They form part of the Trans–New Guinea languages in the classifications of Stephen Wurm and Malcolm Ross, and were established as part of the Anim branch of TNG by Timothy Usher.

The languages are: Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows:[2] Vowels are *a *e *i *o *u.

The pronouns are:[1] The Marind languages were partially identified by Sidney Herbert Ray and JHP Murray in 1918; the family was filled out by JHMC Boelaars in 1950.

It was incorporated into Trans–New Guinea by Stephen Wurm in 1975.

Marind reflexes of proto-Trans-New Guinea (pTNG) etyma:[3]