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The Lakes Plain languages are a small independent family of Papuan languages in the classification of Malcolm Ross, that had been part of Stephen Würm's Trans-New Guinea proposal and later classified with the Geelvink Bay languages by Clouse (1997).
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Classification
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Pronouns
The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto-Tariku are,
The corresponding "I" and "thou" pronouns are proto-East Lake Plain Awera yai, nai (the latter from compare also e "we"), and Rasawa e-, de-. Saponi shares no pronouns with the Lakes Plain family; indeed its pronouns mamire "I, we" and ba "thou" are remenincent of proto-East Bird's Head "we" and "thou". However, Saponi shares half its basic lexical vocabulary with Rasawa, and Ross left it in the Lakes Plain family pending further investigation.
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See also
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Reference
Malcom Ross (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages." In: Andrew Pawley, Robert Attenborough, Robin Hide and Jack Golson, eds, Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples, 15-66. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
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