View source for Social:West Papuan languages

{{Short description|Language family of Indonesia}}
{{Infobox language family
| name = West Papuan
| acceptance = proposed
| region = Halmahera (North Maluku) and Bird's Head Peninsula (West Papua and Southwest Papua)
| familycolor = Papuan
| family = One of the world's primary [[Social:Language family|language families]]
| child1 = ''Amberbaken (Mpur)''
| child2 = [[Social:North Halmahera languages|North Halmahera]]
| child3 = [[Social:Yawa languages|Yawa]]
| child4 = ? East Bird's Head
| child5 = West-Central Bird's Head
| glotto = none
| ancestor = 
| glottoname = 
| glottorefname = 
| notes = 
| map = West papuan family map.svg
| mapcaption = Distribution of the West Papuan languages
}}

The '''West Papuan languages''' are a proposed [[Social:Language family|language family]] of about two dozen non-Austronesian languages of the Bird's Head Peninsula (Vogelkop or Doberai Peninsula) of far western New Guinea, the island of Halmahera and its vicinity, spoken by about 220,000 people in all. It is not established if they constitute a proper linguistic family or an areal network of genetically unrelated families.

The best known "West Papuan" language is Ternate (50,000 native speakers) of the island of the same name, which is a regional lingua franca. Along with neighboring Tidore, they were the languages of the rival medieval [[History:Sultanate of Ternate|Ternate]] and Tidore sultanates, famous for their role in the [[Finance:Spice trade|spice trade]].

== Origins and contact ==
The [[Social:North Halmahera languages|North Halmahera (NH) languages]], spoken in the Maluku Islands, share some structural similarities with certain Papuan families in [[Place:Melanesia|Melanesia]], which was noted as far back as 1900.<ref name=Voorhoeve1988/>{{rp|193}} In addition, there is a number of lexical and morphemic correspondences between NH and [[Social:West Bird's Head languages|West Bird’s Head (WBH)]].<ref name=Voorhoeve1984>{{citation| first = Clemens L.| last = Voorhoeve| chapter = Comparative Linguistics and the West Papuan Phylum| pages = 65–90| date = 1984–1994| editor-first = E.K.M.| editor-last = Masinambow| title = Maluku dan Irian Jaya| publisher = LEKNAS-LIPI| location = Jakarta| series = Buletin LEKNAS 3.1 }}</ref>{{rp|78}} These are not easily explainable as chance resemblance. The question then is whether they are due to language contact (i.e., borrowing) or to common descent (i.e., genealogical inheritance). On the other hand, there is little evidence linking the individual families of the Vogelkop Peninsula to each other, with the relationship perhaps better considered areal (i.e., a Sprachbund).<ref name="Holton-Birds-Head"/>{{rp|626}} In spite of the shared morpho-syntactic features, many of these languages exhibit little in the way of lexical resemblance.<ref name=Reesink1998/>

It is not clear if East Bird’s Head (Mantion–Meyah and [[Social:Hatam–Mansim languages|Hatam–Mansim]]), [[Social:Maybrat language|Maybrat]], Mpur, and Abun are related to any of the remaining groups.<ref name=Holton-Birds-Head/> However, a connection between WBH/NH and the [[Social:Yawa languages|Yawa languages]] appears to be relatively likely.<ref name="Holton-Birds-Head"/>{{rp|626}} The [[Social:South Bird's Head languages|South Bird’s Head]] and [[Social:Timor–Alor–Pantar languages|Timor–Alor–Pantar]] families, while included in older formulations of the proposal, are no longer thought of as part of West Papuan.<ref name=Reesink2009/>

