Mbahaam-Iha

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

Timothy Usher and Antoinette Schapper 2018. “The lexicons of the Papuan languages of the Onin Peninsula and their influences” NUSA 64: 39-63.

[under construction]

The Mbahaam-Iha family is composed of two languages, Mbahaam (Bahaam, Baham, Mbahám) and Iha, spoken … Onin peninsula in the northwestern portion of the larger Bomberai peninsula … Fakfak regency of Indonesia's West Papua Province. …enclave in the Kaimana regency …

The internal classification of Mbahaam-Iha is as follows:

Mbahaam-Iha

Mbahaam

Iha

[under construction]

Robidé van der Aa (1879: 342-347) … comparative terms for Kapauer

Bastian (1885) …

le Cocq d'Armandville (1903) Kapaur (unobtained)

Meyer (1908) Kapaur (unobtained)

Coenen (1953) grammar of Ihandin (unobtained)

Galis (1955) comparative vocabularies for Kapaur and Báham

Anceaux (1956) (unobtained)

Anceaux (1958) … comparative terms for …

Smits and Voorhoeve (1998: 22-233) comparative vocabularies for Horabena (Baham) after Woelders, Mambunibuni after van Beek, Patimuni after an unspecified source, an unspecified variety of Baham after Anceaux and for Kapaur (Iha) after two unspecified sources, Kapaur after Anceaux, Sipatnanam after a patrol officer, Sum after van Beek, Degen after Hindom, Tetar after Saras, Dunaweria after Hindon, Nambuktep and Pikpik after van Beek, Wayati and an unspecified variety after Anceaux and an unspecified variety of Iha after a government officer

Greenberg (n.d.) … after Anceaux (n.d.)

Voorhoeve (1975: 101-102) 40 comparative terms for Iha and Baham after Anceaux

Flassy, Ruhukael and Rumbrawer (1984) grammar of Mbahaam of Sanggram village

Flassy, Ruhukael and Rumbrawer (1987) phonology and (pp. 108-148) extensive comparative vocabulary for Bahaam of Sanggram village

Flassy and Animung (1992) grammar and (pp. 79-110) extensive comparative vocabulary for Iha

Flassy (2002) Mbahaam inflections (unobtained)

Husin (2009) morphology and (pp. 43-50) vocabulary of Baham Patimuni

Narfafan (2009) phonology of Iha (unobtained)

Donohue (2010) … comparative terms for Iha of Homor Kopma village and for Mbáhám of Wos and Wéremú villages

Donohue (2013) sketch phonology of Iha

Cottet (2015) phonology of Mbahám

[under construction]

Proto-Mbahaam-Iha had 14 consonants and 5 vowels as follows:

In addition to the simple vowels given above, two diphthongs are found as follows:

Apical non-stop /*r/ does not generally occur initially in native words.

A lateral non-stop /l/ is found only in loans, primarily from local Austronesian languages. It's not clear that this phoneme was established by the time of Proto-Mbahaam-Iha. Proto-West Bomberai distinguished /*l/ from /*r/, but these original phonemes have fallen together as /*r/ in Mbahaam-Iha.

The majority of Mbahaam-Iha roots are consonant-final. Only a subset of consonants is known to occur finally:

Vowel-initial roots exist but are markedly uncommon. Comparative evidence suggests that at least some roots which once had initial vowels have lost them in Mbahaam-Iha, leading for example to the formation of diphthongs in /*mɛⁱn/ “louse” and/*ŋgɛⁱn/ “skin” reflecting /*amin/ and /*aŋgin/ respectively.

Consonant clusters do not occur within roots. However, because most roots have both initial and final consonants, they are very common in compounds.

Stress is contrastive. The majority of disyllables take final stress, a fact no doubt connected to the loss of erstwhile initial vowels and the predominance of consonant final roots.

…

Initial consonants correspond as follows:

Medial consonants correspond as follows:

Consonant clusters correspond as follows:

Final consonants correspond as follows:

Vowels and diphthongs correspond as follows:

These correspondences are exemplified as follows, with Iha attestations drawn from Flassy and Animung (1992) and Mbahaam (Bahaam) from Flassy, Ruhukael and Rumbrawer (1984, 1987) unless otherwise indicated.

Any consonant can occur initially.

