Yelmek

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

Situation

[under construction]

The language most commonly known as Yelmek (Jélmèk) in the literature is spoken by 350 people (1950) living in at least four villages, Yelwayab on the Wanam River, Woboyu, Dudaling and Bibikem … (Drabbe 1950: 549, q.v. Boelaars 1950: 19, 25.) Properly speaking, Yelmek is only one of four subgroups of the language, alongside Yab (Jab,) Nggarum and Dib (Drabbe 1950: CITE, Nevermann 1952: CITE.)

Dialects

[under construction]

Drabbe (1950: CITE) and Nevermann (1952: CITE) recognize three or four dialects of Yelmek as follows:

Sources

Geurtjens (1933: 398-433) 455 comparative terms for Jab(sch)

Drabbe (1950) grammar and (pp. 566-574) 417 comparative terms for Jélmèk of Jélwàjab village

Nevermann (1952) ethnographic notes, language notes and up to (pp. 81-82) 90 comparative terms for Jab(ga) of Bibikem and Imbáke villages, Galum (Nggarum) of Wobui and Dudalem villages, Dib(ga) of Dib village, and Ilwajab village

Phonology

Drabbe (1950: 549) gives 11 consonants and 8 vowels for Jélmèk as follows:

m n ŋ
p t k
mb nd
w l j
i y u
e ə o
ɛ
a

[under construction]

Pronouns

Drabbe (1950: 550-551) gives pronouns for Jélmèk in four case forms as follows:

subjectobliqueposs. subjectposs. oblique
1 sg.ŋəl ŋəl-əl ŋl-awk ŋl-ak-i
2 sg.aw aw-ol aw-awk aw-awk-i
3 sg.ew eb-i eb-awk eb-awk-i
1 pl.ŋag ŋag-ol ŋ-awk ŋ-awk-i
2 pl.ɛl ɛl-el ɛl-awk ɛl-awk-i
3 pl.em em-i em-awk em-awk-i

Verbal morphology

[under construction]

Drabbe (1950: 557-559, 560-561) gives full desinence paradigms for four Jélmèk verbs /mɛ-/ “break rope”, /ŋoli-/ “carry”, /(a)li-/ “ask for” and suppletive stem /-wɛ- (a)kəlm-/ “come”, as well as the highly irregular verb “be”, in three tenses.

Present tense forms are given as follows:

break ropecarry ask for come
mɛ- ŋoli- -li- -wɛg-
1 sg.-ama/-mɛ mɛ-mɛ ŋoli-ama po-li-amak-wɛg-ama
2 sg.-a/-aga/-ømɛ-ø ŋoli-a nə-li-a k-wɛg-aga
3 sg.-a/-ø mɛ-ø ŋoli-a nə-li-a k-wɛg-a
1 pl.-a/-ø mɛ-ø ŋoli-a ko-li-a k-wɛg-a
2 pl.-aga/-a mɛ-ga ŋoli-a'ganə-li-agak-wɛg-a
3 pl.-a/-aga/-ømɛ-ø ŋoli-a nə-li-a k-wɛg-aga

The present tense forms of “be” appear to be entirely irregular:

be
1 sg.pamu
2 sg.kaməwɛ
3 sg.kəm
1 pl.paŋow
2 pl.kaŋoga
3 pl.ŋape

Past tense forms are given as follows:

break ropecarry ask for come be
mɛ- ŋoli- -li- -wɛ-/-kəlm- mjei-/ŋwai-
1 sg.mɛ-pma ŋoli-pma wo-li-pma wɛ-gɛni mjei-ma
2 sg.mɛ-pwɛ ŋoli-pu'a nə-li-pu'awɛ-gɛni-a mjei-wa
3 sg.mɛ-pə ŋoli-pu wa-li-pu k-wɛ-gɛni mjei-ø
1 pl.mɛ-pə ŋoli-pu wo-li-pu pa-kəlm-ani ŋwai-ma
2 pl.mɛ-puga ŋoli-pu'gawo-lu-pu'aka-kəlm-anigaŋwai-ga
3 pl.mɛ-pə ŋoli-pu ŋa-li-pu ke-kəlm-ani ŋwai-ø

Future tense forms are given as follows:

break ropecarry ask forcome be
mɛ- ŋoli- ali- wɛmo-/akəlm-ŋajak-
1 sg.mɛ-ka ŋoli-kaali-ka wɛmo-ka ŋaja-ka
2 sg.mɛ-ø ŋoli-ø ali-ø wɛmo-ø ŋajak-ø
3 sg.mɛ-p ŋoli-p ali-p wɛmo-p ŋajak-əp
1 pl.mɛ-pɛ ŋoli-paali-pa akəlm-eka ŋajak-pa
2 pl.mɛ-gɛ ŋoli-goali-go akəlm-ege ŋajak-go
3 pl.mɛ-pɛ ŋoli-paali-pa akəlm-ep ŋajak-pa