All of these languages show traces of old Austronesian influence.<ref name=Reesink1998>{{cite book |first = Ger P. |last = Reesink |editor-first = Jelle |editor-last = Miedema |editor-first2 = Cecilia |editor-last2 = Odé |editor-first3 = Rien A.C. |editor-last3 = Dam |chapter = The Bird‘s Head as Sprachbund |year = 1998 |title = Perspectives on the Bird's Head of Irian Jaya, Indonesia; Proceedings of the Conference, Leiden, 13–17 October 1997 |location = Amsterdam/Atlanta |isbn = 9789042006447 |publisher = Rodopi |pages = 603–642 }}</ref> Much of the basic vocabulary in NH (~30%) can be linked with various Austronesian sources, suggesting a long period of contact.<ref name=Voorhoeve1988/>{{rp|194–195}} The languages of the Bird’s Head have undergone extensive contact with the Cenderawasih Bay languages, such as Biak.<ref name="Holton-Birds-Head"/>{{rp|625}}

The term "West Papuan" has also been used in an areal sense, encompassing most of the non-Austronesian languages of Halmahera and Bird's Head.<ref name=Reesink2009>{{Citation |first = G. |last = Reesink |chapter = West Papuan languages |title = Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World |editor-first = E.K. |editor-last = Brown |editor-first2 = Sarah |editor-last2 = Ogilvie |year = 2009 |pages = 1176–1178 |oclc = |isbn = 978-0-08-087774-7 |location = Amsterdam |publisher = Elsevier |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC&pg=PA1176 |access-date = 2023-07-05 }}</ref><!-- ... -->

==Languages==
{{tree list}}
*'''West Papuan'''
**[[Social:North Halmahera languages|North Halmahera]] (Halmahera &ndash; West Makian)
***Core North Halmahera
***''West Makian''
**''Amberbaken (Mpur)''
**[[Social:Yawa languages|Yawa]] (Yapen)
**West–Central Bird's Head
***[[Social:West Bird's Head languages|West Bird's Head]]
***''Abun''
***''[[Social:Mai Brat language|Maybrat]] (Central Bird's Head)''
**East Bird's Head
***''Burmeso''
***[[Social:Hatam–Mansim languages|Hatam–Mansim]] (Hatam &ndash; Moi Brai)
***[[Social:Mantion–Meax languages|Mantion–Meax]] (Southeast Bird's Head)
{{tree list/end}}

==History==
The German linguist Wilhelm Schmidt first linked the West Bird's Head and North Halmahera languages in 1900. In 1957 H.K.J. Cowan linked them to the non-Austronesian languages of Timor as well. Stephen Wurm believed that although traces of West Papuan languages were to be found in the languages of Timor, as well as those of Aru and Great Andaman, this was due to a substratum and that these languages should be classified as [[Social:Trans–New Guinea languages|Trans–New Guinea]], [[Social:Austronesian languages|Austronesian]], and [[Social:Andamanese languages|Andamanese]], respectively. Indeed, most of the languages of East Nusa Tenggara and Maluku appear to have some non-Austronesian influence.<ref>Arthur Capell, 'The "West Papuan Phylum", Stephen Wurm 1977 [1975], ''New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study'', volume 1.</ref>

In 2005, Malcolm Ross made a tentative proposal, based on the forms of their pronouns, that the West Papuan languages form one of three branches of an extended West Papuan family that also includes the [[Social:Yawa languages|Yawa languages]], and a newly proposed [[Social:East Bird's Head – Sentani languages|East Bird's Head – Sentani]] family as a third branch.

[[Biography:Søren Wichmann|Søren Wichmann]] (2013)<ref name="Wichmann2013">Wichmann, Søren. 2013. [http://www.langlxmelanesia.com/wichmann313-386.pdf A classification of Papuan languages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125143227/https://www.langlxmelanesia.com/wichmann313-386.pdf |date=2020-11-25 }}. In: Hammarström, Harald and Wilco van den Heuvel (eds.), History, contact and classification of Papuan languages (Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, Special Issue 2012), 313-386. Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.</ref> considers [[Social:West Bird's Head languages|West Bird's Head]], Abun, and [[Social:Mai Brat language|Maybrat]] to form a unified family, but does not accept West Papuan as a coherent language family.

