The Cases of Sos Kundi and Ambakich: Drawing Language Boundaries and Assigning Names

By focusing on an analysis of data collected during the surveys of the Sos Kundi (2007) and Ambakich (2003) languages, this report summarizes how the indigenous metalinguistic view is a key part of language surveys and other linguistic work in Papua New Guinea. We show how it is possible for linguistic research to intentionally focus on the view of language speakers, allowing their voices to shape the findings and conclusions.