| Yele – West New Britain | |
|---|---|
| (proposed) | |
| Geographic distribution | New Britain &Rossel Island |
| Linguistic classification | Proposedlanguage family |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | None |
Yele – West New Britain is a tentativelanguage family proposal byMalcolm Ross that unites three languages:Anêm andAta (Wasi) of westernNew Britain, and more dubiouslyYélî Dnye (Yele) ofRossel Island. These were classified asEast Papuan languages byStephen Wurm, but this does not now seem tenable.
The evidence for the Yele – West New Britain family comes from the pronouns. Each language has two distinct sets of pronouns, and both sets correspond across the three languages. The forms illustrated here are the free pronouns and subject prefixes of Anêm and Ata, and the free and possessive/prepositional pronouns of Yele. Anêm and Ata make a distinction betweeninclusive and exclusive we. Yele also hasdual pronouns which aren't shown.
| Anêm | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| I | ue,a- | excl. | mɯn,mɯ- |
| incl. | miŋ,– | ||
| thou | nin,ni- | you | –,ŋɯ- |
| he | lɤxa,u- | they | –,i- |
| she | sɤxa,i- | ||
| Ata | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| I | eni,a- | excl. | neɣi,ta- |
| incl. | ŋeŋe,– | ||
| thou | nini,na- | you | ŋiŋi,ŋa- |
| he | anu,u- | they | aneʔi,i- |
| she | ani,i- | ||
| Yele | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| I | ɳə,a | we | ɳ͡mo,ɳ͡mɨ |
| thou | ni,N- | you | n͡mo,n͡me |
| s/he | –,u | they | –,ji |