[2] Ross (2005) does not believe these demonstrate a genealogical relationship, and proposes instead that the Demta–Sentani languages are related to the East Bird's Head languages, in a tentative East Bird's Head – Sentani family.
[3] Usher (2020) tentatively includes them in a proposed Northwest Papuan family, though as of 2020 it's not clear whether the resemblances are due to inheritance or borrowing.
The connection between Demta and the Sentani languages is not supported by Søren Wichmann (2013)'s automated comparison.
[4] The pronouns Ross reconstructs for proto-family are: Comparative pronouns in Sentani languages:[3] The following basic vocabulary words are from McElhanon & Voorhoeve (1970) (for Sentani)[5] and Voorhoeve (1975),[6] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.
[7] The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. possibly ey, au, aye for “bird”) or not (e.g. tuniyiŋgan, yebu, faləm for “head”).