| Nimboran | |
|---|---|
| Grime River | |
| Geographic distribution | Grime-Nawa Valley, Jayapura Regency, Papua Province, Indonesia |
| Linguistic classification | Northwest Papuan?
|
| Glottolog | nimb1257 |
The Nimboran languages are a small familyofPapuan languages, spoken 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 komorkomot "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]
Foley (2018) classifies the Nimboran languages separately as an independent language family.[2]
The languages are:[1]
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]
| 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.[2]
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 |
The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),[3] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[4]
| 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 |
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Tor–Kwerba languages (Foja Range)
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| Orya–Tor |
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| Kwerbic |
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| Nimboran |
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| other | |||||||
