Tonda languages

The Tonda languages form a branch of the Yam language family of southern New Guinea. There are over 10 languages.[1]

Tonda
West Morehead River
Geographic
distribution		Southern New Guinea
Linguistic classificationYam
  • Tonda
Glottologtond1250
Map: The Yam languages of New Guinea
  Yam languages
  Trans–New Guinea languages
  Other Papuan languages
  Austronesian languages
  Australian languages
  Uninhabited

Tonda languages share some areal features are shared with the Kolopom languages.[2]

Languages

The Tonda languages are:[1][3]

Tonda / West Morehead River

Notes (see Evans 2018: 681):

  • Each terminal bullet point lists a different dialect chain.
  • 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
Further information: Senary § Natural languages

Tonda languages are unique for their base-6 numeral systems, which likely originated from counting yams (rather than fingers or body parts as with most other languages).[2]

References
  1. Evans, Nicholas (2018). "The languages of Southern New Guinea". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 641–774. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  2. Hammarström, Harald. (2009) Whence the Kanum Base-6 Numeral System?. Linguistic Typology 13(2). 305-319.
  3. West Morehead River
  • Evans, Nicholas (2018). "The languages of Southern New Guinea". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 641–774. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.

Further reading
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