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Wikipedia / Nimboran languages

The Nimboran languages are a small family of Papuan languages, spoken by the Nimboran people in the Grime River and Nawa River watershed in Jayapura Regency, 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.

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

Classification

The languages are:

Nimboran (Grime River)

East

Gresi–Kemtuik

West

Proto-language

Pronouns

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

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|- | I || *genam |- | thou || *kom, komot |- | s/he || ? |}

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

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|+ Nimboran pronouns ! !! Nimboran !! Kemtuik !! Gresi !! Mlap !! Mekwei |- ! 1excl | ngo || gənam || ganam || ngam || kə ~ kat |- ! 1incl | yo || imot || || |- ! 2 | ko || mot || ko || kom || kmot |- ! 3 | no || nemot || || |}

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

Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:

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! gloss !! Proto-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), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.

The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. yaŋkabu, iŋkabu for “head”) or not (e.g. kapray, tendu for “one”).

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! gloss !! Gresi !! Kemtuik !! Mekwei !! Mlap !! Nimboran |- ! head | yaŋkabu || iŋkabu || yekembu || yaŋkambu || iŋgiambu |- ! hair | bətə-dop || dop || bəterep || məndü-pra || mendü-pro |- ! eye | nam || nmu-tugon || namo-den || nuŋgroŋ || nuŋgroŋ |- ! tooth | səriŋ || wasraŋ || siŋyaŋ || səriŋ-dowŋ || hriŋ-douŋ |- ! leg | masi || masi || masi || mesi || mesi |- ! louse | səna || səne || səne || səne || hnaŋ |- ! dog | udo || udo || ando || undo || unduo |- ! pig | nəmbu || nəmbo || mbo || ibo || ibwo |- ! bird | iü || iü || ü || iü || iü |- ! egg | si || si || səbi || süp || süp |- ! blood | kiŋ || kiŋ || kiŋ || kiŋ || kiŋ |- ! bone | don || don || den || dowŋ || douŋ |- ! skin | suk || saisuk || asuk || sup || sub |- ! tree | di || di || di || di || di-tim |- ! man | sərə || səruə || si || sru || hru |- ! sun | woy || woy || woy || woy || uai |- ! water | bu || bu || bu || bu || bu |- ! fire | koy || koy || kei-sini || kip || kip |- ! stone | dom || dəmu || dəmo || dəmu || demue |- ! name | sü || siü || siu || sü || sü |- ! eat | dam || dam || anime || dam || dam |- ! one | kray || kraya || kapray || tendu || tendü |- ! two | namon || namon || naman || namoŋ || namuan |}

References