North Berau Gulf
Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
Situation
The North Berau Gulf family is comprised of perhaps 10 languages spoken in the southern portion of the Bird's Head Peninsula in the Teluk Bintuni and Sorong Selatan regencies of Indonesia's West Papua province and in an enclave across the gulf on the north coast of the Bomberai peninsula.
Subclassification
The internal classification of North Berau Gulf is as follows:
North Berau Gulf
Yabin
Konda
Yahadian
South Bird's Head
West South Bird's Head
Duriankari
Inanwatan
East South Bird's Head
Kais
Iwaro-Kaburi
Iwaro (Puragi)
Kaburi
Kokoda-Arandai
Kokoda
Arandai
Dombano
Kemberano
Berry and Berry (1987: 84) provide lexical similarity figures for twelve Yabin and South Bird's Head villages as follows, with Kokoda represented by Kasuweri, Tarof and Negri Besar villages, Dombano by Tomu and Kemberano by Kalitami and Wariagar:
| Konda | Mugim | Inan. | Kais | Puragi | Kaburi | Kasuweri | Tarof | Negri B. | Tomu | Kalitami | Wariagar | |
| Konda | — | 62 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 |
| Mugim | 62 | — | 13 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 14 | 13 |
| Inan. | 13 | 13 | — | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 18 |
| Kais | 10 | 11 | 17 | — | 28 | 32 | 28 | 45 | 30 | 45 | 41 | 41 |
| Puragi | 11 | 12 | 17 | 28 | — | 48 | 34 | 50 | 41 | 50 | 30 | 38 |
| Kaburi | 13 | 11 | 17 | 32 | 48 | — | 46 | 48 | 46 | 48 | 38 | 37 |
| Kasuweri | 8 | 10 | 18 | 28 | 34 | 46 | — | 86 | 77 | 56 | 55 | 53 |
| Tarof | 8 | 10 | 15 | 45 | 50 | 48 | 86 | — | 82 | 63 | 70 | 67 |
| Negri B. | 8 | 11 | 16 | 30 | 41 | 46 | 77 | 82 | — | 57 | 71 | 60 |
| Tomu | 8 | 10 | 15 | 45 | 50 | 48 | 56 | 63 | 57 | — | 71 | 66 |
| Kalitami | 7 | 14 | 14 | 41 | 30 | 38 | 55 | 70 | 71 | 71 | — | 86 |
| Wariagar | 8 | 13 | 18 | 41 | 38 | 37 | 53 | 67 | 60 | 66 | 86 | — |
Sources
[under construction]
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Historical phonology
[under construction]
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Pronouns
[under construction]
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