| South Pauwasi | |
| Also Known As: | Yetfa – South Pauwasi River |
| Region: | Papua |
| Familycolor: | Papuan |
| Fam1: | Pauwasi |
| Child1: | Yetfa |
| Child2: | Kimki |
| Child3: | Lepki–Murkim |
| Glotto: | none |
The South Pauwasi languages are a likely small language family of New Guinea, potentially consisting of Yetfa, Kimki, Lepki, Murkim and Kembra.[1]
Usher (2020) classifies the languages as follows,[1]
The relationship of the five languages was recognized in the early 2000s as Paul Whitehouse assembled unpublished data from the Summer Institute of Linguistics. Usher classifies them as a branch of the Pauwasi language family.[1] Søren Wichmann (2013) agrees that Murkim and Lepki at least appear to be very closely related.[2] Foley (2018) accepts that Kembra, which is very poorly attested, may be related as well.[3]
Some cognates connecting the languages are as follows. There are also loanwords in common with Pyu.[1]
| water | ket, kel | di | er | kɛl | kel | |
| two | kais | kaisi | kais | |||
| head | anok | no-tɛl | anok | |||
| leaf | bwaitʰ (?) | -βai | bwaik | |||
| skin/bark | it-'ba | jit | jaitʰ | |||
| worm | briɸ | brɛp | breɸ | |||
| louse | (n)jim | -nim | nim | nɪm | ɪm | |
| hair | itʰ | -jet | jɛt | |||
| ear | bwa | bwi | bwi | |||
| eye | iː | ɛ̃ | ji | jɛ-mɔn | ||
| coconut | was- | wæjs | wais- | |||
| speech | ma | mi | mi- | mi | ||
| knife | tema | tma | tə̆'ma | tma | ||
| canoe | kuf | õːp | kuβ | kuɸ | ||
| shit | ɲan | ain | -ɲa | njah ~ iãh | ||
| person | ap ~ aɸ | rá- | ra | ɸra | ||
| egg | nela | -lĕl | dɛl | nel | ||
| fire/wood | jao (tree) | já | ja | jo ~ ja- | ||
| house | nam | meː | nim | mi | ||
| laugh | mamla | -mwel-o | mwalo | |||
| this | si | si | si | |||
| cloud | kos | kos- | kos- | |||
| tongue | arbak | braw | prouk | |||
| tail | nókwa | jouk | jakʷat~ɲakʷat | |||
| white | lʊ | dol- | lol | |||
| far | uje~udʒe | w̆ijɛ | wije~uje- | |||
| come | -ki- | guj- | kʷi | |||
| 1pl | name | nakme | ||||
| 2pl | same | sakme-re |