Initial bilabial nasal /*m/ is generally retained as such in both languages:

… /*m/ … outcomparison …:

… /*m/ … metathesis …:

… /*m/ …:

Initial apical nasal /*n/ is retained as such in both languages:

… /*n/ …:

Initial bilabial voiceless stop /*p/ is retained as such in both languages:

Initial apical voiceless stop /*t/ is retained as such in both languages:

… /*t/ …:

Initial laminal voiceless /*s/ is deoccluded to /h/ in Iha:

… /*s/ …:

Initial velar voiceless stop /*k/ is generally retained as such in both languages. …:

… /*k/ …:

Initial rounded velar voiceless stop /*kʷ/ …:

… /*kʷ/ …:

Initial bilabial voiced prenasalized stop /*mb/ is retained as such in both languages:

Initial apical voiced prenasalized stop /*nd/ is retained as such in both languages:

Initial velar voiced prenasalized stop /*ŋg/ is generally retained as such in both languages:

… /*ŋg/ …:

Initial rounded velar voiced prenasalized stop /*ŋgʷ/ …:

Initial bilabial non-stop /*w/ is generally retained as such in both languages:

When followed by high back round vowel /*u/, initial /*w/ is dropped in Mbahaam:

Apical non-stop /*r/ does not generally occur initially in native words, though some examples of initial /r/ are found in loans from Austronesian languages (below.) There is one possible counterexample:

Initial palatal non-stop /*j/ …:

One example suggests that initial /*j/ can be realized as a palatalized stop [dʲ] in Iha:

In two examples, both initial /*j/ and the vowel which follows are elided in Iha in what is probably best regarded as syllable loss (below) rather than an irregular reflex of /*j/:

In two examples which must be assumed to share a common root, Mbahaam's initial /j/ is inexplicably absent from its Iha equivalent:

Any consonant can occur medially.

Medial bilabial nasal /*m/ is retained as such in both languages:

Medial apical nasal /*n/ is retained as such in both languages:

Medial bilabial voiceless stop /*p/ …:

When medial /*p/ …:

… /*p/ …:

Medial apical voiceless stop /*t/ …:

When medial /*t/ …:

… /*t/ …:

Medial laminal voiceless /*s/ is deoccluded to /h/ in Iha and sporadically to [h] or zero [ø] in Mbahaam:

When medial /*s/ …:

Medial velar voiceless stop /*k/ …:

When medial /*k/ …:

…:

Medial rounded velar voiceless stop /*kʷ/ …:

… /*kʷ/ …:

… /*kʷ/ …:

Medial bilabial voiced prenasalized stop /*mb/ is retained as such in both languages:

Medial apical voiced prenasalized stop /*nd/ is retained as such in both languages:

…:

Medial velar voiced prenasalized stop /*ŋg/ is retained as such in both languages:

Medial rounded velar voiced prenasalized stop /*ŋgʷ/ …:

Medial bilabial non-stop /*w/ has been found …:

… medial /*w/ …:

… medial /*w/ …:

Medial apical non-stop /*r/ is very common. It is retained as such in both languages:

… medial /*r/ …:

Medial palatal non-stop /*j/ …:

Final consonants …

Final bilabial nasal /*m/ is generally retained as such in both languages:

In one example, final /*m/ is realized as apical /*n/ (below) because it is assimilated to following root-initial /*t/ in a phrase:

… /*m/ …:

Final apical nasal /*n/ is retained as such in both languages:

In one example, final /*n/ has become velar /ŋg/ [ŋ] in Mbahaam, probably due to the influence of following /*w/ in reduplication:

Final bilabial voiceless stop /*p/ is generally retained as such in both languages:

… final /*p/ …:

Final apical voiceless stop /*t/ is uncommon. It is generally retained as such in both languages:

… final /*t/ and /*s/ (below) …:

… /*t/ …:

… /*t/ …:

Final laminal voiceless /*s/ is deoccluded to /h/ in Iha:

… /*s/ …:

Final velar voiceless stop /*k/ is generally retained as such in both languages:

… final /*k/ …:

Final rounded velar voiceless stop /*kʷ/ has been found in only one example, in which it …:

Anterior voiced prenasalized stops /*mb *nd/ do not appear finally.

Final velar voiced prenasalized stop /*ŋg/ is realized as velar nasal [ŋ] in both languages. That [ŋg] is an allophone of /*ŋg/ is confirmed by Cottet's (2015: 68-69) statement that [ŋ] appears only in final position, and when followed by a vowel initial suffix is realized as [ŋg]:

One example, perhaps in error, is ambiguous between final apical nasal /*n/ (above) and velar voiced prenazalized stop /*ŋg/ [*ŋ]:

Rounded velar voiced prenasalized stop /*ŋgʷ/ has not been found finally.

