The Yélî Dnye language, also known as Yele, is the language of Rossel island, the easternmost island in the Louisiade Archipelago

Louisiade Archipelago

The Louisiade Archipelago is a string of ten larger volcanic islands frequently fringed by coral reefs, and 90 smaller coral islands located 200 km southeast of New Guinea, stretching over more than and spread over an ocean area of between the Solomon Sea to the north and the Coral Sea to...

 off the eastern tip of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

. For now it is best considered a language isolate

Language isolate

A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...

, but it may turn out to be related to the Anêm

Anêm language

The Anêm language is a language isolate spoken in five main villages along the northwestern coast of New Britain island, Papua New Guinea: Malasoŋo , Karaiai, Mosiliki, Pudêlîŋ, Atiatu and Bolo...

 and Ata

Ata language

The Ata language, also known as Pele-Ata or Wasi, is a language isolate spoken on New Britain island, Papua New Guinea. It may be related to the Anêm and Yélî Dnye isolates in a tentative Yele-West New Britain family. There are about 2000 speakers....

 language isolates of New Britain

New Britain

New Britain, or Niu Briten, is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel...

 in a tentative Yele – West New Britain family

East Papuan languages

*Baining family*North Bougainville family — Bougainville*South Bougainville family — Bougainville*Central Solomon family...

. There are about 3750 speakers of which 400 are monoligual.

Yele is one of the better-known East Papuan languages

East Papuan languages

*Baining family*North Bougainville family — Bougainville*South Bougainville family — Bougainville*Central Solomon family...

. It has been studied extensively by cognitive linguists

Cognitive linguistics

In linguistics, cognitive linguistics refers to the branch of linguistics that interprets language in terms of the concepts, sometimes universal, sometimes specific to a particular tongue, which underlie its forms...

. It has an extensive set of spatial postpositions. Yele has eleven postpositions equivalent to English on; using different ones depending factors such as whether the object is on a table (horizontal), a wall (vertical), or atop a peak; whether or not it is attached to the surface; and whether it is solid or granular (distributed).

Phonology

Yele has a uniquely rich set of doubly articulated consonant

Doubly articulated consonant

Doubly articulated consonants are consonants with two simultaneous primary places of articulation of the same manner . They are a subset of co-articulated consonants. They are to be distinguished from co-articulated consonants with secondary articulation, that is, a second articulation not of the...

s. In nearly all the languages of the world which have them, these are labial–velar consonants—that is, they are pronounced simultaneously with the lips and the back of the tongue, such as a simultaneous p and k. Only Yele is known to contrast other doubly articulated positions: besides labial–velar, it has two distinct labial–alveolar positions (laminal/dental and apical/postalveolar), as illustrated below.

The two coronal

Coronal consonant

Coronal consonants are consonants articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Only the coronal consonants can be divided into apical , laminal , domed , or subapical , as well as a few rarer orientations, because only the front of the tongue has such...

 articulations are (1) laminal/dental

Laminal consonant

A laminal consonant is a phone produced by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue, which is the flat top front surface just behind the tip of the tongue on the top. This contrasts with apical consonants, which are produced by creating an obstruction with the tongue apex only...

 and slightly pre-alveolar, sometimes transcribed , , etc. (see denti-alveolar consonant), and (2) apical

Apical consonant

An apical consonant is a phone produced by obstructing the air passage with the apex of the tongue . This contrasts with laminal consonants, which are produced by creating an obstruction with the blade of the tongue .This is not a very common distinction, and typically applied only to fricatives...

 and slightly post-alveolar, sometimes transcribed , etc., , , etc., or simply t, n, etc.

Stops in Yelî Dnye	Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...		Dental		Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...		Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....			Labial–Dental		Labial–Alveolar		Labial–velar
Plosive	paa	side	t̪aa	knife	t̠oo	tongue	kaa	spear		t̪͡pənə	lung	t̠͡pənə	horn	k͡pene	coconut bag
Prenasalized stop	mbee	carry	n̪d̪e	food	n̠d̠e	firewood	ŋɡaa	tree		n̪͡md̪͡boo	pulp	n̠͡md̠͡boo	many	ŋ͡mɡ͡bo	fog
Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...	maa	road	n̪ii	juice	n̠aa	feast	ŋa	lease		n̪͡mo	bird	n̠͡mo	we	ŋ͡mo	breast

There are two other doubly articulated consonants, [l͡β] as in lvámê (a type of cane) and [j͡β̞]. The Yele w is labial–dental [β̞͡ð̞]. These doubly articulated consonants contrast with labialization (SIL 1992/2004). Many articulations may also be palatalized

Palatalization

In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....