Timothy Usher, also somewhat tentatively, accepts Yawa and East Bird's Head, but not Sentani, as part of West Papuan itself, so the family can remain under that name.<ref>[https://sites.google.com/site/newguineaworld/families/west-papuan NewGuineaWorld - West Papuan]</ref>

Holton and Klamer (2018) do not unequivocally accept the unity of West Papuan, but note that certain proposals linking "West Papuan" groups together may eventually turn out to be fruitful.<ref name="Holton-Birds-Head">{{cite book |last1=Holton |first1=Gary |last2=Klamer |first2=Marian |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird’s Head |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=569–640 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}</ref> Ger Reesink suggests that the West Papuan family should be considered an areal network of unrelated linguistic families, noting the lack of adequate evidence for genetic relatedness.<ref>{{citation |first=Ger |last=Reesink |chapter = West Papuan languages |title = Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World |year = 2010 |isbn = 978-0-08-087775-4 |publisher = Elsevier |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC |language = en}}</ref>

==Pronouns==
The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto-West Papuan are,

:{| class=wikitable
|-
| rowspan=2| '''I''' || rowspan=2| ''*da, *di-'' || '''exclusive we''' || ''*mam, *mi-''
|-
| '''inclusive we''' || ''*po-''
|-
| '''thou''' || ''*ni, *na, *a-'' || '''you''' || ''*nan, *ni-''
|-
| '''she''' || ''*mV'' || '''they''' || ''*yo, *ana, *yo-''
|}

These are shared by the "core" West Papuan families. Hattam reflects only "I" and "thou", and Amberbaken only "thou", "you", and "she".

Ross's Extended West Papuan languages have forms in ''*d'' for "I" and ''*m'' for "we". (Most Yawa forms of "we" have ''m,'' such as ''imama,'' but they are too diverse for an easy reconstruction.) These are found in all branches of the family except for the Amberbaken isolate.

Ross's West Papuan proper is distinguished from [[Social:Yawa languages|Yawa]] and EBH-Sentani in having forms like ''na'' or ''ni'' for the second-person singular ("thou") pronoun.

:{| class=wikitable
|-
! family !! I !! thou !! we 
|-
| '''West Papuan''' || ''*da, *di-'' || ''*na, *ni, *a-'' || ''*mam, *mi'' 
|-
| '''EBH-Sentani''' || ''*da, *di'' || ''*ba~wa, *bi'' || ''*meme, *me''  
|-
| '''Yava''' || ''*rei'' || ''*wein'' || ''(imama'' etc.)
|}

==Word order==
Word order is SVO in the [[Social:West Bird's Head languages|West Bird's Head]] family and in western [[Social:North Halmahera languages|North Halmahera languages]] (Ternate, Tidore, West Makian, and Sahu; due to Austronesian influence). SVO word order is also present in the isolates Abun, Mpur, and [[Social:Maybrat language|Maibrat]].<ref name="Holton-Birds-Head"/>

The [[Social:South Bird's Head languages|South Bird's Head]] family generally has SOV word order, although SVO word order is also permitted in transitive clauses. The Timor-Alor-Pantar languages also have verb-final word order.<ref name="Holton-Birds-Head"/>

==Phonology==
All Papuan languages of East [[Place:Nusantara (archipelago)|Nusantara]] have five or more vowels.<ref name="Holton-Birds-Head"/>

Abun and Mpur are fully tonal languages, with Mpur having 4 lexical tones, and Abun having 3 lexical tones. Meyah and Sougb are pitch-accent languages. All other languages of the Bird's Head Peninsula are non-tonal.<ref name="Klamer-Nusantara">Klamer, Marian; Ger Reesink; and Miriam van Staden. 2008. East Nusantara as a Linguistic Area. In Pieter Muysken (ed.), ''From linguistic areas to areal linguistics'', 95-149. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.</ref>{{rp|134–135}}

Of all the Papuan languages spoken in the Bird's Head Peninsula, Abun has the largest consonant inventory with 20 consonants, while neighboring [[Social:Maybrat language|Maybrat]] has the smallest with 11 consonants. Large consonant inventories similar to that of Abun are also found in the [[Social:North Halmahera languages|North Halmahera languages]], such as Tobelo, Tidore, and Sahu.<ref name="Holton-Birds-Head"/>{{rp|583}}

