TheDani orBaliem Valley languages are a family of clearly relatedTrans–New Guinea languages spoken by theDani and related peoples in theBaliem Valley in theHighland Papua, Indonesia. Foley (2003)^{[citation needed]} considers their Trans–New Guinea language group status to be established. They may be most closely related to the languages ofPaniai Lakes, but this is not yet clear. Capell (1962)^[1] posited that their closest relatives were theKwerba languages, which Ross (2005) rejects.

Larson (1977)^[2] divided the family into three branches based on lexicostatistics, and Nggem was later added as a fourth. The Ngalik languages are very poorly attested.

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows.^[3] This is identical to the reconstruction of Bromley (1966-1967)^[4] apart from adding the rare consonants *pw, *mbw, and the possible additional vowel *ɐ.

And the diphthongs *ei, *ou, *ai, *au.

Ross (1995)^{[citation needed]} reconstructs the independent pronouns and possessive/object prefixes of Central Dani as:

	singular	plural
1	*an, *n[a]	*ni-t, *nin[a]-
2	*ka-t, *k[a]	*ki-t, *kin[a]-
3	*a-t, *∅/w-	*i-t, *in[a]-

The following basic vocabulary words are from Bromley (1967)^[4] and Voorhoeve (1975),^[5] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.^[6]

The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g.nakapak,ogobak,nokopak for “nose”) or not (e.g.natði,nemake,nabilikagen for “tongue”).

Dani reflexes ofproto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma are:^[8]

Grand Valley Dani language:

• ap 'man' <*ambi
• meli 'tongue' <*me(l,n)e
• n-esi 'hair' <*iti[C] (n- is 1sg possessor)
• me(m) 'come' <*me-
• ket 'new' <*kVndak

Western Dani language:

• ap 'man' <*ambi
• (n)iti <*iti[C]
• meli 'tongue' <*me(l,n)e
• get 'new' <*kVndak
• okut 'leg' <*k(a,o)ndok[V]
• kat(lo) 'skin' <*(ŋg,k)a(nd,t)apu
• idu 'tree' <*inda

Ngalik language:

• idu(k)etu 'tree' <*inda
• (nak) amu 'breast' <*amu
• tokon 'full' <*tVkV[ti]
• kopu 'smoke' <*kambu

• Dani languages
• West Papuan Highlands languages
• Languages of Western New Guinea

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