Mbahaam–Iha languages
# Mbahaam–Iha languages

The Mbahaam–Iha 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

### Phonemes

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

    *m*n *p*t*k*kʷ *mb*nd*ŋg*ŋgʷ *s *w*r*j

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

The vowels are *i *u *ɛ *ɔ *a and the diphthongs *iɛ *ɛi.

### Pronouns

Usher (2020) reconstructs the free pronouns as:

    sgpl 1excl *[a/ɔ]n[*mbi] 1incl *in 2 *k[a/ɔ]*ki 3 *m[a/ɔ]*mi, *wat

### Basic vocabulary

Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:

    glossProto-Mbahaam-IhaMbahaamIha head *kaˈndakndaːkanda ear *kʷⁱɛrkpʷujɛrpɛr eye k(i)jɛpkɛndɛp blood *wⁱɛkwijɛkwɛk bone *ˈtɔkartɔ(ː)qartɔqar skin *pakpaːkpak breast *sɔnsɔːnhɔn ~ sɔn louse *mɛⁱnmiːnmɛin dog *jaˈmbarjambaːrmbiar pig *[ku]ˈndurkunduːrndur egg *wunuːnwun tree *wiˈrawurʲaː ~ wɛrʲaːwɛrɛ ~ wrɛ man/male *nami-sarnami-hanɛmɛ-har woman/female *t[ɔ/u]mb[ɔ/u]rtumbu-(tɔ-)tɔmbɔr sun *kaˈminVkamiːnikimina moon *kaˈpaskabaːskabah water *kiˈrakrijakara stone *warwaːrwar name *nⁱɛnʲiɛnɛ eat *nawanɔwanɔwa ~ nawa- one *ɔkʷɔ[nɔ]ɔqɔnɔpɔ

Protoforms of the 20 most-stable items in the Swadesh list include the following.

    glossProto-Mbahaam–Iha *mɛinlouse  ?two *kiˈrawater *kʷiɛrear *kimidie *[a/ɔ]nI  ?liver  ? (k(i)jɛp / kɛndɛp)eye *tanhand *kɔmɛnhear *wiˈra, aˈtɔkʷtree, tree/wood *ˈsɛjirfish *niɛname *warstone  ?tooth *sɔnbreast *k[a/ɔ]you  ?path *ˈtɔkarbone  ?tongue (*mak voice/language)
