| Yalë | |
|---|---|
| Nagatman | |
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Sandaun Province |
Native speakers | (600 cited 1991)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nce |
| Glottolog | yale1246 |
| ELP | Yalë |
| Coordinates:3°44′42″S141°28′18″E / 3.744917°S 141.471593°E /-3.744917; 141.471593 (Nagatiman) | |
TheYalë language, also known asYadë,Nagatman, orNagatiman, is spoken in northwesternPapua New Guinea. It may be related to theKwomtari languages, but Palmer (2018) classifies it as alanguage isolate.[2]
There were 600 speakers in 1991 and 30 monolinguals at an unrecorded date.[1] Yalë is spoken in Nagatiman (3°44′42″S141°28′18″E / 3.744917°S 141.471593°E /-3.744917; 141.471593 (Nagatiman)) and several other villages ofGreen River Rural LLG inSandaun Province.[3][4] Foley (2018) reports a total of six villages.[5]
Yalë is in extensive trade and contact withBusa, a likely language isolate spoken just to the south. Yalë has complex verbal inflection and SOV word order.[5]
Aannested, Aidan (2020)[6] gives the following phonology for Yadë (Yalë):
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m⟨m⟩ | n⟨n⟩ | ||||
| Plosive | Voiceless | p⟨p⟩ | t⟨t⟩ | k⟨k⟩ | ||
| Voiced | b ~β⟨b⟩ | d ~ɺ⟨d/l⟩ | ɡ ~ɣ⟨g⟩ | |||
| Fricative | ɸ⟨f⟩ | s⟨s⟩ | h⟨h⟩ | |||
| Affricate | d͡ʑ ~ʑ⟨j⟩ | |||||
| Approximant | w⟨w⟩ | j⟨y⟩ | ||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i⟨i⟩ | u⟨u⟩ | |
| Close-Mid | e⟨e⟩ | o⟨o⟩ | |
| Open-Mid | ɛ⟨ë/ɛ⟩ | ||
| Open | a⟨a⟩ |
Pronouns are:[5]
| sg | pl | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | bo | se ~ sebo |
| 2 | ju | so ~ sobo |
| 3 | bu | |
Verbal conjugation affixes are:[5]
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:[5]
Other plural nouns are irregular:[5]
The following basic vocabulary words are from Conrad and Dye (1975),[7] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[8]
| gloss | Yalë |
|---|---|
| head | ʌsu |
| hair | ʌsʌǏahuᵽa |
| ear | ąhuǏuʔ |
| eye | na:ba |
| nose | yɛlu |
| tongue | aǏižiʔ |
| louse | mibaʔ |
| dog | kaliʔ |
| pig | gǏɛǏiʔ |
| bird | pʋlɛʔ |
| egg | kah |
| blood | wi:nuʔ |
| bone | ɛlɛ:b̶u |
| skin | žib̶uʔ |
| breast | ma:ba |
| tree | ti: |
| woman | mɩsɛʔ |
| water | tuʔ |
| fire | ahuʐiʔ |
| stone | anɩziʔ |
| road, path | ařʌgɛʔ |
| eat | hiɛǏɛ |
| one | žuwaʔ |
| two | teǏɛʔ |