Yoke language
Encyclopedia
Yoke is a poorly documented language spoken by about 200 people in the north of Papua
, Indonesia
. The name is also spelled Yoki, Yauke, Jauke, and it is also known as Bitovondo. It was spoken in a single village in the interior until the government relocated a third of the population to a new village, Mantarbori, on the coast. In the late 19th century a word list of "Pauwi" was collected at Lake Rombebai, where the Yoke say they migrated from; this is transparently Yoke, apart from some words which do not appear in the modern language but are found in related Warembori.
, a language which has either been strongly influenced by Austronesian languages
, or is an Austronesian language strongly influenced by Papuan languages
. The two languages are grammatically very similar, with shared morphological irregularities, demonstrating a genealogical relationship. However, Yoke does not share the Austronesian features of Warembori, and it is unclear how this relates to Ross's 2005 classification, based on pronouns, of Warembori as an Austronesian language.
Vowels /a e i o u/
Unusually for a Papuan language, but like Warembori, Yoke has prepositions and a SVO
constituent order. Verbs have subject prefixes and may have one or more object suffixes. The verbal affixes are:
The independent pronouns are the first subject marker listed in the table prefixed to -βu. The plural forms may derive from Austronesian; see Warembori
for details.
Yoke is polysynthetic, with noun incorporation in its verbs. For example,
(The purpose of the 'thematic' consonant is unclear, but it appears to divide verbs into different classes.)
Papua (Indonesian province)
Papua comprises most of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands. Its capital is Jayapura. It's the largest and easternmost province of Indonesia. The province originally covered the entire western half of New Guinea...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. The name is also spelled Yoki, Yauke, Jauke, and it is also known as Bitovondo. It was spoken in a single village in the interior until the government relocated a third of the population to a new village, Mantarbori, on the coast. In the late 19th century a word list of "Pauwi" was collected at Lake Rombebai, where the Yoke say they migrated from; this is transparently Yoke, apart from some words which do not appear in the modern language but are found in related Warembori.
Classification
About one third of the vocabulary of Yoke is cognate with WaremboriWarembori language
Warembori is a moribund language spoken by about 600 people in river mouths on the north coast of Papua, Indonesia.-Classification:...
, a language which has either been strongly influenced by Austronesian languages
Austronesian languages
The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...
, or is an Austronesian language strongly influenced by Papuan languages
Papuan languages
The Papuan languages are those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. The term does not presuppose a genetic relationship. The concept of Papuan peoples as distinct from Melanesians was first suggested and named by Sidney Herbert Ray in 1892.-The...
. The two languages are grammatically very similar, with shared morphological irregularities, demonstrating a genealogical relationship. However, Yoke does not share the Austronesian features of Warembori, and it is unclear how this relates to Ross's 2005 classification, based on pronouns, of Warembori as an Austronesian language.
Grammar
On the surface, at least, Yoke has the following sounds:Vowels /a e i o u/
| p | t | k |
| b | d | ɡ |
| β | ɾ | ɣ |
| m | n | ɲ |
| w | s | j |
Unusually for a Papuan language, but like Warembori, Yoke has prepositions and a SVO
SVO
SVO is an acronym for several terms:* Mustang SVO, a car developed by Ford Motor Company* Saturn Valley Online, an EarthBound MMORPG.* Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, IATA Airport Code...
constituent order. Verbs have subject prefixes and may have one or more object suffixes. The verbal affixes are:
| Subject | Object | |
|---|---|---|
| 1sg | e- | |
| 2sg | a- | |
| 3sg | i-, ja-, ∅- | |
| 1pl | ki- | |
| 2pl | mi-, im- | |
| 3pl | si- | |
The independent pronouns are the first subject marker listed in the table prefixed to -βu. The plural forms may derive from Austronesian; see Warembori
Warembori language
Warembori is a moribund language spoken by about 600 people in river mouths on the north coast of Papua, Indonesia.-Classification:...
for details.
Yoke is polysynthetic, with noun incorporation in its verbs. For example,
| eβu eɾaβupiaβiɾanakumambao | |||
| eβu | e- | ɾaβ- | upia |
| I | 1sg- | chop.down- | sago.tree |
- "I have already chopped down a sago tree for you with an axe."
(The purpose of the 'thematic' consonant is unclear, but it appears to divide verbs into different classes.)
External links
- Donohue (1998) on Warembori, with a section on Yoke