Left May languages

The languages are:

:Iteri (Rocky Peak), Nakwi, Ama, Nimo, Owiniga, and (possibly) Bo.

Foley (2018) provides the following classification.{{cite book |last=Foley |first=William A. |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=197–432 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}

;Left May family

• western branch: Ama; Nimo; Iteri, Bo
• eastern branch: Owiniga

Iteri and Bo are closely related to each other.

Usher (2020) does not recognize a primary western branch, and distinguishes more languages.{{Cite web |url=https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/arai-and-samaia-rivers/arai-river |title=NGW, Arai River |access-date=2020-02-26 }}

;Arai River family

• Ama
• Nimo–Nakwi
• Nakwi
• Nimo
• Owiniga
• West Arai River
• Bo
• Iteri – Rocky Peak
• Iteri
• Rocky Peak

Malcolm Ross (2005) linked the Left May languages to Laycock's Kwomtari–Baibai languages in a Left May – Kwomtari family, based on similarities in the pronouns of Rocky Peak. However, he had not corrected for Laycock's errors in classification, and it is not clear if the links are with the Kwomtari or Fas languages.

Timothy Usher links the Left May languages to their neighbors, the Amto–Musan languages and the Pyu language in as Arai–Samaia stock. However, Foley (2018) attributes lexical similarities between the Left May and Amto-Musan families to contact, rather than genetic relationship.

Foley (2018) notes that typologically, the Left May languages are highly different from the other language families of the Sepik-Ramu basin, instead resembling the Trans-New Guinea somewhat more closely. For example, Left May and Trans-New Guinea languages typically all have ergative case markers, which most languages of the Sepik-Ramu basin do not have except for a few such as the isolate Taiap. Nevertheless, Left May and Trans-New Guinea speakers have historically been hostile towards each other (unlike their close trade relationships with Amto-Musan speakers), so there has been no recent contact scenarios to speak of. These typological similarities could be due to chance, ancient contact, or perhaps even a deep genetic relationship.

The following basic vocabulary words are from Conrad & Dye (1975)Conrad, R. and Dye, W. "[http://dx.doi.org/10.15144/PL-A40.1 Some Language Relationships in the Upper Sepik Region of Papua New Guinea] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240526094134/http://dx.doi.org/10.15144/PL-A40.1 |date=2024-05-26 }}". In Conrad, R., Dye, W., Thomson, N. and Bruce Jr., L. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 18. A-40:1-36. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. {{doi|10.15144/PL-A40.1}} and various SIL resources, as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.{{Cite web |url=http://transnewguinea.org/family/leftmay |title=TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea |last=Greenhill |first=Simon |date=2016 |access-date=2020-11-05 |archive-date=2021-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518064632/http://transnewguinea.org/family/leftmay |url-status=live }}

The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. kʌmi, ʔɛmi, ʔami for “head”) or not (e.g. dɛbo, ʔinʌ̀, fɛřæ for “skin”).

:

• Amto–Musan languages
• Papuan languages

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book | first = Donald C. | last = Laycock | author-link = Donald Laycock | year = 1973 | title = Sepik languages: checklist and preliminary classification | location = Canberra | publisher = Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University | isbn = 978-0-85883-084-4 | oclc = 5027628 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/sepiklanguagesch0000layc }}
• {{cite book | first = Donald C. | last = Laycock | author-link = Donald Laycock | year = 1975 | chapter = Sko, Kwomtari, and Left May (Arai) phyla | editor = Stephen A. Wurm | editor-link = Stephen Wurm | title = Papuan languages and the New Guinea linguistic scene: New Guinea area languages and language study 1 | location = Canberra | publisher = Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University | pages = 849–858 | oclc = 37096514 }}
• {{Malcolm Ross Pronouns}}

{{Refend}}

• [http://transnewguinea.org/family/leftmay Left May (Arai) languages database at TransNewGuinea.org]

{{Papuan languages}}

{{language families}}

Category:Arai–Samaia languages

Category:Languages of Momase Region