Geographic
distribution Papua New Guinea Glottolog piaw1238 | Subdivisions Hagahai
Haruai | |
Linguistic classification perhaps related to Arafundi | ||
The Piawi languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, which had been part of Stephen Wurm's Trans–New Guinea proposal.
Contents
Classification
Piawi consists of only two languages:
Davies and Comrie 1985 noted some pronominal similarities with the Engan languages in Trans–New Guinea, which Ross took into consideration, but no lexical similarities. Comrie believes the family is as isolate. William A. Foley suggested that Piawi and Arafundi may be related (Comrie 1992), and according to Ross a connection with Arafundi or Ramu appears more promising than Engan.
Pronouns
Below is a comparison of proto-Piawi, proto-Ramu, Arafundi, and proto-North Engan pronouns, per Ross. Initial nasals are ubiquitous, and indeed are very common throughout New Guinea, so they are in themselves not good evidence of a relationship.
Both Engan and Piawi have a dual suffix *li.