Northwest Papuan languages
The Northwest Papuan languages are a proposed language family of Papuan languages.
Many of the constituent branches of Northwest Papuan were first proposed to be related by H.K.J. Cowan in the 1950s. Voorhoeve connected the Border and Tor families. Using only pronouns as a diagnostic, Malcolm Ross linked most of the western branch of the family, which is now fairly secure. The current form of the proposal was worked out by Timothy Usher under the name "North New Guinea".
It is not yet certain, however, that the similarities in vocabulary between Foja Range and the other constituent families are due to inheritance rather than borrowing.Languages
- Fas
- Sentani
- Border
- Sko
- Foja Range
- *Nimboran
- *Kwerbic
- *Mawes
- *Orya–Tor
The western branch, Foja Range, is equivalent to Ross's Tor–Kwerba family with the addition of Nimboran.
Søren Wichmann considers Nimboran, Kapauri, Border, and possibly also Elseng to form a unified language family.
