Biksi-Yetfa language
Yetfa and Biksi (Biaksi; Inisine[2]) are dialects of a language spoken in Jetfa District, Pegunungan Bintang Regency, Highland Papua, Indonesia, and across the border in Papua New Guinea. It is a trade language spoken in Western New Guinea up to the PNG border.
| Biksi-Yetfa | |
|---|---|
| Biksi | |
| Native to | Indonesia and Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Jetfa District in Pegunungan Bintang Regency |
| Ethnicity | Yetfa, Biksi |
Native speakers | (1,000 cited 1996)[1] |
Pauwasi
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | yet |
| Glottolog | yetf1238 |
| ELP | Yetfa-Biksi |
According to Hammarström (2008), it is being passed on to children and is not in immediate danger.
External relationships
Yetfa is not close to other languages. Ross (2005), following Laycock & Z’Graggen (1975), places Biksi in its own branch of the Sepik family, but there is little data to base a classification on. The similarities noted by Laycock are sporadic and may simply be loans; Ross based his classification on pronouns, but they are dissimilar enough for the connection to be uncertain. Usher found it to be a Southern Pauwasi language. Foley (2018) classifies it as a language isolate.[2]
Foley (2018b: 295-296) notes that first person pronoun and third-person singular masculine pronoun in Yetfa match pronouns found in Sepik languages, with some resemblances such as nim ‘louse’ with proto-Sepik *nim ‘louse’, and wal ‘ear’ with proto-Sepik *wan. However, Foley (2018b) considers the evidence linking Yetfa to the Sepik family to be insufficient, thus classifying Yetfa as a language isolate until further evidence can be found.[3]
Pronouns
Pronouns from Ross (2005):
I nyo we nana thou pwo you so s/he do they dwa
Pronouns from Kim (2005), as quoted in Foley (2018):[2]
Yetfa independent pronouns sg pl 1 na no 2 po so-na-m 3 do do-na-ma
Basic vocabulary
Basic vocabulary of Yetfa from Kim (2006), quoted in Foley (2018):[4][2]
Yetfa basic vocabulary gloss Yetfa ‘bird’ dau ‘blood’ dueal ‘bone’ fan ‘breast’ nom ‘ear’ wal ‘eat’ ɲa ‘egg’ nela ‘eye’ i ‘fire’ yao ‘give’ ni- ‘go’ la- ‘ground’ permai ‘hair’ framai ‘hear’ wi- ‘I’ na(wo) ‘leg’ yop ‘louse’ nim ‘man’ nam ‘moon’ dirmanel ‘name’ met ‘one’ kəsa ‘road, path’ mla ‘see’ am- ‘sky’ aklai ‘stone’ tekop ‘sun’ imenel ‘tongue’ mor ‘tooth’ doa ‘tree’ yo ‘two’ daisil ‘water’ ket ‘we’ no(wo) ‘woman’ romo ‘you (sg)’ po(wo) ‘you (pl)’ sonam
The following basic vocabulary words are from Conrad & Dye (1975)[5] and Voorhoeve (1975),[6] as cited in the Trans-New Guinea database:[7]
gloss Yetfa head fran; ᵽr᷈an hair fra may; ᵽʌřamai eye i; ʔiʔ nose ndor tooth ɔřa; rwa tongue moR᷈ louse ni:m; yim dog say pig mbaR᷈; mualə bird rawi egg řonǏa blood ndwal bone fan skin tol; toR᷈ tree yau; yo; yɔ man nam woman namiyaA sun məlel water kel; kɛr᷈ fire yaʋ; yau stone təkoup; tɩkɔᵽ road, path miaA eat ŋa; ntɛřᵽI one kəsa; kɛsa two ndyesel; tesyɛnsaR᷈
Sentences
There is very little sentence data for Yetfa. Some of the few documented Yetfa sentences are:[2]
do
3SG
mete
yesterday
ti-yo
come-TNS
‘She came yesterday’
do
3SG
muni
money
ɲ(a)-awa-te
1SG-father-DAT?
ni-yo
give-TNS
‘She gave money to my father.’
References
- Biksi-Yetfa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- Foley, William A. (2018). "The languages of Northwest New Guinea". 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. 433–568. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- Foley, William A. (2018). "The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs". 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. 197–432. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
- Kim, So Hyun. 2006. Survey Report on the Yetfa Language of Papua, Indonesia. Unpublished report. Jayapura: SIL Indonesia.
- Conrad, R. and Dye, W. "Some Language Relationships in the Upper Sepik Region of Papua New Guinea". In Conrad, R., Dye, W., Thomson, N. and Bruce Jr., L. editors, Papers in New Guinea Linguistics No. 18. A-40:1-36. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. doi:10.15144/PL-A40.1
- Voorhoeve, C.L. Languages of Irian Jaya: Checklist. Preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. B-31, iv + 133 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1975. doi:10.15144/PL-B31
- Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.