Keram languages

The Keram languages of New Guinea are part of the Ramu family. They are the Mongol–Langam languages and a pair of languages sometimes thought to belong to the Grass family. (See Grass languages for the history of classification.)

Keram
Keram River
Geographic distribution	Keram River watershed, Papua New Guinea
Linguistic classification	Ramu–Keram Keram
Subdivisions	East West (Mongol–Langam)
Language codes
Glottolog	None

Foley (2018) classifies most of them in the Grass branch of the Ramu family,^[1] while Usher classifies them as coordinate with the Ramu family, leaving a reduced number of languages in the Grass branch.^[2]

They are named for the Keram River.

Languages

• East Keram River
  • Ambakich (Aion)
  • Ap Ma (Kambot)
• West Keram River (Mongol–Langam)
  • Mwakai (Mongol)
  • Pondi (Langam)
  • Ulwa (Yaul)

Pronouns

Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns of East Keram and West Keram as follows:^[3]

	East Keram		West Keram
	sg	pl	sg	pl
1	*ni	*anɨ	*ni	*an
2	*[o/u]	*[o/u]nɨ	*u	*un
3	*ma	*aLɨ	*mɨ, *ma-	*ndɨ

See also

• Grass languages
• Keram River