. Stops may be either pre- or (except perhaps for /p/) post-nasalized

Nasal release

In phonetics, a nasal release is the release of a plosive consonant into a nasal stop. Such sounds are transcribed in the IPA with superscript nasal letters, for example as . In English words such as sudden in which historically the tongue made separate contacts with the alveolar ridge for the /d/...

. The consonant inventory includes the following,

	Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals...				Dental			Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...			Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...		Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....			Labio-Velar Labial-velar consonant Labial–velar consonants are doubly articulated at the velum and the lips. They are sometimes called "labiovelar consonants", a term that can also refer to labialized velars, such as and the approximant ....
Plain	lab. Doubly articulated consonant Doubly articulated consonants are consonants with two simultaneous primary places of articulation of the same manner . They are a subset of co-articulated consonants. They are to be distinguished from co-articulated consonants with secondary articulation, that is, a second articulation not of the...	pal. Doubly articulated consonant Doubly articulated consonants are consonants with two simultaneous primary places of articulation of the same manner . They are a subset of co-articulated consonants. They are to be distinguished from co-articulated consonants with secondary articulation, that is, a second articulation not of the...	lab. & pal. Doubly articulated consonant Doubly articulated consonants are consonants with two simultaneous primary places of articulation of the same manner . They are a subset of co-articulated consonants. They are to be distinguished from co-articulated consonants with secondary articulation, that is, a second articulation not of the...	Plain	lab. Doubly articulated consonant Doubly articulated consonants are consonants with two simultaneous primary places of articulation of the same manner . They are a subset of co-articulated consonants. They are to be distinguished from co-articulated consonants with secondary articulation, that is, a second articulation not of the...	pal. Doubly articulated consonant Doubly articulated consonants are consonants with two simultaneous primary places of articulation of the same manner . They are a subset of co-articulated consonants. They are to be distinguished from co-articulated consonants with secondary articulation, that is, a second articulation not of the...	Plain	lab. Doubly articulated consonant Doubly articulated consonants are consonants with two simultaneous primary places of articulation of the same manner . They are a subset of co-articulated consonants. They are to be distinguished from co-articulated consonants with secondary articulation, that is, a second articulation not of the...	pal. Doubly articulated consonant Doubly articulated consonants are consonants with two simultaneous primary places of articulation of the same manner . They are a subset of co-articulated consonants. They are to be distinguished from co-articulated consonants with secondary articulation, that is, a second articulation not of the...	Plain	lab. Doubly articulated consonant Doubly articulated consonants are consonants with two simultaneous primary places of articulation of the same manner . They are a subset of co-articulated consonants. They are to be distinguished from co-articulated consonants with secondary articulation, that is, a second articulation not of the...	Plain	lab. Doubly articulated consonant Doubly articulated consonants are consonants with two simultaneous primary places of articulation of the same manner . They are a subset of co-articulated consonants. They are to be distinguished from co-articulated consonants with secondary articulation, that is, a second articulation not of the...	pal. Doubly articulated consonant Doubly articulated consonants are consonants with two simultaneous primary places of articulation of the same manner . They are a subset of co-articulated consonants. They are to be distinguished from co-articulated consonants with secondary articulation, that is, a second articulation not of the...
Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...	m	mʷ	mʲ	mʷʲ	n̪	n̪͡m		n̠	n̠͡m	n̠ʲ			ŋ	ŋʷ	ŋʲ	ŋ͡m
Plosive	p	pʷ	pʲ	pʷʲ	t̪	t̪͡p	t̪ʲ	t̠	t̠͡p	t̠ʲ			k	kʷ	kʲ	k͡p
Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...	β		βʲ					ɣ
Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no...	β̞͡ð̞				l	l͡β	lʲ				j	j͡β̞

It is not clear how many of the labial–velar and labial–alveolar consonants such as ŋ͡m may also be labialized or palatalized. Nor is it clear how many of these articulations occur prenasalized or with nasal release, but besides those noted above, the following are noted in SIL 1992/2004: /mbʷ, mbʷʲ, n̪d̪ʲ, t̠n̠ʲ, t̠͡pn̠͡mʲ, ŋkʷ, kŋʷ/.

The oral stops /p t̠ k/ (that is, apart from dental /t̪/) are voiced between vowels and when prenasalized. The (post-)alveolar is further reduced to an (apparently dental) flap [ɾ̪] between vowels. Some of the palatalized alveolar stops are pronounced as fricatives or affricates, such as [tɕ] (or perhaps [ɕ]) and [ndʑ] (or perhaps [ʑ]), but SIL (1992/2004) contradicts itself as to which these are.

