View source for Social:Left May languages

{{Infobox language family
|name=Left May
|altname=Arai
|region=eastern Sandaun Province and western East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
|familycolor=Papuan
|fam1=[[Social:Arai–Samaia languages|Arai–Samaia]] or independent [[Social:Language family|language family]]
|glotto=left1242
|glottorefname=Left May
}}

The '''Left May''' or '''Arai''' languages are a small [[Social:Language family|language family]] of half a dozen closely related but not mutually intelligible languages in the centre of New Guinea, along the left bank of the May River. There are only about 2,000 speakers in all. Foley (2018) classifies them separately as an independent language family.<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

The Left May languages are spoken at the extreme western end of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea.

Ama is the best documented Left May language.<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

==Languages==
The languages are:
:Iteri (Rocky Peak), Nakwi, Ama, Nimo, Owiniga, and (possibly) Bo.

==Classification==
Foley (2018) provides the following classification.<ref name="Foley-Sepik">{{cite book |last=Foley |first=William A. |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=197-432 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}</ref>

;Left May (Arai) family
*western branch: Ama; Nimo; Iteri, Bo
*eastern branch: Owiniga

Iteri and Bo are closely related to each other.

==External relationships==
Malcolm Ross (2005) linked the Left May languages to Laycock's Kwomtari–Baibai languages in a [[Social:Left May – Kwomtari languages|Left May – Kwomtari]] family, based on similarities in the pronouns 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 [[Social:Kwomtari languages|Kwomtari]] or [[Social:Fas languages|Fas]] languages.

Timothy Usher links the Left May languages to their neighbors, the [[Social:Amto–Musan languages|Amto–Musan languages]] and the Pyu language in as [[Social:Arai–Samaia languages|Arai–Samaia]] stock.<ref>[https://sites.google.com/site/newguineaworld/families/arai-and-samaia-rivers NewGuineaWorld, Arai and Samaia Rivers]</ref> However, Foley (2018) attributes lexical similarities between the Left May and Amto-Musan families to contact, rather than genetic relationship.<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

Foley (2018) notes that typologically, the Left May languages are highly different from the other language families of the Sepik-Ramu basin, instead resembling the Trans-New Guinea somewhat more closely. For example, Left May and Trans-New Guinea languages typically all have ergative case markers, which most languages of the Sepik-Ramu basin do not have except for a few such as the isolate Taiap. Nevertheless, Left May and Trans-New Guinea speakers have historically been hostile towards each other (unlike their close trade relationships with Amto-Musan speakers), so there has been no recent contact scenarios to speak of. These typological similarities could be due to chance, ancient contact, or perhaps even a deep genetic relationship.<ref name="Foley-Sepik"/>

==See also==
*[[Social:Amto–Musan languages|Amto–Musan languages]]
*Papuan languages

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book | first = Donald C. | last = Laycock |  year = 1973 | title = Sepik languages: checklist and preliminary classification | location = Canberra | publisher = Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University | isbn = 978-0-85883-084-4 | oclc = 5027628 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/sepiklanguagesch0000layc }}
* {{cite book | first = Donald C. | last = Laycock |  year = 1975 | chapter = Sko, Kwomtari, and Left May (Arai) phyla | editor = Stephen A. Wurm | title = Papuan languages and the New Guinea linguistic scene: New Guinea area languages and language study 1 | location = Canberra | publisher = Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University | pages = 849–858 | isbn =  | oclc = 37096514 }}
* {{Malcolm Ross Pronouns}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
*[http://transnewguinea.org/family/leftmay Left May (Arai) languages database at TransNewGuinea.org]

{{language families}}

[[Category:Language families]]

{{Sourceattribution|Left May languages|1}}