==Lexical comparison==
Basic vocabulary of two [[Social:West Bird's Head languages|West Bird's Head languages]] (''WBH'') (Moi and Tehit) and three [[Social:Language isolate|language isolate]]s (Mpur, Abun, Maibrat), quoted by Holton & Klamer (2018)<ref name="Holton-Birds-Head"/> from Miedema & Reesink (2004: 34) and (Reesink 2005: 202); these show diverse non-cognate forms among Papuan languages of the Bird's Head Peninsula:<ref>Miedema, Jelle and Ger P. Reesink. 2004. ''One Head, Many Faces: New perspectives on the Bird's Head Peninsula of New Guinea''. Leiden: KITLV.</ref><ref>Reesink, Ger P. 2005. ''West Papuan languages: roots and development''. In: Pawley et al. (eds.) 185–218.</ref>

:{| {{table}}
|+ West Bird's Head family and Bird's Head isolates: <br>basic vocabulary
! gloss !! Moi (WBH) !! Tehit (WBH) !! Mpur !! Abun !! Maibrat
|-
| arm/hand || nin || naa || wom || cim || atem
|-
| leg/foot || eelik || deit || pet || wis || ao
|-
| house || keik || mbol || jan || nu || amah
|-
| good || bok || hnjo || mafun || ndo || mof
|-
| dog || oofun || mqaan || per || ndar || mtah
|-
| pig || baik || qorik || dwaw || nok || fane
|-
| chicken || kelem tole || kokok || kokor || dam kukur || kok
|-
| louse || -jam || hain || im || im || sruom
|-
| water/river || kla || kla || war ||  || aja
|-
| banana || o || ogo || fa || weu || apit
|}

Lexical lookalikes between [[Social:North Halmahera languages|North Halmahera languages]] (''NH'') (Galela and Pagu) and [[Social:West Bird's Head languages|West Bird's Head languages]] (''WBH'') (Moi and Tehit) from Voorhoeve (1988: 194), as quoted by Holton & Klamer (2018):<ref name="Voorhoeve1988">Voorhoeve, Clemens L. 1988. The languages of the northern Halmaheran stock. In: Geoffrey P. Smith, Tom Dutton, Clemens L. Voorhoeve, Stephen Schooling, Janice Schooling, Robert Conrad, Ron Lewis, Stephen A. Wurm and Theo Baumann (eds.), ''Papers in New Guinea Linguistics'' 26: 181–209.</ref><ref name="Holton-Birds-Head"/>

:{| {{table}}
|+ Lexical comparisons between North Halmahera and <br>West Bird's Head families
! gloss !! Galela (NH) !! Pagu (NH) !! Moi (WBH) !! Tehit (WBH)
|-
| ‘head’ || sahe || saek || sawa || safakos
|-
| ‘fruit’, ‘eye’ || sopo || sowok || suwo || sfuon
|-
| ‘egg’ || gosi || – || – || esyen
|-
| ‘man’ || ya-nau || naul || ne || nau
|-
| ‘meat’ || lake || lakem || kem || qan
|-
| ‘tree’ || gota || – || – || kot
|-
| ‘water’ || ake || akel || kala || kla
|-
| ‘drink’ || oke || okel || ook || ooqo
|-
| ‘stab’ || saka || sakal || saa || sqaa
|}

The lexical data below is from the Trans-New Guinea database<ref name="TNG-org">{{Cite web |url=http://transnewguinea.org/family/eastgeelvinkbay |title=TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea |last=Greenhill |first=Simon |date=2016| access-date=2020-11-05}}</ref> and Usher (2020),<ref name="Usher-2020">{{cite web |url=https://sites.google.com/site/newguineaworld/ |first=Timothy |last=Usher |year=2020 |title=New Guinea World |access-date=2020-12-31 |archive-date=2022-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221216170855/https://sites.google.com/site/newguineaworld/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> unless noted otherwise.

