CELD Papua

In principle, the project is concerned with all the endangered languages in the two easternmost provinces of Indonesia, Papua Barat and Papua. It strives to make a significant contribution to the documentation of these little studied languages. The major focus, however, is on a group of culturally and linguistically interlinked languages (especially Eipo, Kosarek-Yale, Yali, and Wano) spoken in the central mountain area of Papua. These languages all belong to the Trans-New Guinea family, and more specifically to the following three subgroups of this large and still contested genetic grouping: Paniai Lakes (formerly, Wissel Lakes), Dani, and Mek. The structure of these subgroups, as currently conceived, is displayed in the following figures which are based on the most recent edition of the Ethnologue. It should be kept in mind, though, that language/dialect distinctions are difficult in this area and still contested.

celd