West Bomberai languages

West Bomberai
Geographic
distribution		 West New Guinea
Linguistic classification Trans–New Guinea
  • Berau Gulf
    • West Bomberai
Subdivisions
Glottolog west2604  (mainland West Bomberai)[1]
timo1261  (Timor–Alor–Pantar)[2]
{{{mapalt}}}
Map: The West Bomberai languages of New Guinea
  The West Bomberai languages
  Other Trans–New Guinea languages
  Other Papuan languages
  Austronesian languages
  Uninhabited

The West Bomberai languages are a family of Papuan languages spoken on the Bomberai Peninsula of western New Guinea and in East Timor and neighboring islands of Indonesia.

Two of the languages of the mainland, Baham and Iha, are closely related to each other; the third is distant, forming a third branch of the family along with the Timor–Alor–Pantar languages:[3]

Ross reconstructs the pronouns of the mainland languages as *na 1sg, *ka 2sg, *bi(r) 1ex, *in 1in, *ki 2pl, of which 1sg, 2sg, and 2pl correspond to proto-Trans–New Guinea.

Ross (2005) classified Timor–Alor–Pantar with the mainland West Bomberai languages. Usher found that the Timor–Alor–Pantar languages resides within the West Bomberai languages, and is not just their closest relative. This indicates that Timor–Alor–Pantar is the result of a relatively recent migration from New Guinea, perhaps arriving in the Timor area shortly before the Austronesian languages.

References

  1. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "West Bomberai". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Timor–Alor–Pantar". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ New Guinea World, West Bomberai


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