{| class="wikitable collapsible sortable" style="font-size: 85%"
|+ Body parts
! ''family'' !! ''language'' !! head !! hair !! ear !! eye !! nose !! tooth !! tongue !! leg !! blood !! bone !! skin !! breast
|-
! Trans-New Guinea
! Proto-Trans-New Guinea
| *kobutu; *kV(mb,p)utu; *mUtUna; *mVtVna || *iti; *(nd,s)umu(n,t)[V]; *zumun || *ka(nd,t)(i,e)C; *kat(i,e)C; *tVmV(d) || *g(a,u)mu; *ŋg(a,u)mu; *(ŋg,k)iti [maŋgV]; *nVpV || *mundu; *mutu || *magata; *maŋgat[a]; *titi || *balaŋ; *mbilaŋ; *me(l,n)e; *me(n,l)e || *kani(n); *k(a,o)ond(a,o)C; *kitu || *ke(ñj,s)a; *kesa || *kondaC; *kwata(l,n) || *gatapu; *(ŋg,k)a(nd,t)apu || *amu
|-
! Timor-Alor-Pantar
! Proto-Timor-Alor-Pantar (Schapper)<ref>Antoinette Schapper, Juliette Huber & Aone van Engelenhoven. 2017. The relatedness of Timor-Kisar and Alor-Pantar languages: A preliminary demonstration. In Marian Klamer (ed.), ''[http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/157 The Alor-Pantar languages]'', 91–147. Berlin: Language Science Press. {{doi|10.5281/zenodo.569389}}</ref>
|  ||  || *-waRi ||  || *-mVN || *-wasin || *-lebuR || *buta || *waj || *se(r, R) ||  || *hami
|-
! Timor-Alor-Pantar
! Proto-Timor-Alor-Pantar (Usher)<ref name="Usher-2020"/>
|  ||  || *ˈwali[k] || *ina || *muni[k] || *ˈwasin ||  || *iˈdi || *waⁱ[s] ||  || *pasu || *ami
|-
! [[Social:Tambora language|Tambora]]
! [[Social:Tambora language|Tambora]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Donohue|first=Mark|date=2008-01-03|title=The Papuan Language of Tambora|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/228921|journal=Oceanic Linguistics|volume=46|issue=2|pages=520–537|doi=10.1353/ol.2008.0014|s2cid=26310439|issn=1527-9421}}</ref>
| kokóre || búlu ||  || saing'óre || saing kóme || sóntong ||  || maimpo || kiro ||  ||  || 
|-
! [[Social:North Halmahera languages|North Halmahera]]
! Proto-[[Social:North Halmahera languages|North Halmahera]]<ref name="Holton-Birds-Head" />
| *sahek || *hutu || *ŋauk || *lako || *ŋunuŋ || *iŋir || *akir || *ḋohu || *aun || *koboŋ || *kahi || 
|-
! [[Social:West Bird's Head languages|West Bird's Head]]
! Moi
| sawa || sagin ||  || suo ||  || efek ||  || telek || sayam || ofun || baik || kelem
|-
! Abun
! Abun (Karon Pantai dialect)
| məsu || go ||  || ŋgro ||  || sios ||  || kwes || nde || dini || da || 
|-
! Mpur
! Mpur (Kebar dialect)
| èbuam || buambor ||  || yam ||  || bir ||  || èipèt || far || ip || fièk || 
|-
! Maibrat
! Mai Brat
| ana || amawian ||  || nasu ||  || bait ||  || taa || mes || tai || arak || 
|-
! Konda-Yahadian
! Konda
| wesi || sinamu ||  || nuburu ||  || unamu ||  || be || ua || toroni || giri || 
|-
! Inanwatan-Duriankere
! Duriankere
| akaporo || asari ||  || kabu ||  || epo ||  || kepo || aru || atoko || agino || 
|-
! [[Social:South Bird's Head languages|South Bird's Head]]
! Proto-[[Social:Nuclear South Bird's Head languages|East SBH]]<ref name="Usher-2020"/>
|  || *karar || *qer[aw] ||  || *mitob || *resin || *nun || *sor || *a[m/p]as || *toq ||  || *did
|-
! East Bird's Head
! Meyah
| ibirfa || feji ||  || itec ||  || bufon ||  || maki || mugufu || mofora || mofos || 
|-
! East Bird's Head
! Manikion
| mogt || mokodi ||  || ma-i resi ||  || mokta ||  || mohoti-muʔ || mokuhi || mori || mos || 
|-
! East Bird's Head
! Hatam
| boŋwak || ŋta ||  || iai ||  || kway ||  || mij || ŋgrom || injun || ŋkek || 
|-
! Yapen
! Yawa
| akari || bwin ||  || nami ||  || atu ||  || najo || madi || pae || kea || 
|}

