| Mimi of Decorse | |
|---|---|
| Mimi-D Mimi of Gaudefroy-Demombynes | |
| Native to | Chad |
| Era | attestedc. 1900 |
Nilo-Saharan?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | mimi1240 |
Mimi of Decorse, also known asMimi of Gaudefroy-Demombynes andMimi-D, is a language ofChad that is attested only in a word list labelled "Mimi" that was collectedc. 1900 by G. J. Decorse and published byMaurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes.[1] Joseph Greenberg (1960) classified it as aMaban language, like the rather remote Maban relativeMimi of Nachtigal. However, George Starostin (2011) rejects this classification, arguing that similarities to Maban are due to contact with locally dominantMaba (the similarities are with that language specifically, not with the entire Maban family), and provisionally regards it as a language isolate, though it is suggestive ofCentral Sudanic.[2]
The more stable of Mimi-D and Mimi-N's attested vocabulary is as follows:
| gloss | Mimi-D | Mimi-N |
|---|---|---|
| two | mel | søn |
| eye | dyo | kal |
| fire | sou | |
| stone | muguru | |
| hand | sil | rai |
| what | ɲeta | |
| die | dafaya | |
| drink | andʒi | ab |
| dog | ɲuk | |
| moon | aɾ | |
| claw/nail | fer | |
| blood | ari | |
| one | deg | ul-un |
| tooth | ɲain | ziːk |
| eat | ɲyam | |
| hair | suf (Arabic?) | fuːl |
| water | engi | sun (Fur?) |
| nose | fir | hur |
| mouth | ɲyo | mil |
| ear | feɾ | kuyi |
| bird | kabal-a | |
| bone | kadʒi | |
| sun | sey | |
| tree | su | |
| kill | kuduma | |
| foot | rep | zaŋ |
| horn | kamin | |
| meat | ɲyu | neŋ |
| egg | dʒulut | |
| black | liwuk | |
| head | bo | kidʒ-i |
| night | lem | |
| fish | gonas | |
| see | yakoe |