The Mbaham–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:New Guinea World, Mbaham–Iha
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | ! rowspan="2" |Labial ! rowspan="2" |Alveolar ! rowspan="2" |Palatal ! colspan="2" |Velar |- !plain !labialized |- ! colspan="2" |Nasal | *m || *n || || || |- ! rowspan="2" |Stop !plain | *p || *t || || *k || *kʷ |- !prenasalized | *mb || *nd || || *ŋg || *ŋgʷ |- ! colspan="2" |Fricative | || *s || || || |- ! colspan="2" |Liquid | *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:
! !!sg!!pl |- !1excl |rowspan=2|*[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:
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! gloss !! Proto-Mbaham–Iha !! Mbaham !! Iha |- ! head | *kaˈnda || kndaː || kanda |- ! ear | *kʷⁱɛr || kpʷujɛr || pɛr |- ! eye | || k(i)jɛp || kɛndɛp |- ! blood | *wⁱɛk || wijɛk || wɛk |- ! bone | *ˈtɔkar || tɔ(ː)qar || tɔqar |- ! skin | *pak || paːk || pak |- ! breast | *sɔn || sɔːn || hɔn ~ sɔn |- ! louse | *mɛⁱn || miːn || mɛin |- ! dog | *jaˈmbar || jambaːr || mbiar |- ! pig | *[ku]ˈndur || kunduːr || ndur |- ! egg | *wun || uːn || wun |- ! tree | *wiˈra || wurʲaː ~ wɛrʲaː || wɛrɛ ~ wrɛ |- ! man/male | *nami-sar || nami-ha || nɛmɛ-har |- ! woman/female | *t[ɔ/u]mb[ɔ/u]r || tumbu- || (tɔ-)tɔmbɔr |- ! sun | *kaˈminV || kamiːni || kimina |- ! moon | *kaˈpas || kabaːs || kabah |- ! water | *kiˈra || krija || kara |- ! stone | *war || waːr || war |- ! name | *nⁱɛ || nʲiɛ || nɛ |- ! eat | *nawa || nɔwa || nɔwa ~ nawa- |- ! one | *ɔkʷɔ[nɔ] || ɔqɔnɔ || pɔ
Protoforms of the 20 most-stable itemsHolman, Eric W., Søren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown, Viveka Velupillai, André Müller, Dik Bakker (2008). "Explorations in Automated Language Classification". Folia Linguistica, Vol. 42, no. 2, 331–354 in the Swadesh list include the following.
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! gloss !! Proto-Mbaham–Iha |- | *mɛin || louse
| ? || two
| *kiˈra || water
| *kʷiɛr || ear
| *kimi || die
| *[a/ɔ]n || I
| ? || liver
| ? (k(i)jɛp / kɛndɛp) || eye
| *tan || hand
| *kɔmɛn || hear
| *wiˈra, aˈtɔkʷ || tree, tree/wood
| *ˈsɛjir || fish
| *niɛ || name
| *war || stone
| ? || tooth
| *sɔn || breast
| *k[a/ɔ] || you
| ? || path
| *ˈtɔkar || bone
| ? || tongue (*mak voice/language)
References
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: 3963.
External links Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–Mbahaam–Iha