| (Greater) West Bomberai | |
|---|---|
| Bomberai–Timor | |
| Geographic distribution | West New Guinea,East Timor |
| Linguistic classification | Trans–New Guinea
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | west2604 (mainland West Bomberai)timo1261 (Timor–Alor–Pantar) |
 Map: The West Bomberai languages of New Guinea The West Bomberai languages Other Trans–New Guinea languages Other Papuan languages Austronesian languages Uninhabited | |
The (Greater)West Bomberai languages are a family ofPapuan languages spoken on theBomberai Peninsula of western New Guinea and inEast Timor and neighboring islands of Indonesia.
Of the three languages on the mainland, Baham and Iha are closely related to each other while the third is distant, forming a third branch of the family along with theTimor–Alor–Pantar languages:[1][2]
This split, with two of the three branches on the mainland, suggests that Timor–Alor–Pantar may be the result of a relatively recent migration from New Guinea, perhaps arriving in the Timor area shortly before theAustronesian languages did, as Austronesian influence post-dates Proto–West Bomberai and even Proto-Timor–Alor–Pantar.[2]
Wurm, Voorhoeve & McElhanon included Timor–Alor–Pantar and mainland West Bomberai as separate stocks withinTrans–New Guinea.[3] Ross grouped them together to form a branch of his proposedWest Trans–New Guinea stock, though with mainland West Bomberai as an additional branch within Timor–Alor–Pantar.[4] Holton & Robinson (2014) found little evidence to support a connection of Timor–Alor–Pantar with Trans–New Guinea,[5] but Holton & Robinson (2017) conceded that a relationship with Trans-New Guinea, and in particular with West Bomberai, was the most likely hypothesis.[6]Usher & Schapper (2022) established that the two mainland branches of the family are no closer to each other than they are to the Timor–Alor–Pantar languages – indeed that Kalamang might be the most divergent, and Usher has begun to reconstruct the West Bomberai protolanguage.[1][2]
Usher & Schapper (2022) reconstruct the following inventory of consonants:[2]
| *p | *t | *k | *kʷ | |
| *mb | *nd | (*ndz) | *ŋɡ | (*ŋɡʷ) |
| *m | *n | |||
| *s | ||||
| *w | *l, *r | (*j) |
Word-initial *k and *kʷ become *ʔ and *w in TAP. *kʷ becomes /k/ and intervocalic *p *t *k become /w, r, zero/ in Kalamang.
Prenasalized plosives did not occur initially in Proto-West Bomberai, having merged with the voiceless plosives. Medially, *mb *nd *ŋɡ become voiced stops in TAP; this is an areal feature, with proto-Austronesian *mb *nd *ŋɡ having done the same in neighboring Austronesian languages.
The vowels are still uncertain, but are likely to have been a simple *a *e *i *o *u system and appear to have included a diphthong *ai.
Usher & Schapper (2022) reconstruct the free pronouns as:[2]
| sg | pl | |
|---|---|---|
| 1excl | *an ~ *na- | *in ~ *ni- |
| 1incl | *pi | |
| 2 | *ka | *ki |
The correspondences are mostly straightforward; initial *k has been lost from Timor–Alor–Pantar.
Protoforms of the 40 most-stable items[7] in theSwadesh list include the following.[1]
| Proto-West Bomberai | gloss |
|---|---|
| *am[i/u]n | louse |
| *kira | water |
| *kʷali | ear |
| *kVmV | die |
| *kina | eye |
| *tana | hand/arm |
| *nai | name |
| *war | stone |
| *ami | breast |
| *jaŋgal | path |
| ? | tongue (*maŋg voice/speech) |
| *aŋgin | body/skin |
| *kaja | rain |
| *waik | blood |
| *ukʷan[i] | one |
| *ma | come |
| *tumbər | mountain |
| *nawa | eat/drink |
| *kəna | see |
| *kʷel[e] | skin/bark |
| *jambar | dog |