The Yellow River languages are a small family of three closely related languages, Ak, Awun and Namia, belonging to the Sepik language family of northern Papua New Guinea. They are spoken along the Yellow River, a tributary of the Sepik, in central Sandaun Province, and are classified within the Upper Sepik branch of the Sepik languages. Namia is the most divergent of the three languages.
Facts
RegionSandaun Province, Papua New Guinea, along the Yellow River, a tributary of the Sepik, in mountainous country north of the Upper Sepik basin and directly northeast of the Ram languages. 1 Speaker CountSum of separately dated Ethnologue-sourced figures for the three constituent languages: Namia about 6,000 (2007), Awun about 400 (2003), Ak about 10 (2017, a steep decline reflecting critical endangerment). No single reconciled family-wide total has been published; treat as approximate given the different census years. Proto-Language StatusNo full proto-language has been published. Ross (2005) reconstructed pronoun forms for proto-Yellow River as part of establishing the family's position among the Sepik languages. 1 Sources
1. Wikipedia: Yellow River Languages
Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia article, Distribution sectionQuote, Wikipedia article, Distribution section
They are spoken along the Yellow River (a tributary of the Sepik) in a mountainous area of central Sandaun Province, located to the north of the Upper Sepik basin.
2. Wikipedia: Namia Language
Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia infobox, speakers field, Namia language articleQuote, Wikipedia infobox, speakers field, Namia language article
|speakers=6,000
|date=2007
Wikipedia: Ak Language
Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia infobox, speakers field, Ak language articleQuote, Wikipedia infobox, speakers field, Ak language article
| speakers = 10
| date = 2017
Wikipedia: Auwon Language
Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia infobox, speakers field, Auwon (Awun) language articleQuote, Wikipedia infobox, speakers field, Auwon (Awun) language article
|speakers=400
|date=2003
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