New Ireland languages

New Ireland
(reduced)
Geographic distribution:	New Ireland
Linguistic classification:	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Oceanic Meso-Melanesian ? Core Meso-Melanesian New Ireland
Subdivisions:	—

The New Ireland languages are a group of the Meso-Melanesian languages. They are largely spoken on the island of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea.

Composition

A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database removed the Northwest Solomonic and Nehan–Bougainville languages from the traditional New Ireland family, but fully supported the unity of the remainder of the languages that were considered. These are:

• Lavongai–Nalik languages
• Mandara (Tabar)
• Patpatar–Tolai languages

Madara is conventionally included within Lavongai–Nalik, but the 2008 analysis only supported this classification at a 60% confidence level.

Not considered in the 2008 analysis were the following traditional branches:

• Madak languages (Barok, Lavatbura-Lamusong, Madak)
• Tabar languages (Lihir, Notsi)
• Tomoip