Dem language

Dem
Lem
Region	Papua
Native speakers	unknown (1,000 cited 1987)[1]
Language family	Trans–New Guinea? Dem
Language codes
ISO 639-3	dem
Glottolog	demm1245[2]
Map: The Dem language of New Guinea   The Dem language   Other Trans–New Guinea languages   Other Papuan languages   Austronesian languages   Uninhabited

Dem (Lem, Ndem) is a possible Trans–New Guinea language in the classification of Malcolm Ross (2005). A small number of words connect it to other language families of the Irian Highlands, but they are not consistent correspondences, and it is not clear what they mean. The only pronouns which have been recorded are 1sg nau, 2sg aŋ, and 1pl yu.

References

1. Dem at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Dem". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

• Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley, Robert Attenborough, Robin Hide, Jack Golson, eds. Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.