Tonda
West Morehead River
Geographic distribution	Southern New Guinea
Linguistic classification	Yam Tonda
Glottolog	tond1250
Map: The Yam languages of New Guinea   Yam languages   Trans–New Guinea languages   Other Papuan languages   Austronesian languages   Australian languages   Uninhabited

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

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

Languages

The Tonda languages are: ^{[1] [3]}

Tonda / West Morehead River

• Arammba
• Central Morehead River: Anta, Kómnzo, Wára, Wérè, Kémä, Kánchá
• Warta Thuntai
• Bensbach River
  • Upper Bensbach River
    • Mblafe– Ránmo
    • Ngarna–Rema
      • Nggarna (Sota)
      • Rema
  • Kanum
    • Ngkolmpu: Ngkâlmpw/Ngkontar, Bädi
    • South Kanum: Bârkâli-Smärki, Tämer

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

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

• 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.

External links

• Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–West Morehead River (under construction 2020)

Further reading

• Grummitt, John and Janell Masters. 2012. A Survey of the Tonda Sub-Group of Languages. SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2012-018.