Yil language
Yil | |
---|---|
Native to | Papua New Guinea |
Region | Sandaun Province |
Native speakers | 2,500 (2000 census)[1] |
Torricelli
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | yll |
Glottolog | yill1241 |
ELP | Yil |
Yil is a Torricelli language of Papua New Guinea spoken in twelve villages in Sundaun province.
Phonology
[edit]This section follows Martens and Tuominen (1977).[2] Yil has a small inventory of ten consonants:
Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar | |
---|---|---|---|
Stop | p | t | k |
Fricative | s | ɣ | |
Nasal | m | n | ŋ |
Trill | r | ||
Lateral | l |
And seven vowels:
Front | Central | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | |||
Close | i | y | ə~ɵ | u |
Mid | ɛ~æ | o | ||
Open | a |
In addition there are the diphthongs /ai̯ au̯ ay̯ ei̯/. /i u/ have non-syllabic allophones [j w~β] in onset or coda position. /ɣ/ is devoiced to [x] word-finally, e.g. /uəmaɣ/ [wəmax] 'hawk'.
Phonotactics
[edit]Maximum syllable structure is (C) (C) V (C) (C). Syllables with two-consonant codas only occur word-finally. Distribution of phonemes in different syllable types is shown in the table below.
Syllable type | Phoneme distribution | Example(s) |
---|---|---|
V | Any vowels may occur | /i/ "I" |
CV | Any consonant or vowel may occur | /ni/ "water" |
CVC | /sak/ "pig" | |
VC | V: /i ə o ɛ a/
C: /p s m n ŋ l r u i/ |
/an/ "he"
/ar/ "she" |
C₁C₂VC₃ | C₁: /p t k/
C₂: /r/ V: /u o a/ C₃: /p k r/ |
/prok/ "quickly"
/trok/ "thigh" /krup/ "white bird" |
C₁VC₂C₃ | C₁: any consonant may occur
V: /u o a/ C₂: /ɣ m n ŋ l r/ C₃: /p t k ɣ r/ |
/lank/ "night"
/nakalp/ "back of house" /namaŋalk/ "bird" |
VC₁C₂ | Rarely observed | /ark/ "termite" |
*C₁C₂VC₃C₄ | Not observed |
Stress usually falls on the first syllable, although it is contrastive in some verb forms, e.g. /əˈŋati/ "I bury a man" vs. /ˈəŋati/ "I hurry"
External links
[edit]- Paradisec has a collection of Don Laycock's (DL2) that includes Yil language materials.
References
[edit]- ^ Yil at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Martens, Mary; Tuominen, Salme (1977). "A tentative phonemic statement in Yil in West Sepik province". Workpapers in Papua New Guinea Languages. 19: 29–48.