Mbahaam–Iha languages

The Mbahaam–Iha languages are a pair of Papuan languages spoken on the Bomberai Peninsula of western New Guinea. The two languages, Baham (Mbaham) and Iha, are closely related to each other.

Mbahaam–Iha
Geographic
distribution
West New Guinea, Bomberai Peninsula
Linguistic classificationTrans–New Guinea
Subdivisions
Glottolognucl1641

Proto-language

Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant and vowel inventories as:[1]

*m*n
*p*t*k*kʷ
*mb*nd*ŋg*ŋgʷ
*s
*w*r*j

Prenasalized plosives do not occur initially, having merged with the voiceless plosives.

The vowels are *i *u *ɛ *ɔ *a and the diphthongs *iɛ *ɛi.

Pronouns

Usher (2020) reconstructs the free pronouns as:[1]

sgpl
1excl *[a/ɔ]n[*mbi]
1incl *in
2 *k[a/ɔ]*ki
3 *m[a/ɔ]*mi, *wat

Basic vocabulary

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

glossProto-Mbahaam-IhaMbahaamIha
head *kaˈndakndaːkanda
ear *kʷⁱɛrkpʷujɛrpɛr
eye k(i)jɛpkɛndɛp
blood *wⁱɛkwijɛkwɛk
bone *ˈtɔkartɔ(ː)qartɔqar
skin *pakpaːkpak
breast *sɔnsɔːnhɔn ~ sɔn
louse *mɛⁱnmiːnmɛin
dog *jaˈmbarjambaːrmbiar
pig *[ku]ˈndurkunduːrndur
egg *wunuːnwun
tree *wiˈrawurʲaː ~ wɛrʲaːwɛrɛ ~ wrɛ
man/male *nami-sarnami-hanɛmɛ-har
woman/female *t[ɔ/u]mb[ɔ/u]rtumbu-(tɔ-)tɔmbɔr
sun *kaˈminVkamiːnikimina
moon *kaˈpaskabaːskabah
water *kiˈrakrijakara
stone *warwaːrwar
name *nⁱɛnʲiɛ
eat *nawanɔwanɔwa ~ nawa-
one *ɔkʷɔ[nɔ]ɔqɔnɔ


Protoforms of the 20 most-stable items[2] in the Swadesh list include the following.[1]

glossProto-Mbahaam–Iha
*mɛinlouse
 ?two
*kiˈrawater
*kʷiɛrear
*kimidie
*[a/ɔ]nI
 ?liver
 ? (k(i)jɛp / kɛndɛp)eye
*tanhand
*kɔmɛnhear
*wiˈra, aˈtɔkʷtree, tree/wood
*ˈsɛjirfish
*niɛname
*warstone
 ?tooth
*sɔnbreast
*k[a/ɔ]you
 ?path
*ˈtɔkarbone
 ?tongue (*mak voice/language)

References

  1. New Guinea World, Mbaham–Iha
  2. Holman, Eric W., Søren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown, Viveka Velupillai, André Müller, Dik Bakker (2008). "Explorations in Automated Language Classification". Folia Linguistica, Vol. 42, no. 2, 331–354
  • Usher, Timothy and Antoinette Schapper, 2018. "The lexicons of the Papuan languages of the Onin Peninsula and their influences". In Antoinette Schapper, ed. Contact and substrate in the languages of Wallacea part 2. NUSA 64: 3963.
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