With more than 800 indigenous languages, Papua New Guinea’s topography has helped it to become the most linguistically diverse country in the world. The island nation east of Indonesia is filled with deep valleys and difficult terrain, which has resulted in numerous groups living in relative isolation. Their languages developed independently, which has created a large number of distinctly different tongues. Some of the languages, such as Abaga, are spoken by fewer than 10 people, and many of the languages are in danger of extinction.
The languages of Papua New Guinea, which has a population of about 4 million , can generally be divided into the categories of Austronesian and Papuan languages. The Austronesian languages are related to a language family that encompasses Hawaii, Southeast Asia, and New Zealand. The Papuan languages do not make up a unified language family. Instead, they are categorised into about 60 subfamilies with 10 languages each.
