The Upper Yuat languages consist of two small

language families A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in hi ...

, namely Arafundi and Piawi, spoken in the region of the upper

Yuat River The Yuat is the major tributary of the Sepik River in northern Papua New Guinea. The Yuat is on the right (southern) side and joins the Sepik about 20 linear km upstream from the Keram River, and just downstream from the Chambri Lakes. The eponymo ...

of New Guinea. The connection was first suggested by

William A. Foley William A. Foley (''William Auguste "Bill" Foley;'' born 1949) is an American linguist and professor at Columbia University He was previously located at the University of Sydney. He specializes in Papuan and Austronesian languages. Foley develo ...

and confirmed by Timothy Usher, who further links them to the

Madang languages The Madang or Madang–Adelbert Range languages are a language family of Papua New Guinea. They were classified as a branch of Trans–New Guinea by Stephen Wurm, followed by Malcolm Ross. William A. Foley concurs that it is "highly likely" t ...

.New Guinea World, Upper Yuat River
/ref> Upper Yuat languages display more typological similarities with Trans-New Guinea than the other neighboring language families of the Sepik-Ramu basin (namely the

Lower Sepik-Ramu Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eight ...

and Yuat families). The Madang languages are frequently included in Trans–New Guinea classifications, but the connection is not yet demonstrated. The Piawi languages are morphologically much simpler than the Arafundi languages.

Pronouns

Pronouns are: : The individual languages are as follows: : 3rd-person *nu (number uncertain) corresponds to Piawi 3 singular and Arafundi 2/3 plural, *ne to Piawi 2/3 plural and Arafundi 2/3 dual.

Phonology

Upper Yuat languages typically have 7 vowels: :

Pronouns

Phonology

References

Further reading