| Foja Range | |
|---|---|
| (Tor–Kwerba) | |
| Geographic distribution | New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Northwest Papuan?
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | None |
TheFoja Range languages, orTor–Kwerba in more limited scope, are afamily of about two dozenPapuan languages. They are named after theFoja Mountains ofwestern New Guinea.
All the languages had been part ofStephen Wurm's 1975Trans–New Guinea proposal, but he did not recognize them as a unit, retaining Kwerba within Capell's 1962Dani–Kwerba proposal, for example. Foley (2018) classifies the Orya–Tor and Kwerbic languages together, asTor–Kwerba.[1] Usher (2020) adds Nimboran and Mawes, naming the expanded familyFoja Range, after theFoja mountain range[2] that passes through all four branches of the family.[3]
Even thoughgrammatical gender is present in Tor-Kwerba languages, there is no overt gender marking on nouns.[1]
Reconstructed proto-Tor-Kwerba independent pronouns are:[1]
| sg | pl | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | *ati ~ *ait | *ne(n) |
| 2 | *ame | *ame |
Reconstructed proto-Tor-Kwerba words that are widely distributed throughout the family (Foley 2018):[1]
Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". InAndrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.).Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66.doi:10.15144/PL-572.ISBN 0858835622.OCLC 67292782.