The Southeast Papuan or "Bird's Tail" languages are a geographic grouping of half a dozen small families of Papuan languages in the "Bird's Tail" (southeastern peninsula) of New Guinea: Koiarian, Kwalean, Manubaran, Yareban, Mailuan, and Dagan. They are all believed to be part of the Trans–New Guinea (TNG) phylum, but have not been shown to be any more closely related to each other than they are to other TNG families. However, they do all have in common ya for 'you' (plural) instead of proto-TNG *gi.
The Goilalan languages are customarily included in Southeast Papuan, but it is questionable whether they are even Trans–New Guinea.
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“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)