Yali
Yalimo
Native toIndonesia
RegionHighland Papua
EthnicityYali
Native speakers
(30,000 cited 1988–1999)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
yli – Anggurk Yali
nlk – Ninia Yali
yac – Pass Valley Yali
Glottologyali1257

Yali (Yaly, Jalè, Jaly) is a Papuan language of Indonesian New Guinea. The Yali people live east of the Baliem Valley, in the Western Highlands.

Dialectical differentiation is great enough that Ethnologue assigns separate codes to three varieties:

However, almost nothing is known of this language. Not even the pronouns were attested for Ross (2005) to base a classification on.

Siegfried Zoellner, a German missionary, has between 1960 and 1973 translated the bible into the Yali language.

Phonology

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The phonology of the Yali language:[2]

Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive plain b d k ɡ
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ
aspirated
implosive ɗ
Fricative f s h
Lateral l
Semivowel w j

A /ɡ/ sound at the end of words is pronounced /ʁ/.

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Low a

Basic words and phrases

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The following is a list of basic words and phrases in the Yali language:

Pronouns

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These are the personal pronouns of the Yali language:

Free pronouns
Singular Plural
1st person an nir
2nd person har hir
3rd person ar ir

References

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  1. ^ Anggurk Yali at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Ninia Yali at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Pass Valley Yali at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Fahner, Christiaan (1979). The Morphology of Yali and Dani: A Descriptive and Comparative Analysis.
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