of the Tirio languages can be found in Jore and Alemán (2002). [4]
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows: [5]
| *m | *n | ||
| *p | *t | *k | |
| *mb | *nd | *ŋg | |
| *s | |||
| *w | *ɾ | *j | *ɣ |
Vowels are *a *e *i *o *u.
The pronouns are: [5]
| sg | pl | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | *naoɣ | *naoj |
| 2 | *ɣaoɣ | *jaoɣ |
| 3m | *igi | *jiɣ |
| 3f | – |
Lower Fly River (Makayam and Baramu) reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma: [6]
The Sepik–Ramu languages are an obsolete language family of New Guinea linking the Sepik, Ramu, Nor–Pondo, Leonhard Schultze (Walio–Papi) and Yuat families, together with the Taiap language isolate, and proposed by Donald Laycock and John Z'graggen in 1975.
The Trans-Fly – Bulaka RiverakaSouth-Central Papuan languages form a hypothetical family of Papuan languages. They include many of the languages west of the Fly River in southern Papua New Guinea into southern Indonesian West Papua, plus a pair of languages on the Bulaka River a hundred km further west.
The Mairasi languages, also known as Etna Bay are a small independent family of Papuan languages in the classifications of Malcolm Ross and Timothy Usher, that had been part of Stephen Wurm's Trans–New Guinea proposal. They are named after Etna Bay, located in the southeastern corner of West Papua province, in Indonesia.
Abom is a nearly extinct language spoken in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea. According to a 2002 census, only 15 people still speak this language. All of the speakers are older adults. Middle-aged adults have some understanding of it, but no children speak or understand Abom.
The Kiwaian languages form a language family of New Guinea. They are a dialect cluster of half a dozen closely related languages. They are grammatically divergent from the Trans–New Guinea languages, and typically have singular, dual, trial, and plural pronouns.
The Pauwasi languages are a likely family of Papuan languages, mostly in Indonesia. The subfamilies are at best only distantly related. The best described Pauwasi language is Karkar, across the border in Papua New Guinea. They are spoken around the headwaters of the Pauwasi River in the Indonesian-PNG border region.
The Kaure–Kosare or Nawa River languages are a small family spoken along the Nawa River in West Papua, near the northern border with Papua New Guinea. The languages are Kaure and Kosare.
The Inland Gulf languages are a family of Trans–New Guinea languages in the classifications of Stephen Wurm (1975) and Malcolm Ross (2005). The unity of the languages was established by K. Franklin in 1969. Although the family as a whole is clearly valid, Ipiko is quite distinct from the other languages.
The Teberan languages are a well established family of Papuan languages that Stephen Wurm (1975) grouped with the Pawaia language as a branch of the Trans–New Guinea phylum.
The Chimbu–Wahgi languages are a language family sometimes included in the Trans–New Guinea proposal.
The Dagan or Meneao Range languages are a small family of Trans–New Guinea languages spoken in the Meneao Range of the "Bird's Tail" of New Guinea, the easternmost Papuan languages on the mainland. They are the most divergent of the several small families within the Southeast Papuan branch of Trans–New Guinea.
The Kwalean or Humene–Uare languages are a small family of Trans–New Guinea languages spoken in the "Bird's Tail" of New Guinea. They are classified within the Southeast Papuan branch of Trans–New Guinea.
The Goilalan or Wharton Range languages are a language family spoken around the Wharton Range in the "Bird's Tail" of New Guinea. They were classified as a branch of the Trans–New Guinea languages by Stephen Wurm (1975), but only tentatively retained there in the classification of Malcolm Ross (2005) and removed entirely by Timothy Usher (2020).
The Lower Sepik a.k.a. Nor–Pondo languages are a small language family of East Sepik Province in 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.
The Ramu languages are a family of some thirty languages of Northern Papua New Guinea. They were identified as a family by John Z'graggen in 1971 and linked with the Sepik languages by Donald Laycock two years later. Malcolm Ross (2005) classifies them as one branch of a Ramu – Lower Sepik language family. Z'graggen had included the Yuat languages, but that now seems doubtful.
The Upper Sepik languages are a group of ten to a dozen languages generally classified among the Sepik languages of northern Papua New Guinea.
The Kolopom languages are a family of Trans–New Guinea languages in the classifications of Stephen Wurm (1975) and of Malcolm Ross (2005). Along with the Mombum languages, they are the languages spoken on Yos Sudarso Island.
Uhunduni, also known as Damal and Amung after two of its dialects, is the language of the Amung people. It is a Trans–New Guinea language that forms an independent branch of that family in the classification of Malcolm Ross (2005). However, it is treated as an isolate by Palmer (2018).
The Anim or Fly River languages are a group of Trans–New Guinea families in south-central New Guinea established by Usher & Suter (2015). The names of the family derive from the Fly River and from the Proto-Anim word *anim 'people'.
Proto-Trans–New Guinea is the reconstructed proto-language ancestral to the Trans–New Guinea languages. Reconstructions have been proposed by Malcolm Ross and Andrew Pawley.