| Mimi of Decorse | |
| Also Known As: | Mimi-D |
| Nativename: | Mimi of Gaudefroy-Demombynes |
| States: | Chad |
| Era: | attested 1900 |
| Familycolor: | Nilo-Saharan |
| Fam2: | Central Sudanic? |
| Iso3: | none |
| Glotto: | mimi1240 |
| Glottorefname: | Mimi-Gaudefroy |
Mimi of Decorse, also known as Mimi of Gaudefroy-Demombynes and Mimi-D, is a language of Chad that is attested only in a word list labelled "Mimi" that was collected ca. 1900 by G. J. Decorse and published by Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes.[1] Joseph Greenberg (1960) classified it as a Maban language, like the rather remote Maban relative Mimi of Nachtigal. However, George Starostin (2011) rejects this classification, arguing that similarities to Maban are due to contact with locally dominant Maba (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 of Central 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 |