Yélî Dnye also has many vowels, an unusually large number of which occur nasalized

Nasal vowel

A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the velum so that air escapes both through nose as well as the mouth. By contrast, oral vowels are ordinary vowels without this nasalisation...

:

	Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also...		Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel...		Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...
	Oral	Nasal	Oral	Nasal	Oral	Nasal
Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the...	i	ĩ	ɨ		u	ũ
Near-close Near-close vowel A near-close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a near-close vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to a close vowel, but slightly less constricted. Near-close vowels are sometimes described as lax variants of the fully close vowels...	e	ẽ?	ə	ə̃	o	õ?
Open-mid Open-mid vowel An open-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of an open-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from an open vowel to a mid vowel...	ɛ	ɛ̃			ɔ	ɔ̃
(Near- Near-open vowel A near-open vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a near-open vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to an open vowel, but slightly more constricted. Near-open vowels are sometimes described as lax variants of the fully open vowels... )open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue...	æ	æ̃?	ɐ	ã	ɑ	ɑ̃

(The distinction between open-mid and close-mid nasal vowels is rather unusual, and SIL (1992/2004) provides no examples of the close-mid vowels. They also fail to provide an example of æ̃.)

Vowels may occur long or short

Vowel length

In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...

. SIL (1992/2004) interprets other vowel sequences as being separated by /j, w/ rather than as diphthong

Diphthong

A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...

s.

Given that vowels may be long or short, Yele syllables may only be of the form vowel or consonant-vowel, and in the former case, apparently only /a/ or /u/.

Orthography

Orthography	â	a	á	d	é	e	ê	gh	i	î	k	l	m	n	ń	ng	o	ó	p	t	u	v	w	y
IPA	ɑ	a	æ	t̠	e	ɛ	ə	ɣ	i	ɨ	k	l	m	n̠	n̪	ŋ	ɔ	o	p	t̪	u	β	w̪	j

The multigraph

Multigraph

In mathematics, a multigraph or pseudograph is a graph which is permitted to have multiple edges, , that is, edges that have the same end nodes. Thus two vertices may be connected by more than one edge....

s for complex consonants are not always transparent. The labial-velar and labial-alveolar consonants are written with the labial second: kp, dp, tp, ngm, nm, ńm, lv. Prenasalized /mp/ is written mb, but /nt̪/ and /ŋk/ are written nt and nk to distinguish them from nd /nt̠/ and ng /ŋ/. Prenasalized stops are written with an m when labial, including doubly articulated stops, as with md /n̠͡mt̠͡p/ or mg /ŋ͡mk͡p/, and with n otherwise. Nasal release is likewise written n or m, as in dny /t̠n̠ʲ/, kn /kŋ/, dm /t̠͡pn̠͡m/, km /k͡pŋ͡m/. Labialization is written w, and palatalization y, apart from ch for /tʲ/ and nj for /ntʲ/ (it is not clear if ch and nj are dental or (post-)alveolar).

Of the vowels, only a and u occur initially. Long vowels are written doubled, and nasal vowels with a preceding colon (:a for /ã/), except for short vowels after a nasal consonant (or a nasal release?), where vowel nasality is not contrastive.

Pronouns

Yélî Dnye has two sets of pronouns: free and possessive. They are,

I	n̠ə a	we two	n̪o n̪i	we	n̠͡mo n̠͡mɨ
thou	n̪i N- Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...	you two	t̠͡pũ t̠͡pɨ	you	n̪͡mo n̪͡me
s/he	– u	they		– ji

Sample text

Kiye w:ââ u pi Peetuuki, ka kwo, Doongê. Nê kuu. Daa a w:ââ. Nkal u w:ââ. Nkal ngê yinê kaa ngê. W:ââ dono. Pi yilî u te. U nuu u pi da tóó. Pi u lama daa tóó. M:iituwo Yidika, Mépé tp:oo mî kiye ngê. Daanté. Mépé dono ngê pyodo. Apê, W:ââ mbwámê nînê châpwo. Nkal ngê kwo, "Up:o" . W:ââ mî mbêpê wo, chii mênê. Mépé ngê w:ââ mbwámê mêdîpê châpwo. Awêde ka kwo, Doongê. Pi maa daa t:a. A danêmbum u dî.

"The savage dog is called "Peetuuki" , and he lives at Doongê. It's nothing to do with me. It's not my dog. It's Nkal's dog. He raised it. It's a bad dog. It bites everyone. It doesn't like anyone. Recently it bit Mépé's son, Yidika. It really bit him hard. Mépé became very angry, and said, 'I'm going to kill that dog'. The dog ran away into the bush, so Mépé could not kill it. So now it's still there at Doongê, so there's not a safe road through there. That's the end of my story." (SIL 1992/2004)