Bilabial non-stop /*w/ does not appear finally.

Final apical non-stop /*r/ is very common. It is …:

Palatal non-stop /*j/ does not appear finally.

Vowels and diphthongs …

High front vowel /*i/ in simple environments is retained as such in both languages:

In two Mbahaam free pronouns, high front /*i/ has become high back rounded /u/ due to the influence of the following optional suffix [-duː -ju]:

… /*i/ …:

… /*i/ …:

… /*i/ …:

… /*i/ …:

High back rounded vowel /*u/ in simple environments is retained as such in both languages:

… /*u/ …:

Mid front vowel /*ɛ/ in simple environments is retained as such in both languages:

… /*ɛ/ …:

Mid front /*ɛ/ …:

Mid front /*ɛ/ …:

Mid front /*ɛ/ …:

Mid front /*ɛ/ …:

Mid front /*ɛ/ cooccurs freely with preceding low central vowel /*a/ without change in either language:

In one example, mid front /*ɛ/ has become low central /a/ in Iha, perhaps due to the influence of following /*a/ in reduplication:

In another, also a reduplication, mid front /*ɛ/ becomes /a/ in Mbahaam:

Mid back rounded vowel /*ɔ/ in simple environments is retained as such in both languages:

Mid back rounded /*ɔ/ cooccurs freely with high front vowel /*i/ without change in either language:

Mid back rounded /*ɔ/ cooccurs freely with low central vowel /*a/ without change in either language:

When /*ɔ/ is preceded by a rounded velar stop /*kʷ *ŋgʷ/ or bilabial non-stop /*w/ , it is often realized with a high rounded onset [ᵘɔ] in Mbahaam. The resulting pattern is parallel to that of front falling diphthong /*ⁱɛ/ (below,) but is predictable by environment:

When /*ɔ/ is followed by /*ŋgʷ/ …:

Low central vowel /*a/ in simple environments is retained as such in both languages:

When low central /*a/ is followed by high front /*i/ or front diphthongs /*ⁱɛ *ɛⁱ/ in the next syllable, it is fronted and raised to merge with mid front /ɛ/ in Iha:

A number of exceptions are probably all loans, especially given their frequent cooccurrence with what would otherwise have to be reconstructed as consonant clusters in compounds:

Another may be immune to the raising and fronting of /*a/ because following /*i/ is destressed and optionally dropped in Iha:

…

…

In three Iha pronouns, a vowel which outcomparison both to Kalamang and to Timor-Alor-Pantar suggests to have been /*a/ and is reflected by /a/ in Mbahaam becomes mid back rounded /ɔ/ in Iha. No explanation for this discrepancy is offered here:

Front falling diphthong /*ⁱɛ/ is merged with mid front vowel /ɛ/ in Iha:

Front rising diphthong /*ɛⁱ/ is merged with high front vowel /i/ in Mbahaam:

…

… syllable loss ….

…:

…:

…:

…:

… reduplication …:

…:

[under construction]

Proto-Mbahaam-Iha free propnouns are reconstructed as follows, with Mbahaam attestations drawn from Flassy, Ruhukael and Rumbrawer (1984: 48-49, 1987: 94-96) and Iha from Flassy and Animung (68-69.) Since Iha's postposed possessors are derived from the original free pronouns, they are presented here alongside the nominative forms:

Outcomparison both to Kalamang and to Timor-Alor-Pantar suggests the vowel in the singular forms to have been low central /*a/; why this has become mid back rounded /ɔ/ in Iha is unexplained. Iha's third person postposed possessors are the original roots, with plural /*mi/ having replaced /*m[a/ɔ] in the free form.

Mbahaam has two posessive contructions, inalienable and alienable, which continue elements of the prpto-West Bomberai system, and hence that of proto-Mbahaam-Iha as well. Inalienable possessors are as follows:

Mbahaam alienable possessors are as follows:

[under construction]

…

[under construction]

… with Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) forms drawn from Blust (CITE) … Only those loans found in both Mbahaam and Iha, in Mbahaam or Iha and another West Bomberai language or are fairly basic vocabulary are presented here:

…

…

…

In addition to these … According to Cottet (2015: 9-10) speakers of Bedoanas (Kambran,) Arokwanas (Yarik) and Mbaruan claim to have been originally Mbahaam who adopted an Austronesian language upon their migration northward to the Berau coast, while Arguni speakers descend from the original Austronesian stock … with Onin, Sekar, Kambran and Yarik attestations drawn from Donohue (2010) and Arguni from Narfafan (2011):

…:

…