Salt-Yui language

Salt
Yui
Native toPapua New Guinea
RegionChimbu Province
Native speakers
(6,500 cited 1981)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3sll
Glottologsalt1242

Salt, or Yui, is a Trans–New Guinea language of Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea.[2]

Basics

The following are some basic examples of phrases and nouns in Salt-Yui:[3][4]

Basic examples of Phrases
Salt-Yui English translation or meaning
yahuno Basic greeting
ere po Basic farewell
na hana ___ my name is ___
na pimgi i understand
ni han dalo tell me your name
akio don't touch this
Basic examples of nouns
Salt-Yui English translation or meaning
gànbá ground
kuŕìá magic
há language
hóng prayer
daang slope
owó yes

Pronunciation

Vowels

The following is how you pronounce certain vowels in Salt-Yui:[3]

  • /a/ is pronounced as in father
  • /e/ is pronounced as in peg
  • /i/ is pronounced as in tin
  • /o/ is pronounced as in more
  • /u/ is pronounced as in put

Consonants

Most consonants are similar to English, except for the following:[3]

  • r between vowels is flapped i.e. like 'd'. And if placed at the end of a word it is not voiced but trilled.
  • l between vowels is flapped i.e. like 'd'. but if not, it has the same friction as the English 'l'.
  • ng is normally pronounced as in 'sing', but if it is in the 2nd person it should be pronounced as a sequence of 'n+g'

Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns

Most nouns may show ownership this way:[3]

Possessive Pronouns
1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person
Singular -na -ni -ng
Plural -na -ni -ng


Example:

Singular Possessive Pronouns with noun 'wa'
Noun 1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person
wa (son) wana (my son) wani (your son) wang (his/her son)
Plural Possessive Pronouns with noun 'wa'
Noun 1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person
wa (son) wana (our son) wani (your son) wang (their son)

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns are shown like this:[3]

Personal Pronouns
1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person
Singular na (I) ni (You) yali (He/She/It)
Plural na (We) ni (?) (You) yali (?) (Them)

Verbs

The following is how to conjugate verbs with personal pronouns shown with an example:[3][5]

Conjugation verb 'di' (To say)
1st Person (Alone) 1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person
Singular digi (I alone say) dimgi (I say) dingi (you say) dungwi (he/her/it says)
Plural X dimgi (we say) dingi (you all say) dungwi (they say)
Conjugation verb 'di' (To say) with modal verb
1st Person (Alone) 1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person
Singular diralgi (I alone shall say) dinamgi (I shall say) dinangi (you will say) dinangwi (he/she/it will say)
Plural X dinamgi (we shall say) dinangi (you all will say) dinangwi (they will say)
Conjugation verb 'di' (To say) with an auxiliary verb and a negative inflectional suffix
1st Person (Alone) 1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person
Singular dikigi (I alone didn't say) dikimgi (I didn't say) dikingi (you didn't say) dikungw(i/o) (he/her/it didn't say)
Plural X dikimgi (we didn't say) dikingi (you all didn't say) dikungw(i/o) (they didn't say)
Conjugation verb 'di' (To say) as Interrogative sentence with auxiliary verb
1st Person (Alone) 1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person
Singular dilo (Did i alone say?) dimno (Did i say?) dino (Did you say?) dimo (Did he/she/it say?)
Plural X dimno (Did we say?) dino (Did you all say?) dimo (Did they say?)

As seen above, Salt-Yui has a special form for verbs with 'I alone'; why this is is still unknown.

Other example verbs:[3]

Example Verbs
Salt-Yui English
di/du to be (inanimate)
mol to be (animate)
ol to do
ke pai to live
ne/no to eat/to drink
te/to to give

All of these verbs can follow the previous conjugations for verbs.

Adjectives

In Salt-Yui, adjectives usually follow the noun, here are some examples of adjectives in Salt-Yui:[3][4]

Example Adjectives
Salt-Yui English
migiga small
obilga small amount
miki many
nol red/pink
mori blue/green
pege white

Numerals

There are five cardinal numerals that have been written down, which are the following:[3][4]

Cardinal Numbers
Salt-Yui English
taniga one
sutani two
suitai dire three
sui sui dire four
ana holulu five

Locatives

The following are examples of known locatives in Salt-Yui:[3]

Locatives
Salt-Yui English
yolbi down
manala under
mibi above
ala in
mala near
bina beside, edge

References

  1. ^ Salt at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Yui | Ethnologue Free at Ethnologue
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Salt-yui language (sil.org) at SIL International (1962 to 1980) (Irwin, Barry S. and Irwin, Ruth)
  4. ^ a b c Salt-Yui Swadesh List : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive made by The Rosetta Project and The Long Now Foundation (16 Sep. 2010) (If source doesn't show up click on 'Text' at 'Download Options')
  5. ^ Irwin, Barry (1974). "Salt-Yui Grammar".

Further reading

  • Glottolog 5.0 - Barry Irwin 1974 Salt-Yui Grammar by Barry Irwin. 1974, published by the Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University
  • Salt-Yui New TestamentSalt-Yui New Testament. 1978, published by the Wycliffe Bible Translators


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