Yelmek, also renderedJelmek orJelmik,^[2] is a language of the proposedTrans-Fly – Bulaka River family inWest Papua.

Yelmek is spoken west ofMerauke Regency, between theDigul River andMbian River. Notable villages are (from north to south) Wanam Village on theWanam River and Bibikem in Ilwayab District; Woboyo and Dodalim (Dudaling) Village in Tubang District. In the same district, relatedMaklew is spoken in Welbuti Village.^[3]

The Wanam variety might be a distinct language.^[4]

Petabahasa by IndonesianMinistry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology used the nameYelmek for the variety ofMek languages used by theYalimek people in Wanam Village in Abenaho District,Yalimo Regency,^[5][6] while this language is calledYabega.^[7]

The fricative phonemes are both marginal./s/ appears in only a small number of words, most of which are known to be loans. Speakers are not consistent either between each other or themselves in which words contain/h/, with many words claimed to have it being pronounced without it, and words that lack it surfacing with it, in an apparent case ofhypercorrection.^[9] While Gregor includes/h/ in her 2020 thesis, she does not in her 2021 book chapter.^[10]

Nouns in Yelmek are not morphologically complex. They have gender and number, but these are not marked on the noun itself, but on other parts of the sentence; number and gender are marked on the verb, and number is also marked on attributive modifiers of the noun.^[12] Modifiers in Yelmek occur in their underived root form when functioning as the predicate of a clause, but to serve as an attributive modifier within a noun phrase, must take an attributive suffix, which agrees in number with the head noun. Case marking occurs at the level of the noun phrase, not the noun, with the final element of the noun phrase being followed by a case assigning clitic or postposition.^[13]

• Gregor, Tina (2020).A Documentation and Description of Yelmek (PhD thesis). The Australian National University.doi:10.25911/2GHT-ZP82.hdl:1885/220032.
• Gregor, Tina (2021). "A Phonetic Description of Yelmek". In Lindsey, Kate L.; Schokkin, Dineke (eds.).Phonetic Fieldwork in Southern New Guinea. Language Documentation & Conservation Special Publication No. 24. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. pp. 13–32.hdl:10125/24992.ISBN 978-0-9979673-2-6.

• Donohue, Mark. n.d.Disagreement in the Yelmek NP. Unpublished MS.

• Paradisec hasa collection of Yelmek materials

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