TheYele language, orYélî Dnye (IPA:[ˈjelɯʈɳʲɛ]), is the language ofRossel Island, the easternmost island in theLouisiade Archipelago off the eastern tip ofPapua New Guinea. There were an estimated 5,000 speakers in 2015, comprising the entire ethnic population.^[1] It is known for its manydoubly articulated consonants. The language remains unclassified by linguists.

For now, the language is best consideredunclassified. It has been classified as a tentative language isolate that may turn out to be related to theAnêm andAta language isolates ofNew Britain (in a tentativeYele – West New Britain family), or alternatively closest to Sudest in thePapuan Tip languages of the Oceanic family. Typologically it is more similar to the Oceanic languages of southern New Guinea than to the isolates of New Britain. Word order tends to besubject–object–verb (SOV; verb-final).^[3]

Stebbins et al. (2018) classifies Yélî Dnye as an isolate.^[3] They explain similarities with Austronesian as being due to contact and diffusion.Usher classifies it as an Oceanic language, with regular sound correspondences obscured by the development of the doubly articulated consonants.^{[citation needed]}

Yele has a uniquely rich set ofdoubly articulated consonants. In nearly all the languages of the world which have them, these arelabial–velar consonants—that is, they are pronounced simultaneously with the lips and the back of the tongue, such as a simultaneousp andk or the Englishw. However, Yele is known to contrast other doubly articulated positions: besides labial–velar, it has two distinctlabial–coronal articulations, all as both stops and nasals as illustrated below. There are also doubly articulated approximants:[l͡βʲ] as inlvamê (a type of cane) and[j͡β̞]. The Yele/w̪/ is more precisely a labial–dental[β̞͡ð̞], and may also have an allophone of[β].^[4][5] These doubly articulated consonants do not contrast withlabialization except in the case of the labial–velars.

The twocoronal articulations are

• laminaldenti-alveolar, sometimes transcribed ⟨tʸ,nʸ⟩ etc. or simply ⟨t,n⟩ etc.,
• sub-apicalretroflex, possibly varying asapicalpost-alveolar, variously transcribed ⟨ṭ,ṇ⟩ etc., ⟨ʈ,ɳ⟩ etc.,^{[citation needed]} or simply ⟨t,n⟩ etc.

Palatalization occurs at all places of articulation. Stops may be eitherpre-nasalized orpost-nasalized.

Altogether, there are 58 attested consonants (56 demonstrated with solidminimal pairs) and one more that is somewhat dubious. The attested inventory is as follows:

The oral stops apart from the dentialveolars are lightly voiced between vowels when the following vowel is short, but not when it is long./ʈ/ is further reduced to a flap[ɽ]. All prenasalized stops are fully voiced. The palatalized denti-alveolar stops/t̪ʲ/ and/n̪d̪ʲ/ are pronounced as affricates[t͡ɕ] and[nd͡ʑ].

/ʈɳ/ (orthographicdn) is only attested from the inflectional clitic-dniye, and it is not clear that it is distinct from well-attested palatalized/ʈɳʲ/ (for*-dnyiye) (Levinson 2022:45). Some palatalized and labialized consonants are only attested from a handful of words. A gap in the chart above,*ɳ͡mɖ͡bʲ (orthographicmdy), is plausible but unattested (Levinson 2022:45). Other gaps, namely*n̪ʲ and*n̪͡mʲ (orthographicńy andnmy) seem to not exist (Levinson 2022:46).

Yele also has 34 vowels: ten oral qualities and sevennasal, all long and short:

Vowels may occurlong or short. SIL (1992/2004) interprets vowel sequences as being separated by/j/ or/w/ rather than being inhiatus. (Possibly redundanty orw are found in the sequencesiy anduw followed by most short vowels.) Given that vowels may be long or short, Yele syllables may only be of the form V or CV, with V only being short/æ/ or/u/ at the beginning of a word (assuming lack of hiatus within a word).

