Yessan-Mayo language

Last updated
Yessan-Mayo
Yamano
Region East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
Native speakers
2,000 (2000 census) [1]
Sepik
Language codes
ISO 639-3 yss
Glottolog yess1239
ELP Yessan-Mayo
Map all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap

Yessan-Mayo (also known as Yesan, Mayo, and natively known as Yamano [1] ) is a Papuan language spoken by 2000 people in Papua New Guinea. It is spoken in Maio ( 4°12′50″S142°40′33″E / 4.21379°S 142.675929°E / -4.21379; 142.675929 (Maio) ) and Yessan ( 4°13′08″S142°40′00″E / 4.219025°S 142.66658°E / -4.219025; 142.66658 (Yessan) ) villages of Yessan ward, Ambunti Rural LLG, East Sepik Province. [2] [3]

Contents

Phonology

The phonology of Yessan-Mayo is described in Foley (2018) [4] as such:

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close ɨ
Mid əɔ
Open a

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Non-labialized Labialized
Stop voiceless tk
voiced, prenasalized mbndŋgŋ
Fricative voicelessɸsh
Nasal mn
Lateral approximant l
Trill r
Approximant wj

Pronouns

Foreman (1974) [5] describes two kinds of pronouns in Yessan-Mayo: non-emphatic and emphatic pronouns.

In addition to the non-emphatic pronouns, there is also the reflexive pronoun kwarara (self), as well as the demonstrative pronouns op (this) and otop (that).

Non-emphatic

singulardualplural
1st personannisnim
2nd personnikepkom
3rd personmaleririprim
femaleti

Emphatic

singulardualplural
1st personarinnisisnirim
2nd personnirinkeripkerim
3rd personmaleataratepatem
femaleatat

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References

  1. 1 2 Yessan-Mayo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22nd ed.). Dallas: SIL International.
  3. United Nations in Papua New Guinea (2018). "Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup". Humanitarian Data Exchange. 1.31.9.
  4. 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.
  5. Foreman, Velma (1974). Grammar of Yessan-Mayo . Santa Ana, California: Summer Institute of Linguistics. ISBN   0883122049 via Internet Archive.