Yelmek

Yelmek is spoken by about 1,000 people in the Merauke Regency of South Papua Province in eastern Indonesia. It belongs to the proposed Trans-Fly-Bulaka River language family. In particular, it is spoken in the villages of Wanam and Bibikem in the Ilwayab District, and in Woboyo and Dodalim in the Tubang District.

Yelmek is also known as Jelmek, Jelmik, Jab or Yabega. Dialects include Yelmek proper, Yab, Nggarum and Dib. There is no standard way to write Yelmek, and it is rarely written. The orthography shown below is proposed Tina Gregor in her thesis A documentation and description of Yelmek (2021).

Yelmek alphabet

Yelmek alphabet

Download an alphabet chart for Yelmek (Excel)

Sample text

num Lolondu eko kai ngame. ah wigle ngem-nek km yang-mega ida-ngop. gaga ima-nek-i ma im-ka. Lolondu bak-i ngi ma yum-ka. atel kl ebi kaya ngomko-a. wikde atel kl ngomko-a. kaya wolk wedepu. kaya wolk wedepu. adak ma te-ka-na. yeka te wedepu ebi e-kedak dapu. eben ka wolk wedepu. aya pa ng-elape-a.

Translation

There is a dog Lolondu. Good morning children, father. I will tell a story. Lolondu's I will tell. She went into labour. At night, belly bite was biting (her). She was walking around. She was walking around. "Where will I enter?" She tried to enter the house here at the back. Then she went. She exited.

Source: A documentation and description of Yelmek

Information about Yelmek | Numbers

Links

Information about the Yelmek language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yelmek_language
A documentation and description of Yelmek
https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/Yelmek.htm
http://www.language-archives.org/language/jel

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 10.07.24. Last modified: 10.07.24

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