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Yalë language

{{Short description|Language spoken in Papua New Guinea}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Yalë

|altname= Nagatman

|states=Papua New Guinea

|region=Sandaun Province

|coordinates={{coord|-3.744917|141.471593|type:city_region:PG_source:enwiki|name=Nagatiman|display=inline,title}}

|speakers=600

|date=1991

|ref=e18

|familycolor=Papuan

|fam1=Senu River or language isolate

|fam2=Guriaso–Yale

|iso3=nce

|glotto=yale1246

|glottorefname=Yale

}}

{{GeoGroupTemplate}}

The Yalë language, also known as Yadë, Nagatman, or Nagatiman, is spoken in northwestern Papua New Guinea. It may be related to the Kwomtari languages, but Palmer (2018) classifies it as a language isolate.{{cite book |last=Palmer |first=Bill |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=Language families of the New Guinea Area |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=1–20 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}

There were 600 speakers in 1991 and 30 monolinguals at an unrecorded date. Yalë is spoken in Nagatiman ({{coord|-3.744917|141.471593|type:city_region:PG|name=Nagatiman}}) and several other villages of Green River Rural LLG in Sandaun Province.{{cite web |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/PG/languages |title=Papua New Guinea languages |work=Ethnologue: Languages of the World |edition=22nd |editor1-last=Eberhard |editor1-first=David M. |editor2-last=Simons |editor2-first=Gary F. |editor3-last=Fennig |editor3-first=Charles D. |date=2019 |location=Dallas |publisher=SIL International}}{{cite web |url=https://data.humdata.org/dataset/village-coordinates-lookup |title=Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup |author=United Nations in Papua New Guinea |work=Humanitarian Data Exchange |version=1.31.9 |date=2018}} Foley (2018) reports a total of six villages.

Yalë is in extensive trade and contact with Busa, a likely language isolate spoken just to the south. Yalë has complex verbal inflection and SOV word order.

Phonology

Aannested, Aidan (2020)Aannested, Aidan. (2020). "Towards a grammar of the Yale language:

taking another look at archived field data". SIL International. https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/74/13/68/74136897596164130243049362044105596501/Yade_Grammar.pdf gives the following phonology for Yadë (Yalë):

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Consonants

! colspan="2" |

! Labial

! Alveolar

! Palatal

! Velar

! Glottal

colspan="2" |Nasal

| {{IPA link|m}} {{angbr|m}}

| {{IPA link|n}} {{angbr|n}}

|

|

rowspan="2" |Plosive

!Voiceless

| {{IPA link|p}} {{angbr|p}}

| {{IPA link|t}} {{angbr|t}}

|

| {{IPA link|k}} {{angbr|k}}

|

Voiced

| {{IPA link|b}} ~ {{IPA link|β}} {{angbr|b}}

| {{IPA link|d}} ~ {{IPA link|ɺ}} {{angbr|d/l}}

|

| {{IPA link|ɡ}} ~ {{IPA link|ɣ}} {{angbr|g}}

|

colspan="2" |Fricative

| {{IPA link|ɸ}} {{angbr|f}}

| {{IPA link|s}} {{angbr|s}}

|

|

| {{IPA link|h}} {{angbr|h}}

colspan="2" |Affricate

|

|

| {{IPA link|d͡ʑ}} ~ {{IPA link|ʑ}} {{angbr|j}}

|

|

colspan="2" |Approximant

| {{IPA link|w}} {{angbr|w}}

|

| {{IPA link|j}} {{angbr|y}}

|

|

  • "dd" is pronounced as a trilled {{IPA|/r(ː)/}}
  • See the source for more information regarding allophones- the ones listed are just the common occurrences.

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+Vowels

!

! Front

! Central

! Back

Close

| {{IPA link|i}} {{angbr|i}}

|

| {{IPA link|u}} {{angbr|u}}

Close-Mid

| {{IPA link|e}} {{angbr|e}}

|

| {{IPA link|o}} {{angbr|o}}

Open-Mid

| {{IPA link|ɛ}} {{angbr|ë/ɛ}}

|

|

Open

|

| {{IPA link|a}} {{angbr|a}}

|

  • Each vowel has a wide range of possible realizations, most notably /u/, which has:
  • /y/, /ʉ/, /ʊ/, and /u̟/

Pronouns

Pronouns are:{{cite book |last=Foley |first=William A. |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=197–432 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}

:

{{table}}

! !! sg !! pl

1

| bo || se ~ sebo

2

| ju || so ~ sobo

3

| colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | bu

Grammar

Verbal conjugation affixes are:

  • -d: generic marker
  • -t: transitive marker
  • -b: intransitive marker

Most nouns are not pluralized, and only nouns with human or animate reference or with high local salience may be pluralized using the suffix -rɛ ~ -re:

  • nɛba-re /child-PL/ ‘children’
  • ama-re /dog-PL/ ‘dogs’
  • dife-rɛ /village-PL/ ‘villages’

Other plural nouns are irregular:

  • aya-nino /father-PL/ ‘fathers’
  • mise ‘woman’, one ‘women’

Vocabulary

The following basic vocabulary words are from Conrad and Dye (1975),Conrad, R. and Dye, W. "[http://dx.doi.org/10.15144/PL-A40.1 Some Language Relationships in the Upper Sepik Region of Papua New Guinea]". In Conrad, R., Dye, W., Thomson, N. and Bruce Jr., L. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 18. A-40:1-36. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. {{doi|10.15144/PL-A40.1}} as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:{{Cite web |url=http://transnewguinea.org/language/nagatiman |title=TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea |last=Greenhill |first=Simon |date=2016 |access-date=2020-11-05}}

:

class="wikitable sortable"

! gloss !! Yalë

headʌsu
hairʌsʌǏahuᵽa
earąhuǏuʔ
eyena:ba
noseyɛlu
tongueaǏižiʔ
lousemibaʔ
dogkaliʔ
piggǏɛǏiʔ
birdpʋlɛʔ
eggkah
bloodwi:nuʔ
boneɛlɛ:b̶u
skinžib̶uʔ
breastma:ba
treeti:
womanmɩsɛʔ
watertuʔ
fireahuʐiʔ
stoneanɩziʔ
road, pathařʌgɛʔ
eathiɛǏɛ
onežuwaʔ
twoteǏɛʔ

Further reading

  • Campbell, Carl and Jody Campbell. 1987. Yadë Grammar Essentials. Unpublished manuscript. Ukarumpa, PNG: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  • Campbell, Carl and Jody Campbell. 1990. Yadë (Nagatman) – English Dictionary. Unpublished manuscript. Ukarumpa, PNG: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  • Campbell, Carl and Jody Campbell. 1997. Yalë (Nagatman, Yadë) Phonology Essentials. Unpublished manuscript. Ukarumpa, PNG: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [http://transnewguinea.org/language/nagatiman Nagatiman language word list at TransNewGuinea.org]
  • Paradisec has [http://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/DL2 an open access collection that includes Yalë language materials] from Don Laycock

{{Papuan languages}}

{{Language families}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yale Language}}

Category:Languages of Sandaun Province

Category:Guriaso–Yale languages

Category:Language isolates of New Guinea