The East Papuan languages, also called the East Papuan phylum, is a hypothetical family of Papuan languages spoken on the islands east of New Guinea, including New Britain, New Ireland, Bougainville, the Solomon Islands, and the Santa Cruz Islands. In Papuan linguistics, such distant families are referred to as phyla. Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... The term Papuan languages refers to those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. ... (This article is about the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. ... New Ireland is an island in the Pacific, and the most northeastern province of Papua New Guinea. ... This article is about the island; Bougainville is also the name of a commune in the Somme département of France. ... The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of the nation of the Solomon Islands. ... Linguistics is the scientific study of human language, and someone who engages in this study is called a linguist. ... A phylum is a term in linguistics used for language classification which denotes the highest recognized level of hierarchy. ...

The East Papuan languages were identified as a phylum by linguist Stephen Wurm and others. However, their work was prelimiary, and there is little evidence the East Papuan languages actually have a genetic relationship. For example, none of the fifteen languages marked with asterisks below share more than 2-3% of their basic vocabulary with any of the others (that is, words for basic things like fire, water, eye, or louse that are not likely to be borrowed from neighboring languages). Dunn et al. (2005) tested the reliability of the proposed 2-3% cognates by randomizing the vocabulary lists and comparing them again. The nonsense comparisons produced the same 2-3% of "shared" vocabulary, demonstrating that the proposed cognates of the East Papuan languages, and even of families within the East Papuan languages, are as likely to be due to chance as to any relationship. A Genetic relationship, in linguistics is the relationship which exists among languages as a result of being members of the same language family or language group--that is, either being derived from, or acting as ancestor of, each other. ... Cognates are words that have a common origin. ...

Würm identifies the subdivisions of his Papuan classification as families (on the order of the Germanic languages), stocks (on the order of the Indo-European languages), and phyla (on the order of the Nostratic hypothesis). Sepik-Ramu is a phylum in this terminology. A language that is not related to any other at a family level will be called an isolate in this scheme. The Germanic languages form one of the branches of the Indo-European (IE) language family. ... The Indo-European languages include some 443 (SIL estimate) languages and dialects, including most of the major language families of Europe, as well as many languages of Southwest and South Asia, which belong to a single superfamily. ... Nostratic is a highly controversial language super-family that putatively links many Eurasian language families. ... A language isolate is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or genetic) relationship with other living languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common to any other language. ...

Given that in some cases there may be disagreement as to whether two idioms are separate languages or dialects, the East Papuan languages are:

Classification

East Papuan phylum

• Yele-Bougainville superstock
  • East Bougainville stock - Bougainville (no demonstrable shared vocabulary)
    • Buin family (no demonstrable shared vocabulary)
      • Buin*
      • Motuna* (Siwai)
      • Uisai
    • Nasioi family
      • Koromira
      • Lantanai
      • Naasioi*
      • Nagovisi
      • Oune
      • Simeku
  • West Bougainville stock - Bougainville
    • Keriaka isolate
    • Konua isolate (Rapoisi)
    • Rotokas family
      • Rotokas*
      • Eivo
  • Yélî Dnye isolate* - Rossel Island, Papua New Guinea
• New Britain stock (no demonstrable shared vocabulary)
  • Anem isolate* - New Britain
  • Kol isolate* - New Britain
  • Kuot isolate* (Panaras) - New Ireland
  • Sulka isolate* - New Britain
  • Pele-Ata isolate* (Wasi) - New Britain
  • Baining family - New Britain
    • Mali*
    • Qaqet
    • Kairak
    • Simbali
    • Taulil
    • Butam (extinct)
    • Ura
    • Malkolkol
• Solomons stock
  • Kazakuru family - New Georgia, Solomon Islands (extinct)
    • Dororo
    • Guliguli
    • Kazukuru
  • Central Solomons languages (no demonstrable shared vocabulary)
    • Bilua isolate* - Vella LaVella Island, Solomon Islands
    • Baniata isolate* (Touo) - South Rendova Island, Solomon Islands
    • Lavukaleve isolate* - Russell Islands, Solomon Islands
    • Savosavo isolate* - Savo Island, Solomon Islands
• Reef Islands-Santa Cruz family - eastern Solomon Islands (may be Austronesian)
  • Santa Cruz - Santa Cruz Islands
  • Nanggu - Santa Cruz Islands
  • Ayiwo - Reef Islands

*There is no demonstrable shared vocabulary between these languages. This article is about the island; Bougainville is also the name of a commune in the Somme département of France. ... This article is about the island; Bougainville is also the name of a commune in the Somme département of France. ... Rotokas is a language (part of the East Papuan language family) spoken by some 4000 people in Bougainville, an island to the east of New Guinea, part of Papua New Guinea. ... (This article is about the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. ... (This article is about the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. ... New Ireland is an island in the Pacific, and the most northeastern province of Papua New Guinea. ... (This article is about the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. ... (This article is about the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. ... (This article is about the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. ... Categories: Oceania geography stubs | Solomon Islands ... The Russell Islands are two important small islands, as well as several islets, of volcanic origin, in the central Solomon Islands. ... Savo Island is a minor island in the Solomon Islands group in the South Pacific ocean. ... The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia. ... The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of the nation of the Solomon Islands. ... The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of the nation of the Solomon Islands. ... The Reef Islands are a loose collection of islands in the northwestern part of the Solomon Islands province of Temotu. ...

Reference

• Structural Phylogenetics and the Reconstruction of Ancient Language History. Michael Dunn, Angela Terrill, Ger Reesink, Robert A. Foley, Stephen C. Levinson. Science magazine, 23 Sept. 2005, vol. 309, p 2072.

See also

• Papuan languages