ABSTRACT
This region, deriving its name from its altitude i n the central mountains, includes Enga, Western Highlands, Southern Highlands, C h i m b u , and Eastern Highlands provinces. W i t h only 13 percent of the country's area, it contains 36 percent of the population, but has fewer languages than the other regions. Some of its languages are spoken by tens of thousands of people. A l l belong to the Trans-New Guinea Phylum of non-Austronesian languages.
