The Raja Ampat languages are the branch of Malayo-Polynesian languages spoken on the Raja Ampat Islands of the western tip of New Guinea. They show a strong Papuan substratum influence; it is not clear that they are actually Austronesian as opposed to relexified Papuan languages (Remijsen).
The languages according to Bert Remijsen include:
- Waigeo (Ambel), Matbat, Ma'ya (Salawati, Laganyan, Wauyai, Biga, Kawe).
Ethnologue also lists:
- As, Gebe (Minyaifuin), and Maden;
the last may just be Ma'ya.
A 2008 analysis of three Raja Ampat languages in the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database found that they were certainly related, with Matbat and As closer to each other than to Gebe, and that their nearest relatives were the South Halmahera languages, a position maintained by Remijsen and by Blust (1978).
Famous quotes containing the word languages:
“No doubt, to a man of sense, travel offers advantages. As many languages as he has, as many friends, as many arts and trades, so many times is he a man. A foreign country is a point of comparison, wherefrom to judge his own.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)