Papua language family maps are one of the most diverse linguistic variations in the world. Indeed, Papua is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse regions in the world. This is mostly due to the distinctive geographic condition of the area. Here is an overview of the languages spoken in the Indonesian provinces of West Papua and Papua.
Papua Language Overview
As the lingua franca of the country, the Indonesian language is the official language of communication among the various tribes in this region. In fact, its influence has almost shifted the use of local languages in Papua and West Papua. More and more Papuans are speaking Indonesian than before, although the mother tongue of each ethnic group still survives.
The Indonesian Language and Book Development Agency are responsible for tracking Papua language family maps. One of the aims of the institution is to maintain the plethora of indigenous languages of the country. In 2019, the Agency recorded 428 local languages in its two easternmost provinces. West Papua has 103 languages, while Papua has 325.
Why Are There So Many Indigenous Languages in Papua?
The reason for the diversity in Papua language family maps is the region’s mountainous terrains and vast wilderness. Even as Papua is becoming more urbanized, many parts of it are still untouched. The unique topography of the island means many tribes traditionally live isolated from each other. Because a tribe remains contained within an area for a long time, unaffected by the outside world, the people keep their language alive and unchanged.
The regional languages that develop in each isolated area make Papua the area with the highest number of “mother tongues” in Indonesia. In fact, in some parts of Papua, different tribes and families have different languages even if they still belong to the same ethnic group.
Take, for example, one of the West Papua tribes called the Lani. In Baliem Valley, West Papua, the Lani people live in widely separated groups due to the challenging characteristics of the area. Each separate group can have vast linguistic variations that make their fellow Lani people find difficulty understanding them.
Papua Language Family Maps
Generally, the languages spoken in the provinces of Papua and West Papua belong to the Papuan language group. This linguistic division is strictly geographical, however, because there are languages that aren’t related to other members of the group or language isolates. The largest group is the West Papuan group.
- West Papua Languages
The West Papua language family is a proposed linguistic division in the Doberai (West Bird’s Head) Peninsula, the peninsula in the western part of West Papua. There are also some of the languages spoken in Northern Halmahera in the islands of Moluccas. Approximately, there are 220.000 speakers of these languages. This language family has 3 main groups:
- North Halmahera Group: This group consists of 16 languages spoken in Northern Halmahera, Maluku Islands (the Moluccas). The largest language is the Ternate language, which is spoken by 50.000 people.
- West Bird’s Head Group: This group consists of 5 languages. In Papua language family maps, this group covers the West Bird’s Head Peninsula area, which is also known as Vogelkop or Doberai Peninsula. In this group, there is a language isolate called Kuwani.
- Yapen Group: The Yawa or Yapen languages are a small linguistic sub-family consisting of Yawa (Yava) and Saweru languages. Some language experts classify them as two separate dialects of a single language, which makes them a language isolate. In the Papua language family maps, this linguistic group is spoken in Yapen Island and surrounding small islands in the Cenderawasih Bay.
