The Huon languages are a family

Language family

A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...

 within the original Trans–New Guinea (TNG) proposal, and William Foley

William Foley

William Foley is an American linguist and professor at the University of Sydney. He specialises in Papuan and Austronesian languages. He is perhaps best known for his 1986 book The Papuan Languages of New Guinea and his partnership with Robert Van Valin in the development of role and reference...

 considers their TNG identity to be established. They share with the Finisterre languages

Finisterre languages

The Finisterre languages are a family within the original Trans–New Guinea proposal, and William Foley considers their TNG identity to be established...

 verbs which are suppletive

Suppletion

In linguistics and etymology, suppletion is traditionally understood as the use of one word as the inflected form of another word when the two words are not cognate. For those learning a language, suppletive forms will be seen as "irregular" or even "highly irregular". The term "suppletion" implies...

 depending on the person & number of the object, strong morphological evidence that they are related.

Internal structure

Huon and Finisterre, and then the connection between them, were identified by Kenneth McElhanon (1967, 1970). They are clearly valid language families. However, their internal classification is difficult. Below is the classification of the 16th edition of Ethnologue

Ethnologue

Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...

, which follows McElhanon (1975).

• Huon family
  • Kovai
    Kovai language
    Kovai is a Papuan language spoken on Umboi Island, halfway between mainland Papua New Guinea and the island of New Britain, and mostly within the caldera of that volcanic island....
    
    language
  • Eastern Huon branch: Dedua
    Dedua language
    Dedua is a Papuan language spoken in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Dialects are Dzeigoc and Fanic....
    
    , Kube
    Kube language
    Kube , also Mongi, is a Papuan language spoken in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Dialects are Kurungtufu, Yoangen ....
    
    , Kâte
    Kâte language
    Kâte is a Papuan language spoken by about 6,000 people in the Finschhafen District of Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. It is part of the Finisterre–Huon branch of the Trans–New Guinea phylum of languages...
    
    , Borong (Kosorong), Mape
    Mape language
    Mape is a Papuan language spoken in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Dialects are Mape, Fukac, Naga, Nigac; the latter two may be extinct....
    
    , Migabac, Momare, Sene
  • Western Huon branch: Burum (Mindik), Kinalakna, Komba
    Komba language
    Komba is a Papuan language spoken in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea....
    
    , Kumokio, Mese, Nabak
    Nabak language
    Nabak is a Papuan language spoken in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. It's also known as Wain....
    
    , Nomu, Ono, Sialum, Selepet, Timbe
    Timbe language
    Timbe is a Papuan language spoken in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Women and older men are monolingual....
    
    , Tobo

Kâte is the local lingua franca

Lingua franca

A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...

.