Nimboran languages
Foja Range language family of New Guinea
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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.[1]
distributionGrime-Nawa Valley, Jayapura Regency, Papua Province, Indonesia
- Foja Range (Tor–Kwerba)
- Nimboran
| Nimboran | |
|---|---|
| Grime River | |
| Geographic distribution | Grime-Nawa Valley, Jayapura Regency, Papua Province, Indonesia |
| Linguistic classification | Northwest Papuan?
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | nimb1257 |
Foley (2018) classifies the Nimboran languages separately as an independent language family.[2]
Classification
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]
As in Kaure, pronouns are not specified for number in the Nimboran language.[2]
Basic vocabulary
Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[1]
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),[3] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.[4]
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. yaŋkabu, iŋkabu for “head”) or not (e.g. kapray, tendu for “one”).
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