Themultigraphs for complex consonants are not always transparent. The labial-velar and labial-coronal consonants are written with the labial second:kp/k͡p/,dp/ʈ͡p/,tp/t̪͡p/,ngm/ŋ͡m/,nm/ɳ͡m/,ńm/n̪͡m/,lv/l͡βʲ/. Prenasalized/mp/ is writtenmb, but/nd̪/ and/ŋɡ/ are writtennt andnk to distinguish them fromnd/nɖ/ andng/ŋ/. Prenasalized stops are written with anm when labial, including the doubly articulated stopsmd/ɳ͡mɖ͡b/,mg/ŋ͡mɡ͡b/ andmt/n̪͡md̪͡b/, and withn otherwise. Nasal release is likewise writtenn orm, as indny/ʈɳʲ/,kn/kŋ/,dm/ʈ͡pɳ͡m/,km/k͡pŋ͡m/. Labialization is writtenw, and palatalizationy, apart fromch for/t̪ʲ/ andnj for/nd̪ʲ/.

Of the vowels, onlya andu occur initially. Long vowels are written double, and nasal vowels with a preceding colon (꞉a for/æ̃/), except for short vowels after an orthographic nasal consonant, where vowel nasality is not contrastive.

Yele has been studied extensively bycognitive linguists. It has an extensive set of spatialpostpositions. Yele has eleven postpositions equivalent to Englishon; using different ones depending factors such as whether the object is on a table (horizontal), a wall (vertical), or atop a peak; whether or not it is attached to the surface; and whether it is solid or granular (distributed).

Yele has a set offree pronouns and a set ofbound possessive pronouns.

		Singular		Dual		Plural
		English	Yele	English	Yele	English	Yele
1st person	free	I	ɳə	we two	n̪o	we	ɳ͡mo
	bound		a		n̪i		ɳ͡mɯ
2nd person	free	thou	n̪i	you two	ʈ͡pũ	you	n̪͡mo
	bound		N-		ʈ͡pɯ		n̪͡me
3rd person	free	he/she	–	they two	–	they	–
	bound		u				ji

There are three different types oftaboos present in Yélî Dnye: vocabulary avoided by women, vocabulary avoided when in the presence ofin-laws, and vocabulary related tosacred places. However, since the language has fallen into disuse, much of this special vocabulary is no longer used.^{[citation needed]}

Additionally, special registers and terms are used when discussing shell money (kêndapî), at a mortuary feast (kpaakpaa) and during songs.^[4]

As a form of women's speech, women avoid certain words, especially those related to the sea. Instead, other words are substituted.^[4]

Since great respect is shown to in-laws on Rossel Island, speakers of Yélî Dnye will not say their in-laws' names, will only speak of each in-law using the polite third-person plural pronounyi, and will replace certain words when speaking near them. While the alternative vocabulary is mostly no longer used, the name and pronoun taboos are still observed.

Most of the taboo words are body parts, clothing or carried possessions. Not all body words are replaced, however: for example, 'neck', 'Adam's apple' and 'stomach' retain their everyday forms.^[4]

Selected basic vocabulary items in Yélî Dnye:^[7]

gloss	Yélî Dnye
bird	ńmê;ńmo
blood	wêê
bone	dînê
breast	ngmo
ear	ngweńe
eat	ma
egg	w꞉uu
eye	ngwolo
fire	ndê;ndyuw꞉e
give	yeede
go	lê;lili;nî
ground	mbwóó;têpê
hair	gh꞉aa
head	mbodo
leg	yi
louse	y꞉emê wee
man	pi
moon	d꞉ââ
name	pi
one	ngmidi
road, path	maa
see	m꞉uu
sky	mbóó;vyââ
stone	chêêpî
sun	kââdî
tongue	dêê
tooth	nyóó
tree	yi
two	miyó
water	mbwaa;tolo
woman	kumbwada;pyââ

Yélî Dnye:

Kiye w꞉ââ u pi Peetuuki, ka kwo, Doongê. Nê kuu. Daa a w꞉ââ. Nkal u w꞉ââ. Nkal ngê yinê kaa ngê. W꞉ââ dono. Pi yilî u te. U nuu u pi da tóó. Pi u lama daa tóó. M꞉iituwo Yidika, Mépé tp꞉oo mî kiye ngê. Daanté. Mépé dono ngê pyodo. Apê, W꞉ââ mbwamê nînê châpwo. Nkal ngê kwo, "Up꞉o" . W꞉ââ mî mbêpê wo, chii mênê. Mépé ngê w꞉ââ mbwamê mêdîpê châpwo. Awêde ka kwo, Doongê. Pi maa daa t꞉a. A danêmbum u dî.

