Not to be confused with Mayo language.
Yessan-Mayo
NativenameYamano
RegionEast Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
Date2000 census
Refe25
FamilycolorPapuan
Fam 1Sepik
Fam 2Tama
Iso 3yss
Glottoyess1239
GlottorefnameYessan-Mayo

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 (4.21379°S 142.675929°E) and Yessan (4.219025°S 142.66658°E) villages of Yessan ward, Ambunti Rural LLG, East Sepik Province.[2][3]

Phonology

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

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Closeɨ
Midəɔ
Opena

Consonants

BilabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
plainlabialized
Plosiveplaintkkʷ
prenasalizedᵐbⁿdᵑgᵑgʷ
Fricativeɸsh
Nasalmn
Trillr
Approximantljw

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

References

  1. ^ e25
  2. ^ "Papua New Guinea languages". Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 22nd ed. Dallas: SIL International. 2019.
  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". The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. Vol. 4. The World of Linguistics. 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.