Halmahera–Cenderawasih languages
| Halmahera–Cenderawasih | |
|---|---|
| South Halmahera – West New Guinea | |
| Geographic distribution: |
The Maluku Islands in the Halmahera Sea, and the region of Cenderawasih Bay |
| Linguistic classification: | Austronesian
|
| Subdivisions: |
? Lower Mamberamo (perhaps Papuan)
|
 The SHWNG languages (red). The group at left are the Halmahera Sea languages; the one at right are the Cenderawasih languages. (The black line is the Wallace Line.)
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The Halmahera–Cenderawasih or South Halmahera – West New Guinea (SHWNG) languages are a moderately supported group of Austronesian languages, commenly said on little evidence to be most closely related to the Oceanic languages. They are found in the islands and along the shores of the Halmahera Sea in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and of Cenderawasih Bay in the provinces of Papua and West Papua.
The unity of Halmahera–Cenderawasih is moderately credible, supported at an 80% level of confidence according to a 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database, if certain languages are reassigned from the erstwhile West New Guinea branch (leaving the Cenderawasih languages) to the South Halmahera branch (forming a Halmahera Sea branch).[1]
Most of the languages are only known from short word lists, but Buli on Halmahera, and Biak and Waropen in Cenderawasih Bay, are fairly well attested.
[edit] Classification
The traditional classification of the languages is into two geographic groups,
- South Halmahera languages (along the southeastern coast of Halmahera, plus one language in the east of the Bomberai Peninsula). Includes Buli.
- West Papuan languages (on the Raja Ampat Islands west of New Guinea, and the islands and shoreline of Cenderawasih Bay). Includes Biak and Yapen languages (e.g. Ambai, Ansus and Woi).
However, the 2008 analysis did not support this classification, specifically the unity of West Papuan. Looking at ten of the languages, it fully supported two clades, but with a lower confidence at higher levels.
The fully supported clades are
- Halmahera Sea
- South Halmahera (in the sea between Halmahera and New Guinea)
- Raja Ampat (off western tip of New Guinea)
and
- Yapen–Waropen (Cenderawasih Bay)
- Yapen (on Yapen Island in Cenderawasih Bay)
- Waropen (on Serui Island)
The other analysed languages of Cenderawasih Bay were linked to Yapen-Waropen, but with lesser confidence: Biak (Numfor) at 75%, and Mor at 70%. That is, a reduced form of West Papuan is moderately supported, if the Raja Ampat languages are removed from it, leaving the Cenderawasih languages in and around Cenderawasih Bay. The West Papuan branch of (Northwest) Bomberai was not addressed.
