Mbahaam–Iha languages

The Mbahaam–Iha languages are a pair of Papuan languages spoken on the Bomberai Peninsula of western New Guinea. The two languages, Baham (Mbaham) and Iha, are closely related to each other.

Phonemes
Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant and vowel inventories as:



! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | ! rowspan="2" |Labial ! rowspan="2" |Alveolar ! rowspan="2" |Palatal ! colspan="2" |Velar ! plain ! labialized ! colspan="2" |Nasal ! rowspan="2" |Stop ! plain ! prenasalized ! colspan="2" |Fricative ! colspan="2" |Liquid
 * *m || *n || || ||
 * *p || *t || || *k || *kʷ
 * *mb || *nd || || *ŋg || *ŋgʷ
 * || *s || || ||
 * *w || *r || *j || ||
 * }

Prenasalized plosives do not occur initially, having merged with the voiceless plosives.

The vowels are *i *u *ɛ *ɔ *a and the diphthongs *iɛ *ɛi.

Pronouns
Usher (2020) reconstructs the free pronouns as:



! !!sg!!pl !1excl !1incl !2 !3
 * rowspan=2|*[a/ɔ]n|| [*mbi]
 * *in
 * k[a/ɔ]||*ki
 * m[a/ɔ]||*mi, *wat
 * }

Basic vocabulary
Some lexical reconstructions by Usher (2020) are:


 * {| class="wikitable sortable"

! gloss !! Proto-Mbahaam-Iha !! Mbahaam !! Iha ! head ! ear ! eye ! blood ! bone ! skin ! breast ! louse ! dog ! pig ! egg ! tree ! man/male ! woman/female ! sun ! moon ! water ! stone ! name ! eat ! one
 * *kaˈnda || kndaː || kanda
 * *kʷⁱɛr || kpʷujɛr || pɛr
 * || k(i)jɛp || kɛndɛp
 * *wⁱɛk || wijɛk || wɛk
 * *ˈtɔkar || tɔ(ː)qar || tɔqar
 * *pak || paːk || pak
 * *sɔn || sɔːn || hɔn ~ sɔn
 * *mɛⁱn || miːn || mɛin
 * *jaˈmbar || jambaːr || mbiar
 * *[ku]ˈndur || kunduːr || ndur
 * *wun || uːn || wun
 * *wiˈra || wurʲaː ~ wɛrʲaː || wɛrɛ ~ wrɛ
 * *nami-sar || nami-ha || nɛmɛ-har
 * *t[ɔ/u]mb[ɔ/u]r || tumbu- || (tɔ-)tɔmbɔr
 * *kaˈminV || kamiːni || kimina
 * *kaˈpas || kabaːs || kabah
 * *kiˈra || krija || kara
 * *war || waːr || war
 * *nⁱɛ || nʲiɛ || nɛ
 * *nawa || nɔwa || nɔwa ~ nawa-
 * *ɔkʷɔ[nɔ] || ɔqɔnɔ || pɔ
 * }

Protoforms of the 20 most-stable items in the Swadesh list include the following.


 * {| class="wikitable sortable"

! gloss !! Proto-Mbahaam–Iha
 * *mɛin || louse
 * ? || two
 * *kiˈra || water
 * *kʷiɛr || ear
 * *kimi || die
 * *[a/ɔ]n || I
 * ? || liver
 * ? (k(i)jɛp / kɛndɛp) || eye
 * *tan || hand
 * *kɔmɛn || hear
 * *wiˈra, aˈtɔkʷ || tree, tree/wood
 * *ˈsɛjir || fish
 * *niɛ || name
 * *war || stone
 * ? || tooth
 * *sɔn || breast
 * *k[a/ɔ] || you
 * ? || path
 * *ˈtɔkar || bone
 * ? || tongue (*mak voice/language)
 * }
 * *wiˈra, aˈtɔkʷ || tree, tree/wood
 * *ˈsɛjir || fish
 * *niɛ || name
 * *war || stone
 * ? || tooth
 * *sɔn || breast
 * *k[a/ɔ] || you
 * ? || path
 * *ˈtɔkar || bone
 * ? || tongue (*mak voice/language)
 * }
 * *k[a/ɔ] || you
 * ? || path
 * *ˈtɔkar || bone
 * ? || tongue (*mak voice/language)
 * }
 * *ˈtɔkar || bone
 * ? || tongue (*mak voice/language)
 * }
 * }