Mimi of Decorse

Mimi of Decorse, also known as Mimi of Gaudefroy-Demombynes and Mimi-D, is a language of Chad that is attested only in a word list labelled "Mimi" that was collected ca. 1900 by G. J. Decorse and published by Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes.[1] Joseph Greenberg (1960) classified it as a Maban language, like the rather remote Maban relative Mimi of Nachtigal. However, George Starostin (2011) rejects this classification, arguing that similarities to Maban are due to contact with locally dominant Maba (the similarities are with that language specifically, not with the entire Maban family), and provisionally regards it as a language isolate, though it is suggestive of Central Sudanic.[2]

Mimi of Decorse
Mimi-D
Mimi of Gaudefroy-Demombynes
Native toChad
Extinct(attested ca. 1900)
Nilo-Saharan?
  • Mimi of Decorse
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
Glottologmimi1240

Basic vocabulary

The more stable of Mimi-D and Mimi-N's attested vocabulary is as follows:

glossMimi-DMimi-N
twomelsøn
eyedyokal
firesou
stonemuguru
handsilrai
whatɲeta
diedafaya
drinkandʒiab
dogɲuk
moonaɾ
claw/nailfer
bloodari
onedegul-un
toothɲainziːk
eatɲyam
hairsuf (Arabic?)fuːl
waterengisun (Fur?)
nosefirhur
mouthɲyomil
earfeɾkuyi
birdkabal-a
bonekadʒi
sunsey
treesu
killkuduma
footrepzaŋ
hornkamin
meatɲyuneŋ
eggdʒulut
blackliwuk
headbokidʒ-i
nightlem
fishgonas
seeyakoe

See also

References
  1. Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Maurice. 1907. Document sur les Langues de l'Oubangui-Chari. In Actes du XVIe Congrès International des Orientalistes, Alger, 1905, Part II, 172-330. Paris: Ernest Leroux.
  2. Starostin, George. On Mimi, Journal of Language Relationship, v. 6, 2011, pp. 115-140.
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