Bore
Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute
Situation
Bore (Boroi,) also known as Gamei (Gamai, Gamay,) is spoken in two dialects by approximately 2,000 people (1989) living around the mouth of the Ramu river in the lower Ramu subdistrict of Papua New Guinea's Madang province (Parrish 1989: 1.)
Sources
Capell (1951-1952: 198-200) 80 comparative terms for Gamai
Z'graggen (1972) 406 comparative terms for Gamei
Parrish (1989) grammar of Bore
Foley (2005: 116-118) 62 comparative terms for Gamay
Phonology
[under construction]
Parrish (1989: 1-3) gives 16 consonants and 6 vowels for Bore as followe:
| m | n | ŋ | |
| p | t | k | |
| b | d | g | |
| mb | nd | ŋg | |
| l | |||
| w | r | j |
| i | ɨ | u |
| e | o | |
| a |
…
…
Pronouns
Parrish (1989: 14-18) gives Bore pronouns as follows, with Z'graggen's (1972) Gamei forms presented for comparison:
| Parrish | Z'graggen | |
| 1 sg. | akku | ʌuk |
| 2 sg. | u | un |
| 3 sg. | ma | mʌn |
| 1 pl. | ai | (a)i |
| 2 pl. | ne | nen |
| 3 pl. | mi | mɪn |
| 1 dl. | aŋga | ʌŋk |
| 2 dl. | oŋgo | oŋk |
| 3 dl. | ma-niŋ | manɪŋ |
The most conspicuous difference between Parrish's and Z'graggen's attestations is the presence of a final apical nasal /n/ on seveal of the latter. Parrish (pp. 17-18, 19) characterizes this suffix /-n/ as an exclusive which indicates that “the following object is being specified according to an exclusive reference by the speaker.” Cognates of this suffix are found throughout the Ramu River family.
Nominal morphology
[under construction]
…
Verbal morphology
[under construction]
…