The Left May or Arai languages are a small language 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...

 of half a dozen closely related but not mutually intelligible languages in the centre of New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, along the left bank of the May River

May River

The May River is a river in the Kimberley of Western Australia.The river is formed when the Lennard River splits into two channels just North of Mount Marmion and near the Kimberley Downs Station homestead, the other channel being the Meda River...

. There are about 2000 speakers in all.

The languages are:

Iteri

Iteri language

Iteri is a Left May language of New Guinea, in the Rocky Peak Mountains of Sandaun Province. There are about 475 speakers in all.Alternate names include Alowiemino, Laro, Iyo, Yinibu, and Rocky Peak...

 (Rocky Peak), Nakwi

Nakwi language

Nakwi is a Left May language of New Guinea, in East Sepik Province. It is close to Nimo....

, Ama

Ama language (New Guinea)

Ama is a Left May language of New Guinea, in East Sepik Province. Former dialects have merged....

, Nimo

Nimo language

Nimo is a Left May language of New Guinea, in Sandaun Province. Nimo and Wasawai are two of the villages inhabited by speakers of this language. It is close to Nakwi....

, Owiniga

Owiniga language

Owiniga is a Left May language of New Guinea, in East Sepik Province....

, and (possibly) Bo

Bo language (New Guinea)

Bo is a possible Left May language of New Guinea, in Sandaun and East Sepik Provinces. Its status as a separate language is uncomfirmed....

.

Left May neighbors the Amto–Musan languages, but does not appear to be related to them (Laycock 1973; 1975).

Malcolm Ross

Malcolm Ross

Malcolm David Ross is a linguist and professor at the Australian National University. He has published work on Austronesian and Papuan languages, historical linguistics, and language contact.-External links:**...

 (2005) linked the Left May languages to Laycock's Kwomtari–Baibai languages in a Left May-Kwomtari

Left May-Kwomtari languages

The Left May – Kwomtari or Arai–Kwomtari languages are a possible small family of Papuan languages proposed by Malcolm Ross, which links the Left May family with the Kwomtari–Fas proposal .-Classification:...

 family, based on similarities in the pronoun

Pronoun

In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun , such as, in English, the words it and he...

s of Rocky Peak. However, he had not corrected for Laycock's errors in classification, and it is not clear if the links are with the Kwomtari

Kwomtari languages

The Kwomtari languages are a small language family of Papua New Guinea.-Classification:The family consists of the highly divergent language Guriaso, and the two closely related languages Kwomtari and Nai:*Kwomtari stock**Guriaso...

 or Fas

Fas languages

The Fas languages are a small language family of Papua New Guinea. They are generally classified as part of a larger as-yet unproven Kwomtari–Fas family.-Classification:...

languages.