Binanderean

The Binanderean, or Guhu-Oro, languages are a compact Papuan family of the northeastern coast of New Guinea's Papuan Peninsula, the island's so-called Bird's Tail, centred on Oro Province and neighbouring Morobe.

They divide into the divergent Guhu-Samane language and Binanderean proper, a closely knit group of about a dozen tongues usually treated as part of the Trans-New Guinea phylum; their distribution suggests a relatively recent expansion southward from the north. After 1500 BCE Austronesian seafarers of the Lapita tradition reached these shores, and Oceanic-speaking coastal villages were gradually absorbed into inland Binanderean communities.

The family's subject–object–verb word order was imposed on neighbouring Papuan Tip languages, and Maisin survives as a heavily Binanderean-influenced Oceanic mixed tongue. The Orokaiva, farmers and hunters between the Owen Stanley and Hydrographers ranges, are its most numerous people.