The Upper Yuat languages consist of two small language families, namely Arafundi and Piawi, spoken in the region of the upper Yuat River of New Guinea. The connection was first suggested by William A. Foley and confirmed by Timothy Usher, who further links them to the Madang languages.New Guinea World, Upper Yuat River
Upper Yuat languages display more typological similarities with Trans-New Guinea than the other neighboring language families of the Sepik-Ramu basin (namely the Lower Sepik-Ramu and Yuat families). The Madang languages are frequently included in Trans–New Guinea classifications, but the connection is not yet demonstrated.
The Piawi languages are morphologically much simpler than the Arafundi languages.
Linguistic varieties Foley (2018) lists the following linguistic varieties.
Upper Yuat Piawi languages: Harway (Wiyaw / Waibuk), Pinai-Hagahai (Pinaye, Aramo / Aramaue) Arafundi languages: Awiakay, Lower Arafundi, Upper Arafundi, Imboin
Pronouns Reconstructions of Proto-Upper Yuat personal pronoun are:
|+ Proto-Upper Yuat pronouns ! !! singular !! plural |- ! 1st person | *ni || *an ~ *aŋ |- ! 2nd person | *na || *ne |- ! 3rd person | colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | *nu
Personal pronouns in individual languages are as follows:
! !! Harway || Hagahai || Pinai || rowspan=8| || LowerArafundi || UpperArafundi || Awiakay |- ! | nɨ-ɡə|| ŋɨ-ɡə|| nɨ-ɡa|| ɲɨŋ|| niŋ|| niŋ |- ! | na-ɡo|| na-ɣə|| na-ɡa|| nan|| nan|| nan |- ! | nu-ɡʷə|| nə-ɣʷə|| || an|| || an |- ! ! colspan=3| | as|| as|| as |- ! ! colspan=3| | nɨɲ|| nen|| neɲ |- ! | an-ɡə|| an-ɡə|| nanə-ɡa|| aŋ|| || aŋ |- ! | ɲɨ-ɡə|| ɲe-ɡə|| ɲi-ɡa|| noŋ|| noŋ|| noŋ
3rd-person *nu (number uncertain) corresponds to Piawi 3 singular and Arafundi 2/3 plural, *ne to Piawi 2/3 plural and Arafundi 2/3 dual.
Phonology Upper Yuat languages typically have 7 vowels:
| i || ɨ || u |- | e || ə || o |- | || a ||
References
Further reading Davies, J. and Comrie, B. "A linguistic survey of the Upper Yuat". In Adams, K., Lauck, L., Miedema, J., Welling, F., Stokhof, W., Flassy, D., Oguri, H., Collier, K., Gregerson, K., Phinnemore, T., Scorza, D., Davies, J., Comrie, B. and Abbott, S. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 22. A-63:275-312. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1985.