Yelmek language

Yelmek, also rendered Jelmek or Jelmik,[2] is a language of the proposed Trans-Fly – Bulaka River family in West Papua.

Yelmek
Jab
Native toIndonesia
RegionWest Papua
Native speakers
(400 cited 1978)[1]
Dialects
  • Yelmek proper
  • Yab (Jab)
  • Nggarum (Galum)
  • Dib (Dibga)
Language codes
ISO 639-3jel
Glottologjelm1234

Yelmek is spoken west of Merauke, between the Digul River and Mbian River. Notable villages are (from north to south) Yelwayab on the Wanam River, Bibikem, Woboyo, and Dodalim (Dudaling). Related Maklew is spoken in Welbuti village.[3]

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

Phonology
Consonants
Labial Alveolar Velar
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
Fricative (s) (h)
Nasal m n ŋ
Approximant w l j

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 of hypercorrection.[5]

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i ʉ u
Mid e ə o
Open a

Grammar

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. 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.[6]

References
  1. Yelmek at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Yelmek language". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Evans, Nicholas (2018). "The languages of Southern 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. 641–774. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
  4. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Wanam Yelmek". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  5. https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/220032
  6. https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/220032

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 Unpublished MS.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