Kimaghama

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

Kimaghama (Kimaama, Kimaam) is spoken by approximately 2,000 people (1949) living in 14 villages in the northeast and southwest portions of Kolopom (Yos Sudarso, Frederik-Hendrik) island (Drabbe 1949: 1.) Drabbe names these villages as Jaové, Wébu, Kivaru, Waniè, Térö, Kàroa, Tjìghaé, Tjàvudo, Bàmu, Wanggambön, Kàwe in the northeast and Kàrada, Sàbon and Tor in the southwest (q.v. Drabbe 1949: 3 3.)

Comparison of Drabbe's (1949: 14-24) Kimaghama vocabulary with those of Geurtjens (1933: 388-433) shows that there are at least two fairly distinct dialects of Kimaghama, one spoken in the northeast and one in the southwest, with Geurtjens' Teri KAlwasch representing the northeastern dialect and Kaladdar respresenting the southwestern dialect:

Kimaghama

North Kimaghama

South Kimaghama

Geurtjens (1933: 398-433) 455 comparative terms for Kaladdarsch and Teri Kalwasch

Drabbe (1949) brief description of and (pp. 14-24) 469 comparative terms for Kimaghama

Boelaars (1950: 33-36) English-language recension of Drabbe's Kimaghama (1949)

Drabbe (1950) comparative vocabulary for Kimaghama

Drabbe (1954: 231-255) 100 comparative terms for Kimaghama

Voorhoeve (1975: 365) phonological inventory and pronouns for Kimaghama following Drabbe (1949)

Voorhoeve (1975“ 96) 40 comparative terms for Kimaghama following Drabbe (1949)

Menanti and Susanto (2001) surtvey of Kimaam (unobtained)

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Drabbe (1949: 3-4) gives 26 consonants and 7 vowels for Kimaghama as follows:

This inventory of consonants is far too complicated.

Drabbe's velar nasal [ŋ] is given in only one word, [ˈiŋa] “sago”, where Geurtjens indicates medial /ŋg/ [ŋg].

Drabbe's <ov gh> [β ɣ] are not phonemic but originate as the regulat lenitions of root-medial voiceless stops /p k/. Similarly, root-medial apical /t/ is lenited to voiced stop or non-stop [d r]. Medial palatal /tʲ/ is generally not affected by lenition.

Drabbe's plain voiced stops [b d g] occur root-initially while prenasalized [mb nd ŋg] are found root-medially, both reflecting phonemic prenalized voiced stops /mb nd ŋg/.

Palatal stops /tʲ ndʲ/ are often realized in Geurtjens' phonetic transcriptions as [tʃ ndʒ]. Drabbe's palatal plain voiceless stop [dʲ] seems to exist only in possessed kin terms where it appears to be an allophone of /j/. Laminal voiceless fricative [s] is not given in Drabbe's termlist at all except as [ts] which is an allophone of palatal /tʲ/ and its inclusion in Drabbe's inventory would seem to be an unintentional error.

Drabbe's [tr dr ndr] are not unit phonemes but clusters as they are in Riantana. The following clusters have been identified

…

Accordingly, we propose a much simpler inventory of 13 consonants and 6 vowels as follows:

….

… Kimaghama attestations drawn from Drabbe (1949: …) and teri Kalwasch and Kaladdar from Geurtjens (!933: …) Drabbe's forms are substantially more reliable, but Geurtjens' nevertheless help to shed light upon the phonological variations and morphological phenomena at work.

…

Bilabial nasal /m/ occurs intially and medially

Apical nasal /n/ occurs initially and medially:

Initial bilabial voiceless stop /p/ \is realized as [p]:

Medial ilabial voiceless stop /p/ …

Apparent exceptions to the /p/ lenition rule probably indicate a compound:

Variation between lenited and unlenited reflexes of /p/ is evident in the realization of the postposed /puna/ “without”:

Initial apical voiceless stop /t/ is realized as [t]:

Root-medial apical voiceless stop /t/ is lenited to voiced stop or non-stop [d r]:

Two apparent execptions indicate reduplication and a coumpond:

Initial palatal voiceless stop /tʲ/ …

Medial palatal voiceless stop /tʲ/ does not generally undergo lenition as do medial /p t k/ (above, below):

… suffix … which looks to derive adjectives from nominals:

…

…

Initial velar voiceless stop /k/is realized as [k]:

Root-medial velar voiceless stop /k/ is lenited to velar non-stop [ɣ]. This is further supported by reduplications such as Drabbe's [kaˈri-ɣaˈri-nɛ] “glibberig (slippery)” amd compounds such as Geurtjens' Kaladdarsch [joneː-ɣia] “wortel (root)”:

Apparent exceptions to the /k/ lenition rule generally indicate a compound:

This is especially evident in the case of the numerous compounds involving suffixation of /kwo/ “fruit/seed”:

Terms for “mother” and “father”, probably referential in contrast to address forms with suffix /-u/ (below,) are suffixed with an element /-ka/ which is found also in Riantana:

The word for “ear” is likely the root for “thought/feelings” /tʲwa/ (as seen more clearly in Riantana /rwa/) suffixed with /kra/ “skin”:

Initial bilabial prenasalized voiced stop /mb/ …

Root-medial bilabial prenasalized voiced stop /mb/is invariably reflected as prenasalized [mb]:

Initial apical prenasalized voiced stop /nd/ …

Root-medial apical prenasalized voiced stop /nd/ …

…

Palatal prenasalized voiced stop /ndʲ/ …

Inital velar prenasalized voiced stop /ŋg/ …

Medial velar prenasalized voiced stop /ŋg/ …

Bilabial non-stop /w/…

Apical non-stop /r/occurs only medially:

…

Initial palatal non-stop /j/ …

Root-initial /j/ in kin terms is realized as voiced palatal stop [dʲ] when preceded by a possessive pronoun. Here Drabbe's free forms with the otherwise prohibited initial [dʲ] result from misanalysis of possessive phrases:

Medial palatal non-stop /j/ …

… final consonants …

… suffix /-u/ on kin terms …:

… nasalization …:

… reduplication …

… suffix /-nda/ [-da] …

…suffix /mbœrœ/ [-bœrœ]:

… compound of /tʲi(n)/ “man/person” and the root for “die”:

… suffix which is found more extensively in Riantana …

…

… “bone” …

… “water” …

… /tra/ “excrete” preceded by /kaɣa/ “excrement” and /ka(n)/ “urine”:

…

… vowels …

High front vowel /i/ …

…

…

…

…

…

Drabbe (1949: 5-6) gives Kimaghama pronouns in three case forms as follows:

Geurtjens' (1933: 430-431) pronouns are unreliable and are not presented here.

[under construction]

Like Riantana and Ndom, Kimaghama stands out within Trans New Guinea in being an isolating language with no verbal morphology.

[under construction]

… Marianne Strait …:

… Marind …:

… Indonesian …: