Bulaka River languages

The Bulaka River languages are a pair of closely related Papuan languages, Yelmek and Maklew, on the Bulaka River in Indonesian West Papua. They are ethnically Yab (Jab); their speech is Yabga (Jabga).

Bulaka River
Yelmek–Maklew Jabga
Ethnicity	Jab (Yab)
Geographic distribution	Tubang and Ilwayab subdistricts, Bulaka River watershed, Merauke Regency, Papua
Linguistic classification	One of the world's primary language families
Subdivisions	Yelmek Maklew
Glottolog	bula1259
Map: The Bulaka River languages of New Guinea   The Bulaka River languages   Trans–New Guinea languages   Other Papuan languages   Austronesian languages   Uninhabited

Languages

Yelmek is spoken west of Merauke, between the Digul River and Mbian River, (from north to south) in the villages of Wanam, Bibikem, Woboyo, and Dodalim.

Maklew is spoken in Welbuti village.[1] The former two villages are located in Ilwayab subdistrict, and the latter three in Tubang subdistrict.

Classification

The two languages are transparently related. Ross (2005) tentatively included them in the proposed Trans-Fly – Bulaka River family, but Usher, who reconstructs that family, does not connect Bulaka River to any other language family.[2]

Phonology

Usher (2020) reconstructs the consonant inventory as follows.[2] Although the modern inventories of Yelmek and Maklew are nearly identical, the lack of a one-to-one correspondence between them suggests the ancestral inventory was somewhat larger. Usher posits a series of palatal consonants *ɲ *c *ɟ to handle the correspondences of alveolar in Yelmek with velar in Maklew (n~ŋ, t~k, d~g), plus *j for j~s, *w for w~h, *ɣ̃ for ŋ~h, and *s for t~s (found in loans).

*m	*n	*ɲ	*ŋ
*p	*t	*c	*k
*b	*d	*ɟ	*g
	[*s]
*w	*l	*j	*ɣ̃

*i		*u
*e	*ə	*o
	*a

Pronouns

Usher (2020) reconstructs the pronouns as:[2]

	sg	pl
1	*ŋ[e]l	*ŋag
2	*au (?)	*ale (?)
3	*eb	*em[e]l

References

1. Evans, Nicholas (2018). "The languages of Southern New Guinea". In Palmer, Bill (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide. The World of Linguistics. 4. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 641–774. ISBN 978-3-11-028642-7.
2. New Guinea World: Bulaka River

External links

• Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Proto–Bulaka River