Ross does not use specialized terms for different levels of classification as 

Donald
Laycock and Stephen Wurm did. In the list given here, the uncontroversial families that are
accepted by Foley and other Papuanists and that are the building blocks of Ross's TNG are
printed in boldface. Language isolates are printed in italics.
Ross removed about 100 languages from Wurm's proposal, and only tentatively retained a few
dozen more, but in one instance he added a language, the isolate Porome.
Ross did not have sufficient evidence to classify all Papuan groups. In addition, the classification
is based on a single feature – shared pronouns, especially 1sg and 2sg – and thus is subject to
false positives as well as to missing branches that have undergone significant sound changes,
since he does not have the data to establish regular sound correspondences.
Unclassified Wurmian languages
Although Ross based his classification on pronoun systems, many languages in New Guinea are
too poorly documented for even this to work. Thus there are several isolates that were placed in
TNG by Wurm but that cannot be addressed by Ross's classification. A few of them
(Komyandaret, Samarokena, and maybe Kenati) have since been assigned to existing branches
(or ex-branches) of TNG, whereas others (Massep, Momuna) continue to defy classification.

 Kenati (→ Kainantu?)
 Komyandaret (→ Greater Awyu)
 Massep isolate
 Molof isolate
 Momuna family (2)
 Samarokena (→ Kwerba)
 Tofamna isolate
 Usku isolate
Reclassified Wurmian languages
Ross removed 95 languages from TNG. These are small families with no pronouns in common
with TNG languages, but that are typologically similar, perhaps due to long periods of contact
with TNG languages.

 Border and Morwap (Elseng), as an independent Border family (15 languages)

 Isirawa (Saberi), as a language isolate (though classified as Kwerba by Clouse, Donohue &
Ma 2002)[8]
 Lakes Plain, as an independent Lakes Plain family (19)
 Mairasi, as an independent Mairasi family (4)
 Nimboran, as an independent Nimboran family (5)
 Piawi, as an independent Piawi family (2)
 Senagi, as an independent Senagi family (2)
 Sentani (4 languages), within an East Bird's Head – Sentani family
 Tor and Kwerba, joined as a Tor–Kwerba family (17)
 Trans-Fly – Bulaka River is broken into five groups: three remaining (tentatively) in TNG
(Kiwaian, Moraori, Tirio), plus the independent South-Central Papuan and Eastern Trans-
Fly families (22 and 4 languages).
show

Trans–New Guinea phylum (Ross 2005)

Pawley and Hammarström (2018)[edit]

Languages accepted by both Pawley and Hammarström (2018)

and Usher (2018).
Andrew Pawley and Harald Hammarström (2018) accept 35 subgroups as members of Trans-
New Guinea.[9][4]