| Ramu | |
|---|---|
| Keram and Ramu Rivers | |
| Geographic distribution | Ramu and Keram watersheds, Western Madang Province and Eastern East Sepik Province, Northern Papua New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | Ramu–Lower Sepik or a primary language family |
| Subdivisions | |
| Glottolog | ramu1234 (reduced) |
The Ramu languages are a family of some thirty languages of Northern Papua New Guinea. They were identified as a family by John Z'graggen in 1971 and linked with the Sepik languages by Donald Laycock two years later. Malcolm Ross (2005) classifies them as one branch of a Ramu – Lower Sepik language family. Z'graggen had included the Yuat languages, but that now seems doubtful.
With no comprehensive grammar yet available for any of the Ramu languages, the Ramu group remains one of the most poorly documented language groups in the Sepik-Ramu basin.[1]