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
20 core words in Yele
Water
mbwaa
/mbʷaː/
Fire
ndê
/ndɘ/
Sun
kââdî
/kaːdɨ/
Moon
d:ââ
/dːaː/
Mother
pye
/pje/
Father
m:aa
/mːaː/
Eat
ma
/ma/
Drink
ndanî
/ndaˈnɨ/
Love
—
/—/
Heart
gha
/ɣa/
Tree
yi
/ji/
House
ngomo
/ŋomo/
Dog
w:ââ
/wːaː/
Cat
—
/—/
Hand
kêê
/kɘː/
Eye
ngwolo
/ŋʷolo/
Hello
mw:aandiye
/mʷaːndije/
Thank you
mw:ââkó
/mʷaːˈkɔ/
One
ngmidi
/ŋmidi/
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 | Bukar-Sadong Bidayuh | Kuvi | Kera | Mycenaean Greek | Taa (!Xóõ) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water | mbwaa /mbʷaː/ | ཆུ་ /tɕʰu˥/ | piin /piːn/ | ēru /eːru/ | mam /mam/ | 𐀓𐀈 /hudɔːr/ | ǃqhàa /ǃqʰaː/ |
| Fire | ndê /ndɘ/ | མེ་ /me˥/ | apui /aˈpui/ | nēsi /neːsi/ | ákə̀rə /akərə/ | 𐀢 /pyːr/ | ǀʼàã /ǀʼãː/ |
| Sun | kââdî /kaːdɨ/ | ཉི་མ་ /ɲi˥ma˩/ | biduh /biˈduh/ | vēla /ʋeːla/ | kêr /keːɾ/ | 𐀀𐀺𐀂𐀍 /haːwelios/ | ǁʼân /ǁʼã/ |
| Moon | d:ââ /dːaː/ | ཟླ་བ་ /dawa˩/ | bulan /buˈlan/ | lēnʒu /leːnd͡ʒu/ | mə̀sə̀rə /məsərə/ | 𐀕 /mɛːn/ | ǃqhàn /ǃqʰã/ |
| Mother | pye /pje/ | ཨ་མ་ /ʔama˩/ | sindo /sinˈdoʔ/ | āva /aːʋa/ | nâ /naː/ | 𐀔𐀳 /maːtɛːr/ | qáe /qae/ |
| Father | m:aa /mːaː/ | ཨ་པ་ /ʔapa˩/ | samah /saˈmah/ | bāva /baːʋa/ | bâ /baː/ | 𐀞𐀳 /patɛːr/ | a̰a /a̰a/ |
| Eat | ma /ma/ | ཟ་ /sa˩/ | kuman /kuˈman/ | tinba /tinba/ | nà /na/ | 𐀁𐀈𐀕𐀙 /edmenai/ | ʼâã /ʔãː/ |
| Drink | ndanî /ndaˈnɨ/ | འཐུང་ /tʰuŋ˩/ | ŋinum /ŋiˈnum/ | unba /unba/ | sā /saː/ | 𐀡𐀜 /piːnɔː/ | kxʼāhã /kxʼaːhã/ |
| Love | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | kùm /kum/ | 𐀠𐀩𐀍 /pʰilos/ | — /—/ |
| Heart | gha /ɣa/ | སྙིང་ /ɲiŋ˥/ | — /—/ | gunde /ɡunde/ | gùm /ɡum/ | 𐀒𐀵𐀆 /kardia/ | ǀqʼàn /ǀqʼã/ |
| Tree | yi /ji/ | ཤིང་ /ɕiŋ˥/ | kayuh /kaˈjuh/ | mara /mara/ | kòsō /kosoː/ | 𐀈𐀬 /doru/ | ʼʘnàje /ʔʘnaje/ |
| House | ngomo /ŋomo/ | ཁྱིམ་ /kʰim˥/ | ramin /raˈmin/ | illu /illu/ | gòl /ɡol/ | 𐀺𐀂𐀒 /woikos/ | — /—/ |
| Dog | w:ââ /wːaː/ | ཁྱི་ /kʰi˥/ | kaso /kaˈsoʔ/ | nēyi /neːji/ | kŋā /kŋaː/ | 𐀓𐀺 /kuwɔːn/ | ǂqhài /ǂqʰai/ |
| Cat | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | mūsā /muːsaː/ | — /—/ | — /—/ |
| Hand | kêê /kɘː/ | ལག་པ་ /lakpa˩/ | təŋən /tə̆ˈŋən/ | key /kei̯/ | kéu /keu/ | 𐀐𐀁 /kʰɛːr/ | ǀkxʼàa /ǀkxʼaː/ |
| Eye | ngwolo /ŋʷolo/ | མིག་ /mik˥/ | baten /baˈten/ | kannu /kannu/ | gìr /ɡir/ | 𐀀𐀡𐀰𐀗𐀳 /opʰtʰalmos/ | ǃʼûĩ /ǃʼũĩ/ |
| Hello | mw:aandiye /mʷaːndije/ | བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས /taɕi˥ tele˩/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | ásālāmā /asaːlaːmaː/ | — /—/ | — /—/ |
| Thank you | mw:ââkó /mʷaːˈkɔ/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | — /—/ | shùkūr /ʃukuːɾ/ | — /—/ | — /—/ |
| One | ngmidi /ŋmidi/ | གཅིག་ /tɕik˥/ | isaʔ /iˈsaʔ/ | ōnte /oːnte/ | ká /ka/ | 𐀁 /hen/ | ǂʼûã /ǂʼũã/ |
| Good | mb:aa /mbːaː/ | ཡག་པོ་ /jakpo˩/ | biis /biːs/ | nēha /neːha/ | kúɗá /kuɗa/ | 𐀀𐀏𐀳 /aɡatʰos/ | — /—/ |
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