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 toIndonesia and Papua New Guinea
RegionJetfa District in Pegunungan Bintang Regency
EthnicityYetfa, Biksi
Native speakers
(1,000 cited 1996)[1]
Pauwasi
Dialects
  • Yetfa
  • Biksi
Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3yet
Glottologyetf1238
ELPYetfa-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):

Inyowenana
thoupwoyouso
s/hedotheydwa

Pronouns from Kim (2005), as quoted in Foley (2018):[2]

Yetfa independent pronouns
sgpl
1 nano
2 poso-na-m
3 dodo-na-ma

Basic vocabulary

Basic vocabulary of Yetfa from Kim (2006), quoted in Foley (2018):[4][2]

Yetfa basic vocabulary
glossYetfa
‘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]

glossYetfa
headfran; ᵽr᷈an
hairfra may; ᵽʌřamai
eyei; ʔiʔ
nosendor
toothɔřa; rwa
tonguemoR᷈
louseni:m; yim
dogsay
pigmbaR᷈; mualə
birdrawi
eggřonǏa
bloodndwal
bonefan
skintol; toR᷈
treeyau; yo; yɔ
mannam
womannamiyaA
sunməlel
waterkel; kɛr᷈
fireyaʋ; yau
stonetəkoup; tɩkɔᵽ
road, pathmiaA
eatŋa; ntɛřᵽI
onekəsa; kɛsa
twondyesel; tesyɛnsaR᷈

Sentences

There is very little sentence data for Yetfa. Some of the few documented Yetfa sentences are:[2]

(1)

do

3SG

mete

yesterday

ti-yo

come-TNS

do mete ti-yo

3SG yesterday come-TNS

‘She came yesterday’

(2)

do

3SG

muni

money

ɲ(a)-awa-te

1SG-father-DAT?

ni-yo

give-TNS

do muni ɲ(a)-awa-te ni-yo

3SG money 1SG-father-DAT? give-TNS

‘She gave money to my father.’

The Yetfa tense suffix -(y)o is also present in Tofanma.[2]

References

  1. Biksi-Yetfa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Kim, So Hyun. 2006. Survey Report on the Yetfa Language of Papua, Indonesia. Unpublished report. Jayapura: SIL Indonesia.
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. Greenhill, Simon (2016). "TransNewGuinea.org - database of the languages of New Guinea". Retrieved 2020-11-05.
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