which are not close to the West Kutubuan languages. These were linked in a "Kutubuan" family by Franklin and Voorhoeve in 1973, but there is some debate over whether they are closer to each other than to other Kikorian languages. Although East Kutubuan has proto-TNG vocabulary, Ross considers its inclusion in TNG to be questionable.
References
Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN0858835622. OCLC67292782.