Trans–New Guinea (TNG) is an extensive family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands ‒ corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as parts of Indonesia.
The Dani people are a people from the central highlands of western New Guinea. They are sometimes conflated with the Lani group to the west.
Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, or Indonesian Papua, is the western portion of the Melanesian island of New Guinea which is administered by Indonesia. Since the island is alternatively named as Papua, the region is also called West Papua. Lying to the west of Papua New Guinea and considered a part of the Australian continent, the territory is almost entirely in the Southern Hemisphere and includes the Schouten and Raja Ampat archipelagoes. The region is predominantly covered with ancient rainforest where numerous traditional tribes live such as the Dani of the Baliem Valley although a large proportion of the population live in or near coastal areas with the largest city being Jayapura.
Ekari is a Trans–New Guinea language spoken by about 100,000 people in the Paniai lakes region of the Indonesian province of Papua, including the villages of Enarotali, Mapia and Moanemani. This makes it the second-most populous Papuan language in Indonesian New Guinea after Western Dani. Language use is vigorous. Documentation is quite limited.
More than 700 living languages are spoken in Indonesia. These figures indicate that Indonesia has about 10% of the world's languages, establishing its reputation as the second most linguistically diverse nation in the world after Papua New Guinea. Most languages belong to the Austronesian language family, while there are over 270 Papuan languages spoken in eastern Indonesia.
The Mee are a people in the Wissel Lakes area of Central Papua, Indonesia. They speak the Ekagi language.
The Dani or Baliem Valley languages are a family of clearly related Trans–New Guinea languages spoken by the Dani and related peoples in the Baliem Valley in the highlands of Papua Province, Indonesia. Foley (2003) considers their TNG status to be established. They may be most closely related to the languages of Paniai Lakes, but this is not yet clear. Capell (1962) had posited that their closest relatives were the Kwerba languages, which Ross (2005) rejects.
The Paniai Lakes languages, also known as the Wissel Lakes or Wissel Lakes – Kemandoga River, are a small family of closely related Trans–New Guinea languages spoken in the Paniai Lakes region of the highlands of Western New Guinea in the Paniai Lakes region of Papua. Foley (2003) considers their Trans–New Guinea status to be established.
New Guinea is the world's second-largest island with an area of 785,753 km2 (303,381 sq mi). Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the 150-kilometre wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east. The eastern half of the island is the major land mass of the independent state of Papua New Guinea. The western half, known as Western New Guinea, forms a part of Indonesia and is organized as the provinces of Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, and West Papua. The largest cities on the island are Jayapura and Port Moresby.
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.
Yali are a major tribal group in Papua, Indonesia, and live to the east of the Baliem Valley in the Papuan highlands. The Dani word for "lands of the east" is "yali", from where the Yali took it, without it being a self-identification for their tribe.
The Moni are an indigenous people in the Indonesian Paniai regency (kabupaten) of the Papua province of West Papua. They speak the Moni language.
Western Dani, or Laani, is the most populous Papuan language in Indonesian New Guinea. It is spoken by the Lani people in the province of Papua. The Swart Valley tribes are called Oeringoep and Timorini in literature from the 1920s, but those names are no longer used.
The Paniai Lakes, originally known as the Wissel Lakes, are the three large, freshwater lakes in the central highlands of Papua, Indonesia: Paniai, Tigi, and Tage. Lakes Paniai and Tage are located in the Paniai Regency, while Lake Tigi is located in Deiyai Regency. The largest of the three is Lake Paniai, while its immediate neighbor Lake Tage is the smallest.
Grand Valley Dani, or simply Dani, is one of the most populous Papuan languages in Indonesian New Guinea. The Dani people live in the Baliem Valley of the Western Highlands.
Wolani (Wodani) is a Papuan language spoken by about 5,000 people in the Paniai lakes region of the Indonesian province of Papua. It is related to the Moni, Ekari, Auye, and Dao languages and may be related to the Dani languages. Documentation is quite limited.
Enarotali is a town in Paniai Regency, Central Papua, Indonesia. It is located on the shore of Lake Paniai, in Western New Guinea highlands.
The West Papuan Highland languages, also known as the Irian Highland languages, are a branch of the Trans–New Guinea language family proposed by Larson & Larson (1972) and confirmed by Timothy Usher. William A. Foley considers their Trans–New Guinea identity to be established.
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.
Highland Papua is a province of Indonesia, which roughly follows the borders of Papuan customary region of Lano-Pago, shortened to La Pago. It covers an area of 108,476 km2 and had a population of 1,408,641 according to the official estimates as at mid 2021.
Indonesia (Papua (province))
