Ramu–Lower Sepik languages

E1021850

The Ramu–Lower Sepik languages are a proposed family of Papuan languages spoken primarily in northern Papua New Guinea, noted for their diversity and complex grammatical structures.

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Statements (45)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Papuan language family
proposed language family
arealClassification Papuan
arealFeature contact with Sepik language families
contact with Trans–New Guinea languages
areClassifiedBy lexical comparison
pronominal paradigms
typological features
areDocumentedIn comparative Papuan surveys
descriptive grammars of individual languages
lexical wordlists
areLocatedIn Lower Sepik River region NERFINISHED
Ramu River region NERFINISHED
areSpokenBy indigenous peoples of northern Papua New Guinea
small language communities
areSpokenIn East Sepik Province NERFINISHED
Madang Province NERFINISHED
areStudiedBy field linguists
historical linguists
areStudiedIn Papuan linguistics
continent Oceania
country Papua New Guinea
hasSubgroup Grass languages NERFINISHED
Keram languages NERFINISHED
Kobon–Maron languages NERFINISHED
Lower Sepik languages NERFINISHED
Mikarew–Watam languages NERFINISHED
Ramu languages NERFINISHED
Tamolan languages NERFINISHED
haveCharacteristic complex grammatical structures
high structural diversity
pronoun-based classification proposals
significant phonological variation across branches
small speaker populations for many member languages
haveUncertainty genetic unity not universally accepted
internal subgrouping debated
haveWritingSystem primarily unwritten
languageFamilyStatus proposed
linguisticTypology agglutinative morphology in many languages
head-marking tendencies in some branches
rich verbal morphology in several languages
region northern Papua New Guinea
riskStatus many member languages endangered
subclassOf Papuan languages
timeDepth likely great time depth relative to other Papuan families

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Mundugumor languageFamily Ramu–Lower Sepik languages
Tchambuli society languageFamily Ramu–Lower Sepik languages