MbahamâIha languages
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| MbahamâIha | |
|---|---|
| Nuclear West Bomberai | |
| Geographic distribution | West New Guinea, Bomberai Peninsula |
| Linguistic classification | TransâNew Guinea
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | nucl1641 |
The MbahamâIha 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.
Proto-language
[edit]Phonemes
[edit]Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant and vowel inventories as:[1]
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar plain labialized Nasal *m *n Stop plain *p *t *k *kÊ· prenasalized *mb *nd *Ćg *ĆgÊ· Fricative *s Liquid *w *r *j
Prenasalized plosives do not occur initially, having merged with the voiceless plosives.
The vowels are *i *u *É *É *a and the diphthongs *iÉ *Éi.
Pronouns
[edit]Usher (2020) reconstructs the free pronouns as:[1]
sg pl 1excl *[a/É]n [*mbi] 1incl *in 2 *k[a/É] *ki 3 *m[a/É] *mi, *wat
Basic vocabulary
[edit]Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:[1]
gloss Proto-MbahamâIha Mbaham Iha head *kaËnda kndaË kanda ear *kÊ·â±Ér kpÊ·ujÉr pÉr eye k(i)jÉp kÉndÉp blood *wâ±Ék wijÉk wÉk bone *ËtÉkar tÉ(Ë)qar tÉqar skin *pak paËk pak breast *sÉn sÉËn hÉn ~ sÉn louse *mÉâ±n miËn mÉin dog *jaËmbar jambaËr mbiar pig *[ku]Ëndur kunduËr ndur egg *wun uËn wun tree *wiËra wurÊČaË ~ wÉrÊČaË wÉrÉ ~ wrÉ man/male *nami-sar nami-ha nÉmÉ-har woman/female *t[É/u]mb[É/u]r tumbu- (tÉ-)tÉmbÉr sun *kaËminV kamiËni kimina moon *kaËpas kabaËs kabah water *kiËra krija kara stone *war waËr war name *nâ±É nÊČiÉ nÉ eat *nawa nÉwa nÉwa ~ nawa- one *ÉkÊ·É[nÉ] ÉqÉnÉ pÉ
Protoforms of the 20 most-stable items[2] in the Swadesh list include the following.[1]
gloss Proto-MbahamâIha *mÉin louse ? two *kiËra water *kÊ·iÉr ear *kimi die *[a/É]n I ? liver ? (k(i)jÉp / kÉndÉp) eye *tan hand *kÉmÉn hear *wiËra, aËtÉkÊ· tree, tree/wood *ËsÉjir fish *niÉ name *war stone ? tooth *sÉn breast *k[a/É] you ? path *ËtÉkar bone ? tongue (*mak voice/language)
References
[edit]- 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: 39â63.
External links
[edit]- Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, ProtoâMbahaamâIha
