Yélî Dnye
Yele
Language isolate (sometimes grouped Yele-West New Britain)
Yélî Dnye is a language isolate spoken by roughly 4,000–5,000 people on Rossel Island, the easternmost island of the Louisiade Archipelago off Papua New Guinea. It has one of the largest phonemic inventories in the world (around 90 consonants, including doubly articulated stops and a contrast between simple and palatalized series), an extraordinarily complex portmanteau tense/aspect/person system with thousands of irregular verb forms, and gendered avoidance vocabulary (women avoid certain words associated with the sea).
Where it is spoken
31 core words in Yele
Water
mbwaa
/mbʷaː/
Fire
ndê
/ndɘ/
Sun
kââdî
/kaːdɨ/
Moon
d:ââ
/dːaː/
Star
—
/—/
Mother
pye
/pje/
Father
m:aa
/mːaː/
I
nê
/nə/
You
nyi
/ɲi/
Name
ngmê
/ŋmə/
Eye
ngwolo
/ŋʷolo/
Hand
kêê
/kɘː/
Heart
gha
/ɣa/
Love
—
/—/
Tree
yi
/ji/
House
ngomo
/ŋomo/
Dog
w:ââ
/wːaː/
Cat
—
/—/
Eat
ma
/ma/
Drink
ndanî
/ndaˈnɨ/
One
ngmidi
/ŋmidi/
Two
miyó
/mʲó/
Hello
mw:aandiye
/mʷaːndije/
Thank you
mw:ââkó
/mʷaːˈkɔ/
Good
mb:aa
/mbːaː/
Sources
- Henderson, J. (1995) Phonology and Grammar of Yele, Papua New Guinea. Pacific Linguistics B-112.
- Levinson, S. C. (2022) A Grammar of Yélî Dnye: The Papuan Language of Rossel Island. De Gruyter Mouton (Pacific Linguistics 666).
- Levinson, S. C. (2013) The Island of Time: Yélî Dnye, the Language of Rossel Island. Frontiers in Psychology 4: 61.
- Glottolog: Yele
Words compared
Compared with related Language isolate (sometimes grouped Yele-West New Britain) languages
| Meaning | Yele | Lhomi | Hopi | Kera | Bukar-Sadong Bidayuh | Wiradjuri | Proto-Kra-Dai |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | mbwaa /mbʷaː/ | ཆུ་ /tɕʰu˥/ | paahu /paɑhu/ | mam /mam/ | piin /piːn/ | galing /ˈɡaliŋ/ | *naːm /naːm/ |
| Fire | ndê /ndɘ/ | མེ་ /me˥/ | kukvay /kukvɑj/ | ákə̀rə /akərə/ | apui /aˈpui/ | wiiny /wiːɲ/ | *vɤj /vɤj/ |
| Sun | kââdî /kaːdɨ/ | ཉི་མ་ /ɲi˥ma˩/ | taawa /tɑːwɑ/ | kêr /keːɾ/ | biduh /biˈduh/ | yiray /ˈjiɻaj/ | — /—/ |
| Moon | d:ââ /dːaː/ | ཟླ་བ་ /dawa˩/ | muuyaw /muːjɑw/ | mə̀sə̀rə /məsərə/ | bulan /buˈlan/ | giwang /ˈɡiwaŋ/ | — /—/ |
| Star | — /—/ | སྐར་མ /karma˥/ | soohu /soːhɨ/ | tùwrò /tuwro/ | bitun /bitun/ | giralang /ˈɡiɻalaŋ/ | — /—/ |
