Timor–Alor–Pantar languages

The Timor–Alor–Pantar (TAP) languages are a family of languages spoken in Timor, Kisar, and the Alor archipelago in Southern Indonesia. It is the westernmost Papuan language family, and one of two such outlier families in east Nusantara (the other being the North Halmahera family).

The first classification attempts linked Timor–Alor–Pantar to North Halmahera, as well as other members of the proposed West Papuan phylum. The two families are arguably the only linguistic groups that can be linked to the Papuan families of Melanesia, none of which have demonstrable relatives outside of Oceania. More recent proposals have considered Timor–Alor–Pantar to be part of the Trans–New Guinea phylum. However, Holton and Klamer (2018) classify Timor–Alor–Pantar as an independent language family, as they did not find convincing links with Trans–New Guinea. Usher (2020) finds them to be one of three branches of the West Bomberai family within Trans–New Guinea, with regular sound correspondences.