Yali language

Yali
Yalimo
Native toIndonesia
RegionHighland Papua
EthnicityYali
Native speakers
(30,000 cited 1988–1999)
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
yli – Anggurk Yali
nlk – Ninia Yali
yac – Pass Valley Yali
Glottologyali1257

Yali (Yaly, Jalè, Jaly) is a Papuan language of Indonesian New Guinea. The Yali people live east of the Baliem Valley, in the Western Highlands.

Dialectical differentiation is great enough that Ethnologue assigns separate codes to three varieties:

  • Pass Valley, also known as Abendago, North Ngalik, and Western Yali; subdialects are Pass Valley, Landikma, Apahapsili.
  • Ninia, also known as North Ngalik and Southern Yali (Yali Selatan).
  • Angguruk, also known as Northern Yali.

However, almost nothing is known of this language. Not even the pronouns were attested for Ross (2005) to base a classification on.

Siegfried Zoellner, a German missionary, has between 1960 and 1973 translated the bible into the Yali language.

Phonology

The phonology of the Yali language:

Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive plain b d k ɡ
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ
aspirated
implosive ɗ
Fricative f s h
Lateral l
Semivowel w j

A /ɡ/ sound at the end of words is pronounced /ʁ/.

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Low a

Basic words and phrases

The following is a list of basic words and phrases in the Yali language:

  • howam fano wellahen - how are you
  • waa waa - thank you
  • ninim ar - you're welcome
  • nomin - friend
  • fano - good
  • ari - that
  • du - this
  • eke - and
  • nune - speak/talk
  • inune - language
  • nare - man
  • nowam - my news/state
  • howam - your (sg.) news/state
  • wellahi - for myself
  • wellahen - for yourself
  • wallahen - for him/herself
  • wallahi - for ourselves
  • wellahep - for yourselves/themselves
  • fam - *end of statement particle
  • an nahien - I am pleased
  • an ari nindi - I like that
  • an den angge - I have
  • ar an nomin - S/he is my friend
  • an nomini - They are my friends
  • ar nomin fano - S/he is a good friend
  • ir an nomini Amerikoan - My friends are from America
  • an nune Yali inune fam - I speak Yali

Pronouns

These are the personal pronouns of the Yali language:

Free pronouns
Singular Plural
1st person an nir
2nd person har hir
3rd person ar ir



This page was last updated at 2024-02-21 16:03 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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