The Left May – Kwomtari or Arai–Kwomtari languages are a possible small
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of
Papuan languages
The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian and non- Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geogr ...
proposed by
Malcolm Ross, which links the
Left May (Arai) family with the
Kwomtari–Fas proposal (Loving & Bass 1964). However, the proposal is problematic; it's not clear if the Arai correspondences are with Kwomtari, with Fas, or with both, as Kwomtari–Fas is itself dubious.
Classification
*
Left May or Arai family
*
Fas family:
Baibai,
Fas
*?
Kwomtari family:
** ''
Guriaso'' language
** Kwomtari–Nai:
Kwomtari,
Nai ''(Biaka)''
*?
Pyu
Pyu, also spelled Phyu or Phyuu, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. is a town in Taungoo District, Bago Region in Myanmar. It is the administrative seat of Phyu Township
Pyu Township is a township in Taungoo District in the ...
family-level isolate (included in the Kwomtari languages by Laycock (1973), but not addressed by Ross)
Baron (1983) notes that most classifications, including Ross's, perpetuate an early copy error, placing Fas in the Kwomtari family and Nai in the Baibai family. This contradicts the original classification of Loving and Bass, which is supported by their field notes. (See
Kwomtari–Baibai languages.) Taking this into account weakens the case for the Left May-Kwomtari proposals. Some relevant pronouns are shown below (Baron 1983):
It appears that for proto-Arai and proto-Fas a pronoun ''*atie'' might be reconstructed for "I", and a ''*wa'' for "s/he", while for Arai and Kwomtari perhaps ''*na'' and ''*amwa'' might be reconstructed for "you" and "they", with the former perhaps including Pyu as well. No pronouns obviously connect Kwomtari and Fas.
References
* , posted at
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Left May - Kwomtari languages
Languages of Papua New Guinea
Papuan languages
Proposed language families