Huon Gulf languages

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Huon Gulf
Geographic distribution:	Northern New Guinea
Genetic classification:	Austronesian  Malayo-Polynesian   Oceanic    Western Oceanic     North New Guinea ?      Ngero-Vitiaz ?       Huon Gulf
Subdivisions:	Markham languages North Huon Gulf languages Numbami language South Huon Gulf languages

The thirty Huon Gulf languages of Papua New Guinea may form a group of the North New Guinea languages, perhaps within the Ngero-Vitiaz branch of that family.

[edit] Classification

A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database^[1] found that Numbami fell within the Ngero-Vitiaz languages. The other Huon Gulf languages were not considered, so it is not clear if Numbami is an outlier, or if Huon Gulf is a branch of Ngero-Vitiaz.

The traditional classification of the languages is as follows:

• Markham languages
  • Lower Markham languages
  • Upper Markham languages
  • Watut languages
• North Huon Gulf languages
  • Bukawa
  • Yabem
  • Kela
• Numbami (at least this branch falls within Ngero-Vitiaz)
• South Huon Gulf languages
  • Hote-Buang languages
  • Iwal

[edit] References

• Ross, Malcolm (1988). Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian languages of western Melanesia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

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