{| class="wikitable collapsible sortable" style="font-size: 85%"
|+ Nature
! ''family'' !! ''language'' !! louse !! dog !! pig !! bird !! egg !! tree !! sun !! moon !! water !! fire !! stone !! path
|-
! Trans-New Guinea
! Proto-Trans-New Guinea
| *niman ||  ||  || *n(e,i); *n(e)i; *n[e]i; *yak; *yaka[i]; *yanem || *maŋgV; *munaka; *mun(a,u)ka || *ida; *inda ~ *iñja || *kamali; *kamuli; *ketana || *kal(a,i)m; *kamali; *takVn; *takVn[V] || *nok; *(n)ok; *ok(u); *ok[V] || *inda; *k(a,e)dap; *k(a,e)(n,d)ap; *kambu; *k(a,o)nd(a,u)p || *kamb(a,u)na; *(na)muna; *[na]muna || 
|-
! Timor-Alor-Pantar
! Proto-Timor-Alor-Pantar (Schapper)
|  ||  || *baj || *(h)adul ||  || *hate || *wad(i, u) || *hur(u) || *jira || *hada || *war || *jega
|-
! Timor-Alor-Pantar
! Proto-Timor-Alor-Pantar (Usher)
| *amin || *ˈj[a]bar ||  || *ˈadz[o]l || *ˈudu || *at[eⁱ] || *ˈwadu ||  || *ˈira || *aˈda || *war || *ˈ[ja]gal
|-
! [[Social:Tambora language|Tambora]]
! [[Social:Tambora language|Tambora]]
|  ||  || kíwu || kilaíngkong || andik ||  ||  ||  || naino || maing'aing ||  || 
|-
! [[Social:North Halmahera languages|North Halmahera]]
! Proto-[[Social:North Halmahera languages|North Halmahera]]
| *gani || *kaso ||  ||  || *boro || *gota ||  || *ŋoosa || *aker || *uku || *teto || 
|-
! [[Social:West Bird's Head languages|West Bird's Head]]
! Moi
| tolok || sdam || kodus || -kesik ||  || ouk || (ne) dala ||  || dewe ||  || kala || yak
|-
! Abun
! Abun (Karon Pantai dialect)
| mim || ndar || yot || namgau || bem || kew || kam ||  || sur || bot || jok || 
|-
! Mpur
! Mpur (Kebar dialect)
| èyim || pir || duaw || if || bua || perau || put ||  || war || yèt || bit || 
|-
! Maibrat
! Mai Brat
| xate || matax || fane || ru || mauf || ara || ayo ||  || aya || tafox || fra || 
|-
! Konda-Yahadian
! Konda
| ano || ajia || ba || boro || wu || oxot-moro || ci ||  || abia || ucua || patyo || 
|-
! Inanwatan-Duriankere
! Duriankere
| kono || meymo || bi || dorimo || aguo || a || tigi ||  || sa || weyko || medapo || 
|-
! [[Social:South Bird's Head languages|South Bird's Head]]
! Proto-[[Social:Nuclear South Bird's Head languages|East SBH]]
| *kon ||  ||  || *kanen || *wuk || *qemin || *teg[ed] || *mo[k/q] || *sai ||  ||  || *aum
|-
! East Bird's Head
! Meyah
| mec || mes || mek || mem || ofou || merga || mowa ||  || mei || mowoxo || mamu || 
|-
! East Bird's Head
! Manikion
| kuta || mehi || hweij || ba || moʔwuʔ || sako || idesi; igda ||  || tohu || smow || idahabu || 
|-
! East Bird's Head
! Hatam
| mem || msien || naba || ha || tuŋwei || bie-incem || mpau ||  || (mi)ney || sum || tiy || 
|-
! Yapen
! Yawa
| eme || make || bugwe || insane || kami || nyo || uma ||  || karu (?) || tanam || oram || 
|}