| Mother | pye /pje/ | ཨ་མ་ /ʔama˩/ | yu'at /juʔɑt/ | nâ /naː/ | sindo /sinˈdoʔ/ | gunhi /ˈɡun̪i/ | — /—/ |
| Father | m:aa /mːaː/ | ཨ་པ་ /ʔapa˩/ | na'at /nɑʔɑt/ | bâ /baː/ | samah /saˈmah/ | babiin /ˈbabiːn/ | — /—/ |
| I | nê /nə/ | ང /ŋà/ | nuʼ /nɨʔ/ | kə́ŋ /kəŋ/ | aku /aku/ | ngadhu /ˈŋad̪u/ | *kuː /kuː/ |
| You | nyi /ɲi/ | ཁྱོད /kʰjø˥/ | um /ʔɨm/ | kə /kə/ | muh /muh/ | ngindhu /ˈŋind̪u/ | — /—/ |
| Name | ngmê /ŋmə/ | མིང /miŋ˩/ | tungwni /tɨŋwni/ | sumo /sumo/ | ngaran /ŋaran/ | yuwin /ˈjuwin/ | *ɟɯː /ɟɯː/ |
| Eye | ngwolo /ŋʷolo/ | མིག་ /mik˥/ | poosi /poːsi/ | gìr /ɡir/ | bateh /baˈteh/ | miil /miːl/ | *taː /taː/ |
| Hand | kêê /kɘː/ | ལག་པ་ /lakpa˩/ | maa't /mɑːʔt/ | kéu /keu/ | təŋən /tə̆ˈŋən/ | marra /ˈmara/ | *mɯː /mɯː/ |
| Heart | gha /ɣa/ | སྙིང་ /ɲíŋ/ | — /—/ | gùm /ɡum/ | — /—/ | giiny /ɡiːɲ/ | — /—/ |
| Love | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | kùm /kum/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ |
| Tree | yi /ji/ | ཤིང་ /ɕiŋ˥/ | hotski /hotski/ | kòsō /kosoː/ | kayuh /kaˈjuh/ | madhan /ˈmad̪an/ | *maːj /maːj/ |
| House | ngomo /ŋomo/ | ཁྱིམ་ /kʰim˥/ | kiihu /kiːhu/ | gòl /ɡol/ | ramin /raˈmin/ | ngurang /ˈŋuɻaŋ/ | — /—/ |
| Dog | w:ââ /wːaː/ | ཁྱི་ /kʰi˥/ | pòoko /poːko/ | kŋā /kŋaː/ | kaso /kaˈsoʔ/ | mirri /ˈmiri/ | *hmaː /hmaː/ |
| Cat | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | mūsā /muːsaː/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ |
| Eat | ma /ma/ | ཟ་ /sa˩/ | — /—/ | nà /na/ | kuman /kuˈman/ | dharra /ˈd̪ara/ | — /—/ |
| Drink | ndanî /ndaˈnɨ/ | འཐུང་ /tʰuŋ˩/ | — /—/ | sā /saː/ | ŋinum /ŋiˈnum/ | widyarra /ˈwiɟara/ | — /—/ |
| One | ngmidi /ŋmidi/ | གཅིག་ /tɕik˥/ | suukya' /suːkjɑʔ/ | ká /ka/ | isaʔ /iˈsaʔ/ | ngumbaay /ˈŋumbaːj/ | *nɯŋ /nɯŋ/ |
| Two | miyó /mʲó/ | གཉིས /ɲi˩/ | lööyö /løːjø/ | cèw /tʃɛw/ | duɔh /duɔh/ | bula /ˈbula/ | *soːŋ /soːŋ/ |
| Hello | mw:aandiye /mʷaːndije/ | བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས /taɕi˥ tele˩/ | tàlawva /tɑːlɑwvɑ/ | ásālāmā /asaːlaːmaː/ | — /—/ | yaama /ˈjaːma/ | — /—/ |
| Thank you | mw:ââkó /mʷaːˈkɔ/ | — /—/ | askwali /ɑskwɑli/ | shùkūr /ʃukuːɾ/ | — /—/ | mandaang guwu /ˈmandaːŋ ˈɡuwu/ | — /—/ |
| Good | mb:aa /mbːaː/ | ཡག་པོ་ /jakpo˩/ | hopii /hopiː/ | kúɗá /kuɗa/ | biis /biːs/ | marang /ˈmaɻaŋ/ | — /—/ |
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