Finisterre languages

Finisterre
Finisterre
Geographic; distribution	Finisterre Range, New Guinea
Linguistic classification	Trans–New Guinea Morobe – Eastern Highlands Finisterre–Huon Finisterre; ; ;
Subdivisions	Erap; Gusap–Mot; Uruwa; Wantoat; Warup; Yupna;
Glottolog	fini1245

The Finisterre languages are a language family, spoken in the Finisterre Range of Papua New Guinea, classified within the original Trans–New Guinea (TNG) proposal, and William A. Foley considers their TNG identity to be established. They share with the Huon languages a small closed class of verbs taking pronominal object prefixes some of which are cognate across both families (Suter 2012), strong morphological evidence that they are related.

The most populous Finisterre languages are Wantoat, Rawa and Yopno, with about 10,000 speakers apiece, and Iyo, with about half that number.

Internal structure

Huon and Finisterre, and then the connection between them, were identified by Kenneth McElhanon (1967, 1970). They are clearly valid language families. Finisterre contains six clear branches. Beyond that, classification is based on lexicostatistics, which is generally unreliable. The outline below follows McElhanon and Carter et al. (2012).

Finisterre family
- Erap branch
  - Boana: Nuk–Nek, Nakama, Numanggang, Munkip
  - Finongan, Gusan, Mamaa
  - Nimi, Sauk (Ma Manda), Uri
- Gusap–Mot branch
  - Madi (Gira), Neko, Nekgini
  - Ngaing, Rawa, Ufim, Iyo (Nahu)
- Uruwa branch: Sakam (Kutong) – Som, Nukna (Komutu), Yau, ?Weliki
- Wantoat branch: Awara–Wantoat (Yagawak, Bam), Tuma-Irumu
- Warup branch: Asaro'o (Morafa) – Molet, Bulgebi, Degenan, Forak, Guya (Guiarak), Gwahatike (Dahating), Muratayak (Asat, Yagomi)
- Yupna branch: Domung–Ma (Mebu), Nankina, Bonkiman–Yopno (Kewieng, Wandabong, Nokopo, Isan), ?Yout Wam

References

External links

ELAR archive of Documenting Yupna Diversity

Bibliography

Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.
Suter, Edgar (2012). Verbs with pronominal object prefixes in Finisterre-Huon languages. In: Harald Hammarström and Wilco van den Heuvel (eds.). History, contact and classification of Papuan languages. [Special Issue 2012 of Language and Linguistics in Melanesia]. 23-58. Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea.