The Classification of Irarutu and Koiwai: A New Proposal

Abstract: The classification of Irarutu and Koiwai, two Austronesian languages spoken in the vicinity of New Guinea’s Bomberai Peninsula, is unresolved. Competing proposals variously link the languages to the South Halmahera–West New Guinea group and the Central Malayo-Polynesian group. This article makes a novel proposal, positing that Irarutu and Koiwai subgroup together and, in turn, places them in a higher subgroup with the Seram Laut languages.