{| class="wikitable collapsible sortable" style="font-size: 85%"
|+ Miscellaneous
! ''family'' !! ''language'' !! man !! woman !! name !! eat !! one !! two
|-
! Trans-New Guinea
! Proto-Trans-New Guinea
| *abV; *ambi || *panV; *pan(V) || *ibi; *imbi; *wani || *na; *na- ||  || *ta(l,t)(a,e)
|-
! Timor-Alor-Pantar
! Proto-Timor-Alor-Pantar (Schapper)
|  ||  ||  || *nVa || *nukV || 
|-
! Timor-Alor-Pantar
! Proto-Timor-Alor-Pantar (Usher)
| *nami || *tubur || *naⁱ || *nawa || *uˈkani || 
|-
! [[Social:Tambora language|Tambora]]
! [[Social:Tambora language|Tambora]]
| sia-in || óna-yit ||  || mákan ||  || kálae
|-
! [[Social:North Halmahera languages|North Halmahera]]
! Proto-[[Social:North Halmahera languages|North Halmahera]]
| *naur || *ŋopeḋeka || *roŋa || *oḋom || *moi || *sinoto
|-
! [[Social:West Bird's Head languages|West Bird's Head]]
! Moi
| kwak ||  || kedi || wak || mele || ali
|-
! Abun
! Abun (Karon Pantai dialect)
| bris ||  || gum || git || dik || we
|-
! Mpur
! Mpur (Kebar dialect)
| mamir ||  || emuk || barièt || tu || dukir
|-
! Maibrat
! Mai Brat
| sme ||  || asom || ait || sau || ewok; eyok
|-
! Konda-Yahadian
! Konda
| riobo ||  || erunu || no- || mutyu || rak
|-
! Inanwatan-Duriankere
! Duriankere
| kwemo ||  || nye || ni- || motoni || eiri
|-
! [[Social:South Bird's Head languages|South Bird's Head]]
! Proto-[[Social:Nuclear South Bird's Head languages|East SBH]]
| *rabin ||  ||  ||  || *onat || *[ou]g
|-
! East Bird's Head
! Meyah
| nuna ||  || mofoka || etmar || ergens || ergek
|-
! East Bird's Head
! Manikion
| giji ||  || moxo || eth || hom || huay
|-
! East Bird's Head
! Hatam
| pənain ||  || ineŋa || jem || kom || can
|-
! Yapen
! Yawa
| ana ||  || tam || rais || utabo || jiru
|}

==See also==
*Papuan languages
*[[Social:West Trans–New Guinea languages|West Trans–New Guinea languages]]
*Districts of West Papua for a list of districts and villages with respective languages
*List of ethnic groups of West Papua

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Malcolm Ross Pronouns}}
* {{cite journal | last = Voorhoeve | first = C. L. |  year = 1988 | title = The languages of the northern Halmaheran stock | journal = Papers in New Guinea Linguistics | volume = 26 | pages = 181–209 | issn = 0078-9135 | oclc = 2729642 }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*[https://soundcomparisons.com/ West Papuan sound comparisons]
*[https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/848532 Papuans on the move: The linguistic prehistory of the West Papuan languages (OUTOFPAPUA project)]

{{language families}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:West Papuan Languages}}
[[Category:Proposed language families]]

{{Sourceattribution|West Papuan languages}}