Information about the Cendarawasih languages

Where are the Cendarawasih languages spoken?

These languages are spoken in Indonesia in the region of Irian Jaya.

Total number of speakers (estimated):

Around 7600 according to the website of SIL ethnologue.com

Classification

This family currently has 10 languages

Bauzi 1500 speakers according to SIL

Demisa 400 speakers according to SIL

Anasi 2000 speakers according to SIL

Barapasi 2500 speakers according to SIL

Burate 100 speakers according to SIL

Kofei 100 speakers according to SIL

Nisa 500 speakers according to SIL

Sauri 100 speakers according to SIL

Tefaro 100 speakers according to SIL

Tunggare 500 speakers according to SIL

Woria 6 speakers according to SIL

Comments on the classification of Cendarawasih languages:

Here we follow the classification of Ross (2005).

Are Cendarawasih languages in danger?

To date we have no precise data on the vitality of these languages. We can, however, speculate that some of them are endangered. Wori, for example, with only 6 speakers appears to be in a critical situation.

Sources:

Ross, Malcolm. “Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages”. In Andrew Pawley, Robert Attenborough, Robin Hide, Jack Golson, eds .. Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. (2005).