Nimboran languages
# Nimboran languages

The Nimboran languages are a small family of Papuan languages, spoken in the Grime River watershed, 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
      * Mekwei (Moi)
      * Gresi–Kemtuik
         * Kemtuik
         * Gresi
   * West
      * Mlap (Kuangsu)
      * Namblong (Nimboran)

## 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):

    Nimboran pronouns NimboranKemtuikGresiMlapMekwei 1excl ngogənamganamngamkə ~ kat 1incl yoimot 2 komotkokomkmot 3 nonemot

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

### Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:

    glossProto-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:

    glossGresiKemtuikMekweiMlapNimboran head yaŋkabuiŋkabuyekembuyaŋkambuiŋgiambu hair bətə-dopdopbəterepməndü-pramendü-pro eye namnmu-tugonnamo-dennuŋgroŋnuŋgroŋ tooth səriŋwasraŋsiŋyaŋsəriŋ-dowŋhriŋ-douŋ leg masimasimasimesimesi louse sənasənesənesənehnaŋ dog udoudoandoundounduo pig nəmbunəmbomboiboibwo bird iüiüüiüiü egg sisisəbisüpsüp blood kiŋkiŋkiŋkiŋkiŋ bone dondondendowŋdouŋ skin suksaisukasuksupsub tree dididididi-tim man sərəsəruəsisruhru sun woywoywoywoyuai water bububububu fire koykoykei-sinikipkip stone domdəmudəmodəmudemue name süsiüsiusüsü eat damdamanimedamdam one kraykrayakapraytendutendü two namonnamonnamannamoŋnamuan
