West Bomberai languages
# West Bomberai languages

The West Bomberai languages are a family of Papuan languages spoken on the Bomberai Peninsula of western New Guinea and in East Timor and neighboring islands of Indonesia.

## Languages

Two of the languages of the mainland, Baham and Iha, are closely related to each other; the third is distant, forming a third branch of the family along with the Timor–Alor–Pantar languages:

* Mbahaam–Iha: Baham (Mbaham), Iha
* Karas
* Timor–Alor–Pantar

Ross (2005) classified Timor–Alor–Pantar with the mainland West Bomberai languages, although this connection is not universally accepted. Usher found that the Timor–Alor–Pantar languages resides within the West Bomberai languages, and is not just their closest relative. This suggests that Timor–Alor–Pantar may have been the result of a relatively recent migration from New Guinea, perhaps arriving in the Timor area shortly before the Austronesian languages did.

## Classification

Ross (2005) classifies Timor–Alor–Pantar with the West Bomberai languages, the two groups forming a branch within West Trans–New Guinea. Based on a careful examination of new lexical data, Holton & Robinson (2014) find little evidence to support a connection between TAP and TNG. However, Holton & Robinson (2017) concede that a relationship with Trans-New Guinea and West Bomberai in particular is the most likely hypothesis, though they prefer to leave it unclassified for now. Usher (2020) finds that the two mainland branches of the family are no closer to each other than they are to the Timor–Alor–Pantar languages, and has begun to reconstruct the West Bomberai protolanguage.

## Phonemes

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant and vowel inventories as:

| *p | *t | [*ts] | *k | *kʷ |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| *mb | *nd | [*ndz] | *ŋɡ | *ŋɡʷ |
| *m | *n | | | |
| | *s | | | |
| *w | *l, *r | *j | | |

Prenasalized plosives do not occur initially, having merged with the voiceless plosives.

The vowels are *i *u *e *o *a *ɒ and the diphthong *ai.

## Pronouns

Usher (2020) reconstructs the free pronouns as:

    sgpl 1excl *[a/o]n*in 1incl *pi (?) 2 *k[a/o]*ki

## Cognates

Protoforms of the 40 most-stable items in the Swadesh list include the following.

    Proto–West Bomberaigloss *am[i/u]nlouse *kirawater *kʷaliear *k[i/u]m[i/u]die *[a/o]nI *kinaeye *tanahand/arm *nainame *warstone *amibreast *k[a/o]you *[ja]ŋgalpath  ?tongue (*maŋg[a] voice/speech) *aŋginbody/skin *kajarain *waikblood *ukʷan[i]one *macome *tVmbermountain *ni-we *na[wa]eat/drink *kena[t]see *kʷel[e]skin/bark *jambardog

## Lexical comparison

The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975), as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:

    glossBahamIha head kendo-wamekanda hair tawekandaːtən eye ki-epkendep tooth sin-tapmihin-tap leg kueitkowk louse minmən dog yambarmbiar pig kundurndur bird paru-baruje egg unwund blood wiekwek bone ntoxartogar skin pakŋein tree ado-kwiriaadoːp man namianemeːr sun kaminikimina water kiryakra fire yamburtoom stone warwar name niene eat nowanəw- one ogonokwo two -rik(he)rik

The following lexical data comparing West Bomberai with other languages of the Bomberai Peninsula and Geelvink Bay is from the Trans-New Guinea database and Usher (2020), unless noted otherwise.

Body parts :

| family | language | head | hair | ear | eye | nose | tooth | tongue | leg | blood | bone | skin | breast |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Trans-New Guinea | Proto-Trans-New Guinea | *kobutu; *kV(mb,p)utu; *mUtUna; *mVtVna | *iti; *(nd,s)umu(n,t)[V]; *zumun | *ka(nd,t)(i,e)C; *kat(i,e)C; *tVmV(d) | *g(a,u)mu; *ŋg(a,u)mu; *(ŋg,k)iti [maŋgV]; *nVpV | *mundu; *mutu | *magata; *maŋgat[a]; *titi | *balaŋ; *mbilaŋ; *me(l,n)e; *me(n,l)e | *kani(n); *k(a,o)ond(a,o)C; *kitu | *ke(ñj,s)a; *kesa | *kondaC; *kwata(l,n) | *gatapu; *(ŋg,k)a(nd,t)apu | *amu |
| West Bomberai | Proto-Mbahaam-Iha | *kaˈnda | | *kʷⁱɛr | | | | | | *wⁱɛk | *ˈtɔkar | *pak | *sɔn |
| Mor | Mor | idura | sa | | nana | | nasona | | bana | wabmina | weten | gina | |
| Tanah Merah | Tanahmerah | breŋka; kidaso | nisa; nua | | ka-bita; ndou | | eti; kioni | | kiwi; oto | kinatera; sa | naso; oro | ele; katane | |
| Mairasi | Proto-Etna Bay | | *-suɾu | *ɸiɾa | *mbiatu | *-mbi | *-ɾasi | *-saɸia | *-koɾa | *iseɾe | *tuɾa | *(na)-kia | *joku |
| Keuw | Keuw | kpúunt | | téemé | mlúul | klókəә̀n | mée | áalì | | kpíi | ntyéns | mpáakəә́t | túulí |
| East Cenderawasih Bay | Bauzi | dauha; ohula | ohuta | dogoi | fako; faxo | ɔmtɔ | mõ | iso | naba:; nao | vasɛa; veiso | fa; oveha | sogoba; sɔkɔba | ahudɛ |
| East Cenderawasih Bay | Tunggare | ʔohaha | ohitaʔi | | hanua | | mou | | nal | nahavei | ha | isaʔa | |
| Burmeso | Burmeso | agum | ihiro | | jenar | | araruro | | jago | sar | hiurap | asi memiro | |
| Abinomn | Abinomn | | | dəm | | [amir] | [ir] | | | seide | | [is] | ame |

