The Papi and Asaba languages form a small
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of two somewhat distantly related languages of northern
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
, namely
Papi and
Suarmin (Asaba).
Donald Laycock (1973) classified them as part of a
Walio–Papi, a.k.a. Leonhard Schultze, branch of his
Sepik–Ramu proposal.
Malcolm Ross (2005) breaks up Walio–Papi, and suggests that the Papi languages may instead be part of the
Sepik Hill branch of the (now
Sepik) family. ''Glottolog'' does not find the evidence of a Papi family to be convincing. Foley (2018) and Usher (2020) retain them in Leonhard Schultze.
Frieda and Kenu Rivers
New Guinea World
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Papi-Asaba languages
Leonhard Schultze languages