The Turama–Kikorian languages are a family identified by Arthur Capell (1962) and part of the Trans–New Guinea languages (TNG) family in the classifications of Stephen Wurm (1975) and Malcolm Ross (2005). The family is named after the Turama River and Kikori River of southern Papua New Guinea; the alternative name is based more narrowly on the Omati River.

Languages

The four languages are clearly related, though Rumu is divergent. Ross states that Rumu links the other (Turama) languages to TNG.

Proto-language

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are: ! gloss !! Proto-Rumu-Omati !! Proto-Omati River !! Rumu ! head/top ! leaf/hair/feather ! ear ! eye ! nose ! tooth ! foot/leg ! bone ! breast ! louse ! dog ! pig ! bird ! egg ! tree ! sun ! water ! fire ! path ! name ! two

Basic vocabulary

The following basic vocabulary words are from Franklin (1973), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database. The sets of words are not necessarily cognate. ! gloss !! Rumu !! Ikobi-Mena !! Mena !! Omati ! head ! hair ! ear ! eye ! nose ! tooth ! tongue ! leg ! louse ! dog ! bird ! egg ! blood ! bone ! skin ! breast ! tree ! man ! woman ! sun ! moon ! water ! fire ! stone ! name ! eat ! one ! two