Nimboran languages

The Nimboran languages are a small family of Papuan languages, spoken in the Grime River watershed, that had been part of Stephen Wurm's Trans–New Guinea proposal. However, when proto-Nimboran pronouns are reconstructed (*genam "I" and kom or komot "thou"), they have little resemblance to the proto-TNG pronouns *na and *ga. Usher places them in a North Papuan stock that resembles Cowan's proposal.[1]

Nimboran
Grime River
Geographic
distribution
Grime River, New Guinea
Linguistic classificationNorthwest Papuan?
Glottolognimb1257

Foley (2018) classifies the Nimboran languages separately as an independent language family.[2]

Classification

The languages are:[1]

Proto-language

Pronouns

The pronouns Ross (2005) reconstructs for proto-Nimboran are,

I*genam
thou*kom, komot
s/he ?

Below are pronouns in the Nimboran languages as given by Foley (2018):[2]

Nimboran pronouns
NimboranKemtuikGresiMlapMekwei
1excl ngogənamganamngamkə ~ kat
1incl yoimot
2 komotkokomkmot
3 nonemot

As in Kaure, pronouns are not specified for number in the Nimboran language.[2]

Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[1]

glossProto-Grime River
head*jaŋkaMBʉ
leaf/head hair*ndɜp
ear*kam[a/ɔ]; *kəni[n/ŋ]
eye*namuɔ
tooth*səɺiŋ; *wasəɺa[ŋ]
tongue*anəmbəɺ[i/ɛ]ŋ; *mambəɺ[ɜ/ɔ]p
foot/leg*masi
blood/red*kin
seed/bone*ndɜn
skin/bark*asu[p/k]
breast/milk*min
louse*səna[ŋ]
dog*unduɔ
pig*inəmbuɔ
bird*jʉ
egg*səwip[i]
tree/wood*ndi
man/male*səɺu
woman*kambuŋ; *ki
sun*wɔj
moon*mbanu
water/river*mbu
fire*kip; *kɜj
stone*ndəmuɔ
path*tap
name*sʉ
eat*ndam
one*kapəɺaj[a]
two*namuan

Vocabulary comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),[3] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[4]

glossGresiKemtuikMekweiMlapNimboran
head yaŋkabuiŋkabuyekembuyaŋkambuiŋgiambu
hair bətə-dopdopbəterepməndü-pramendü-pro
eye namnmu-tugonnamo-dennuŋgroŋnuŋgroŋ
tooth səriŋwasraŋsiŋyaŋsəriŋ-dowŋhriŋ-douŋ
leg masimasimasimesimesi
louse sənasənesənesənehnaŋ
dog udoudoandoundounduo
pig nəmbunəmbomboiboibwo
bird ü
egg sisisəbisüpsüp
blood kiŋkiŋkiŋkiŋkiŋ
bone dondondendowŋdouŋ
skin suksaisukasuksupsub
tree dididididi-tim
man sərəsəruəsisruhru
sun woywoywoywoyuai
water bububububu
fire koykoykei-sinikipkip
stone domdəmudəmodəmudemue
name siüsiu
eat damdamanimedamdam
one kraykrayakapraytendutendü
two namonnamonnamannamoŋnamuan

References

  1. Grime River. New Guinea World.
  2. Foley, William A. (2018). "The languages of Northwest New Guinea". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 433–568. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  3. Voorhoeve, C.L. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. doi:10.15144/PL-B31
  4. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  • Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.