The Sko or Skou languages are a small language family

Language family

A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...

 spoken by about 7000 people, mainly along the coast of Sandaun Province in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

, with a few being inland from this area and at least one just across the border in the Indonesian province of Papua (formerly known as Irian Jaya). Skou languages are unusual in New Guinea for being tonal. Vanimo, for example, has three tones, high, mid, low.

Currently there are linguists working on most of these languages, writing grammars, compiling dictionaries, and assisting the speakers to develop vernacular materials for use in schools.

Classification

Skou languages were first linked by G. Frederici in 1912. In 1941, K.H. Thomas expanded the family to its current extent.

Sko (Laycock 1975)

Laycock posited two branches, Vanimo and Krisa:

• Vanimo branch – Skou
  Skou language
  Skou , or Tumawo , is a Papuan language of Indonesia....
  
  , Sangke (Nyao), Wutung
  Wutung language
  Wutung is a Skou language of Papua New Guinea which is spoken in the villages of Wutung and Sangke. The two varieties are sometimes considered separate languages.-Location:...
  
  , Vanimo (Dumo)
• Krisa branch – I’saka
  I'saka language
  I’saka is the language spoken by the people of the villages of Krisa and Pasi in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. It has also been referred to as Krisa, after the village, although this name is not actually a possible word in the language itself...
  
   (Krisa), Rawo, Puari, Barupu
  Barupu language
  Barupu is a language spoken in Papua New Guinea.-External links:*...
  
   (Warapu)

Skou (Ross 2005)

However, Krisa is poorly supported and Malcolm Ross

Malcolm Ross

Malcolm David Ross is a linguist and professor at the Australian National University. He has published work on Austronesian and Papuan languages, historical linguistics, and language contact.-External links:**...

 abandoned it,

• I’saka
  I'saka language
  I’saka is the language spoken by the people of the villages of Krisa and Pasi in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. It has also been referred to as Krisa, after the village, although this name is not actually a possible word in the language itself...
  
   (Krisa)
• Barupu
  Barupu language
  Barupu is a language spoken in Papua New Guinea.-External links:*...
  
   (Warapu)
• Puari
• Rawo
• Womo
• Vanimo branch: Skou
  Skou language
  Skou , or Tumawo , is a Papuan language of Indonesia....
  
   (Tumawo), Leitre, Sangke (Nyao), Wutung
  Wutung language
  Wutung is a Skou language of Papua New Guinea which is spoken in the villages of Wutung and Sangke. The two varieties are sometimes considered separate languages.-Location:...
  
  , Vanimo (Dumo), Dusur

Macro-Skou linkage (Donohue 2002)

Mark Donohue proposed a subclassification based on areal diffusion

Sprachbund

A Sprachbund – also known as a linguistic area, convergence area, diffusion area or language crossroads – is a group of languages that have become similar in some way because of geographical proximity and language contact. They may be genetically unrelated, or only distantly related...

 he called Macro-Skou. Despite the change in name, the languages involved are the same,

• I’saka
  I'saka language
  I’saka is the language spoken by the people of the villages of Krisa and Pasi in Sandaun Province, Papua New Guinea. It has also been referred to as Krisa, after the village, although this name is not actually a possible word in the language itself...
  
  
• Skou–Serra–Piore linkage
  • Piore River: Nori (strongly influenced by Womo), Barupu
    Barupu language
    Barupu is a language spoken in Papua New Guinea.-External links:*...
    
    
  • Serra Hills
    • Puare
    • Rawo – Main Serra: Rawo, Womo
  • Skou (Vanimo) family
    • Skou
      Skou language
      Skou , or Tumawo , is a Papuan language of Indonesia....
      
      
    • Eastern Skou / Vanimo
      • Leitre
      • West Coast
        • Border: Nyao, Wutung
          Wutung language
          Wutung is a Skou language of Papua New Guinea which is spoken in the villages of Wutung and Sangke. The two varieties are sometimes considered separate languages.-Location:...
          
          
        • Vanimo proper: Dumo, Dusur

Pronouns

The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto-Skou are,

I	*na	we	*ne
thou	*me	you	?
he	*ka	they (M)	*ke
she	*bo	they (F)	*de

The Skou languages also have a dual

Dual

Dual may refer to:* Dual , a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another** Dual , a formalization of mathematical duality** . . ...

, with a distinction between inclusive and exclusive we, but the forms are not reconstructable for the proto-language.