Nature :

| family | language | louse | dog | pig | bird | egg | tree | sun | moon | water | fire | stone | path |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Trans-New Guinea | Proto-Trans-New Guinea | *niman | | | *n(e,i); *n(e)i; *n[e]i; *yak; *yaka[i]; *yanem | *maŋgV; *munaka; *mun(a,u)ka | *ida; *inda ~ *iñja | *kamali; *kamuli; *ketana | *kal(a,i)m; *kamali; *takVn; *takVn[V] | *nok; *(n)ok; *ok(u); *ok[V] | *inda; *k(a,e)dap; *k(a,e)(n,d)ap; *kambu; *k(a,o)nd(a,u)p | *kamb(a,u)na; *(na)muna; *[na]muna | |
| West Bomberai | Proto-Mbahaam-Iha | *mɛⁱn | *jaˈmbar | *[ku]ˈndur | | *wun | *wiˈra | *kaˈminV | *kaˈpas | *kiˈra | | *war | |
| Mor | Mor | twoa | afuna | bia | isa | utreta | wara | seba | | sea | taha | puata | |
| Tanah Merah | Tanahmerah | ia; miŋ | ibe; yoku | opo; tayna | awə; finanaburu | doŋ; no | o; ono; taya | soniŋ; weti | | bu; moda | avonabe; siŋ | kenade; oru | |
| Mairasi | Proto-Etna Bay | *kumai | *ansi | *[ɸ]embe | *sai | *ete | | *tende | *aŋgane | *ɸat[e] | *iɸoɾo | *jaɸutu | *kae |
| Keuw | Keuw | | | kómúul | páupǝn | bléemí | kúd | tandən | dyúutǝn | yél | núup | tóotí | ngkéempúkə |
| East Cenderawasih Bay | Bauzi | vɔa; vwa | vɛm; veme | doho; dɔhɔ | bume; bumɛ | ʔo; ɔɔ | uto | ala; ala(meoho) | ala | valo; vaɔ | üwa; vua | kɛ; khe | |
| East Cenderawasih Bay | Tunggare | ʔua | weme | doho | dinarate | ʔoʔo | uto-me | au | | mana | urehe | hahia | |
| Burmeso | Burmeso | hati | jamo | sibo | tohodo | kohũp | haman | misiavo | | bau | hor | ako | |
| Abinomn | Abinomn | dʒen | | | səre | | wər | sər | mən | | | wor | jewon |

Miscellaneous :

| family | language | man | woman | name | eat | one | two |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Trans-New Guinea | Proto-Trans-New Guinea | *abV; *ambi | *panV; *pan(V) | *ibi; *imbi; *wani | *na; *na- | | *ta(l,t)(a,e) |
| West Bomberai | Proto-Mbahaam-Iha | *nami-sar | *t[ɔ/u]mb[ɔ/u]r | *nⁱɛ | *nawa | *ɔkʷɔ[nɔ] | |
| Mor | Mor | hiamia | | inagenena | masmore | nadu | kin |
| Tanah Merah | Tanahmerah | do; maopa | | nigia; wado | anine; taue | besika; naduma | bi; wanitabo |
| Mairasi | Proto-Etna Bay | *koɸo | *eɸei | *u[w]ata | | *tana-(kau) | *amoi |
| Keuw | Keuw | méeli | úun | | núu | bíisìp | páid |
| East Cenderawasih Bay | Bauzi | data | | ɛ; ele | æ; udeʔa | væmtɛa; vamtia | beasu; bɛhæsu |
| East Cenderawasih Bay | Tunggare | date | | ʔe | ghayo | duaʔa | amaite |
| Burmeso | Burmeso | tamo | | ahau | bomo | neisano | sor |
| Abinomn | Abinomn | | | | | | |
