The Nimboran languages are a small family of Papuan languages, spoken by the Nimboran people 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 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,
{| class=wikitable |- | I || *genam |- | thou || *kom, komot |- | s/he || ?
Below are pronouns in the Nimboran languages as given by Foley (2018):
|+ Nimboran pronouns ! !! 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.
Basic vocabulary Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:Grime River. New Guinea World.
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! 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
Vocabulary comparison The following basic vocabulary words are from Voorhoeve (1975),Voorhoeve, C.L. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database.
The words cited constitute translation equivalents, whether they are cognate (e.g. yaŋkabu, iŋkabu for “head”) or not (e.g. kapray, tendu for “one”).
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! 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
References
External links Nimboran word lists from Voorhoeve (1975) (TransNewGuinea.org) Grime River. New Guinea World.