Home›New Guinea and Pacific Language Families›RegionBrowse ByRegionRegion names where a language family is spoken today, which can be far wider than where it began. Wikipedia notes several Indo-European languages "have expanded through colonialism in the modern period and are now spoken across Africa, Americas, Oceania and North Asia." This dimension shows the present-day reach of a family rather than only its point of origin.FactsRegionSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsComparisonEstimated Living LanguagesWell-attested840 1RegionFilter Results29 entriesMacro-areaAllAustronesian (Oceanic) Languages (20)Austronesian: Oceanic and Eastern Indonesia (11)Austronesian: Philippines, Borneo and Western Indonesia (13)East Papuan Language Phylum (4)Micronesian Languages (4)New Guinea and Pacific Language Isolates and Small Families (13)New Guinea and Pacific Sign Languages (4)Polynesian Languages (9)Ramu Languages (1)Sepik Languages (3)Torricelli Languages (1)Trans-New Guinea Languages (7)West Papuan Language Phylum (4)Parent Family (Classification Tree)AllAustronesian (4)Celebic languages (2)Central Philippine languages (2)Formosan (1)Malayo-Polynesian (5)Nuclear Polynesian languages (7)South Sulawesi languages (2)Trans-New Guinea (3)Western Malayo-Polynesian languages (2)Speaker Count BandAll0 (1)1 to 570 (5)24,600 to 795,000 (9)592 to 23,000 (9)798,400 to 3,238,000,000 (13)Reconstructed AncestorAllReconstructed (16)Classification StatusAllEstablished (25)Number of LanguagesAll1 (9)2 (7)16 to 1,408 (16)3 to 5 (17)6 to 15 (13)In GroupAllAustronesian: Oceanic and Eastern Indonesia (11)Austronesian: Philippines, Borneo and Western Indonesia (13)East Papuan Language Phylum (4)Micronesian Languages (4)New Guinea and Pacific Language Isolates and Small Families (13)New Guinea and Pacific Sign Languages (4)Polynesian Languages (9)Ramu Languages (1)Sepik Languages (3)Torricelli Languages (1)Trans-New Guinea Languages (7)West Papuan Language Phylum (4)Admission YearAll1960 (1)Area (sq km)All748 (1)2700 (1)2831 (1)3684 (1)12,189 (1)15,007 (1)28,896 (1)36,197 (1)45,323.98 (1)69,700 (1)305,000 (1)330,803 (1)347,681 (1)462,840 (1)1,000,231 (1)1,904,569 (1)2,870,000 (1)4,545,792 (1)7,688,287 (1)8,486,460 (1)10,186,000 (1)11,840,000 (1)17,840,000 (1)30,370,000 (1)44,579,000 (1)Country CountAll1 (1)12 (1)44 (1)49 (1)54 (1)Government TypeAllConstitutional Monarchy (4)Republic (7)Highest Elevation (m)All2228 (1)2928 (1)2955 (1)4095 (1)4884 (1)5642 (1)5895 (1)6967 (1)8849 (1)Income GroupAllLower-Middle (4)Upper-Middle (6)Independence or Founding YearAll1912 (1)1945 (1)1946 (1)1957 (1)1962 (1)1970 (1)1975 (2)1978 (1)1980 (1)1991 (1)LandlockedAllNo (11)PopulationAll100,179 (1)205,557 (1)335,908 (1)534,606 (1)828,857 (1)1,341,737 (1)3,657,000 (1)6,219,000 (1)7,658,846 (1)9,563,130 (1)10,185,363 (1)14,373,536 (1)23,299,132 (1)27,801,023 (1)34,374,300 (1)46,300,000 (1)114,000,000 (1)288,315,089 (1)434,254,119 (1)540,000,000 (1)675,800,000 (1)745,173,774 (1)1,393,676,444 (1)1,600,000,000 (1)4,694,576,167 (1)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 29AfricaRegion84 entriesAsiaRegion103 entriesAustraliaRegion108 entriesBird's Head PeninsulaRegion2 entriesBorneoRegion2 entriesEast AsiaRegion6 entriesEuropeRegion2 entriesGeorgiaRegion1 entryIndonesiaRegion43 entriesLuzonRegion3 entriesMalaysiaRegion3 entriesMaritime Southeast AsiaRegion2 entriesMelanesiaRegion2 entriesMicronesiaRegion8 entriesNew GuineaRegion12 entriesOceaniaRegion1 entryPapua New GuineaRegion63 entriesPhilippinesRegion11 entriesPolynesiaRegion9 entriesSamoaRegion1 entrySolomon IslandsRegion2 entriesSouth AmericaRegion1 entrySouth SulawesiRegion2 entriesSoutheast AsiaRegion6 entriesTaiwanRegion7 entriesTimor-LesteRegion3 entriesTongaRegion1 entryVanuatuRegion2 entriesWestern ProvinceRegion2 entriesSources1. Wikipedia: Languages Of Papua New GuineaWikimedia FoundationLead section (Papua New Guinea, the macroarea's linguistic core)Quote, Lead section (Papua New Guinea, the macroarea's linguistic core)Ethnologue, among other sources, state that there are 840 living languages spoken in the country, although estimates vary due to the distinction between a language and a dialect.View the SourceComments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.