Yélî Dnye in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet:

ˈki.ɛw̪ɑ̃ːupiˈpɛːt̪uːɡi|kækʷɔ|ˈʈɔːŋə̃||ɳə̃kuː||ʈæːæw̪ɑ̃ː||ŋɡæluw̪ɑ̃ː||ŋɡælŋə̃ˈjiɳə̃kæːŋə̃||w̪ɑ̃ːˈʈɔɳɔ̃||piˈjilɯut̪ɛ||uɳuːupiʈæt̪oː||piuˈlæmæ̃ʈæːt̪oː||ˈmĩːt̪u.ɔˈjiɽiˈɡæ|ˈmebet̪͡pɔ̃ːmɯ̃ˈki.ɛŋə̃||ˈʈæːn̪d̪e||ˈmebeʈɔˈɳɔ̃ŋə̃ˈpʲɔɽɔ||ˈæbə|w̪ɑ̃ːˈmbʷæmə̃ˈɳɯ̃ɳə̃ˈt͡ɕɑbʷɔ||ŋɡælŋə̃kʷɔ|ˈubɔ̃||w̪ɑ̃ːmɯ̃ˈmbəbəw̪ɔ|t͡ɕiːˈmə̃ɳə̃||meˈbeŋə̃w̪ɑ̃ːˈmbʷæmə̃ˈməɽɯbəˈt͡ɕɑbʷɔ||æˈw̪əɽɛkækʷɔ|ˈʈɔːŋə̃||pimæːʈæːt̪æ̃||æˈʈæɳə̃mbumuʈɯ||

Translation:

The savage dog is called "Peetuuki", and he lives at Doongê. It's nothing to do with me. It's not my dog. It's Nkal's dog. He raised it. It's a bad dog. It bites everyone. It doesn't like anyone. Recently it bit Mépé's son, Yidika. It really bit him hard. Mépé became very angry, and said, 'I'm going to kill that dog'. The dog ran away into the bush, so Mépé could not kill it. So now it's still there at Doongê, so there's not a safe road through there. That's the end of my story.

(SIL 1992/2004)

• Henderson, James E. (1995).Phonology and Grammar of Yele, Papua New Guinea(PDF). Pacific Linguistics B. Vol. 112. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.ISBN 0858834286. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2023-10-05.
• Henderson, James E. (2004) [1992]."Yele Organised Phonology Data".SIL. Retrieved2023-12-11.
• Henderson, James E.; Anne Henderson, compilers (1999) [1987].Rossel to English, English to Rossel Dictionary. Dictionaries of Papua New Guinea. Vol. 9. Ukarumpa: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
• Ladefoged, Peter;Ian Maddieson (1996).The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell's.ISBN 0-631-19814-8.
• Levinson, Stephen C. (2003).Space in Language and Cognition: Explorations in Cognitive Diversity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 0-521-01196-5.
• Levinson, Stephen C. (2022).A Grammar of Yélî Dnye: The Papuan Language of Rossel Island. De Gruyter.doi:10.1515/9783110733853.ISBN 978-3-11-073385-3.S2CID 249083265. Retrieved16 January 2023.
• Stebbins, Tonya; Evans, Bethwyn; Terrill, Angela (2018). "The Papuan languages of Island Melanesia". In Palmer, Bill (ed.).The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 775–894.ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.

• Levinson, Stephen C. (2022-06-06).A Grammar of Yélî Dnye. De Gruyter Mouton.doi:10.1515/9783110733853.ISBN 978-3-11-073385-3.S2CID 249083265.
• Paradisec hasmultiple collections with Yele materials, including two collections ofArthur Cappell's materials (AC1,AC2).
• The World Atlas of Language Structures lists 44 typological features of "Yelî Dnye" based on from James Henderson's 1975 and 1995 grammars of the language.https://wals.info/languoid/lect/wals_code_yel

• Yele–West New Britain languages
• Language isolates of New Guinea
• Languages of Milne Bay Province
• Nuclear Papuan Tip languages

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• Language articles citing Ethnologue 25
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