The Tonda languages form a branch of the Yam language family of southern

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. There are over 10 languages. Tonda languages share some areal features are shared with the

Kolopom languages The Kolopom languages are a family of Trans–New Guinea languages in the classifications of Stephen Wurm (1975) and of Malcolm Ross (2005). Along with the Mombum languages, they are the languages spoken on Yos Sudarso Island Pulau Yos Sudars ...

Languages

The Tonda languages are:West Morehead River
/ref> ;Tonda / West Morehead River * Arammba *Central Morehead River:

Anta Anta may refer to: Biology * Fava d'anta, a tree found in Brazil * South American tapir, known in Portuguese as '' * ''Phytelephas seemannii'', known in Quechua and Choco as '' Places * Anta Department, in Salta Province, Argentina * Anta, a ci ...

, Kómnzo, Wára, Wérè, Kémä, Kánchá * Warta Thuntai *

Bensbach River The Bensbach River is a river in southwestern Papua New Guinea. It is located just to the east of the Maro River in Merauke Regency, Indonesia, and just to the west of the Morehead River in Papua New Guinea. The mouth of the river, Torasi Estua ...

**Upper Bensbach River *** Mblafe– Ránmo ***Ngarna–Rema **** Nggarna (Sota) **** Rema **Kanum ***Ngkolmpu: Ngkâlmpw/Ngkontar, Bädi ***South Kanum: Bârkâli-Smärki, Tämer Notes (see Evans 2018: 681): *Each terminal bullet point lists a different

dialect chain A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...

. * Ránmo is linguistically a dialect of Mblafe, but Ránmo speakers consider their language to be a separate, distinct language. * Wérè is linguistically a dialect of Wára, but Wèré speakers consider their language to be a separate, distinct language.

Numeral typology

Tonda languages are unique for their

base-6 A senary () numeral system (also known as base-6, heximal, or seximal) has six as its base. It has been adopted independently by a small number of cultures. Like decimal, it is a semiprime, though it is unique as the product of the only two ...

numeral systems, which likely originated from counting yams (rather than fingers or body parts as with most other languages).Hammarström, Harald. (2009
Whence the Kanum Base-6 Numeral System?
''Linguistic Typology'' 13(2). 305-319.

References

External links

* Timothy Usher, New Guinea World
Proto–West Morehead River
(under construction 2020)

Languages

Numeral typology

References

External links

Further reading