Yil language
| Yil | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Papua New Guinea |
| Region | Sandaun Province |
Native speakers | (2,500 cited 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
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
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
- Paradisec has a collection of Don Laycock's (DL2) that includes Yil language materials.
References
- ^ 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.