The Lepki–Murkim languages are a pair to three recently discovered languages of New Guinea, Lepki, Murkim and possibly Kembra. Øystein Lund Andersen has written an ethnography sketch on the Lepki that includes a wordlist of Lepki language and songs.

Classification

In 2007, on a Papuan language website, Mark Donohue reported that, :''Murkim ndLepki ndKembra are, along with a number of other languages, unclassified groups living between the main cordillera and Mt. 6234, in the north of Papua near the PNG border (where 'near' = up to about 6 days' walk). They don't appear to be related to each other, based on wordlists, and they don't appear to show external affiliations.

However,

Søren Wichmann Søren Wichmann (born 1964) is a Danish linguist specializing in historical linguistics, linguistic typology, Mesoamerican languages, and epigraphy. Since June 2016, he has been employed as a University Lecturer at Leiden University Centre for Li ...

(2013) found that Murkim and Lepki at least appear to be very closely related,Wichmann, Søren. 2013
A classification of Papuan languages
In: Hammarström, Harald and Wilco van den Heuvel (eds.), History, contact and classification of Papuan languages (Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, Special Issue 2012), 313-386. Port Moresby: Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea. a position accepted by Glottolog. Usher (2018) classifies the three languages in the southern branch of the Pauwasi family.South Pauwasi River
/ref> Foley (2018) classifies them separately as an independent language family. Foley (2018) also classifies Kembra and Kembra as isolates, but does not exclude the possibility of their being related to Lepki–Murkim.

Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary of Lepki and Murkim showing cognates and non-cognates listed in Foley (2018): :

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Namla-Tofanma languages Lepki-Murkim