Yessan-Mayo language explained

Yessan-Mayo language should not be confused with Mayo language.

Yessan-Mayo
Nativename:	Yamano
Region:	East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
Date:	2000 census
Ref:	e25
Familycolor:	Papuan
Fam1:	Sepik
Fam2:	Tama
Iso3:	yss
Glotto:	yess1239
Glottorefname:	Yessan-Mayo

Yessan-Mayo (also known as Yesan, Mayo, and natively known as Yamano) is a Papuan language spoken by 2000 people in Papua New Guinea. It is spoken in Maio (-4.2138°N 142.6759°W) and Yessan (-4.219°N 142.6666°W) villages of Yessan ward, Ambunti Rural LLG, East Sepik Province.^{[1] [2]}

Phonology

The phonology of Yessan-Mayo is described in Foley (2018)^[3] as such:

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close		pronounced as /link/
Mid		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Open	pronounced as /link/

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
Plosive			pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Fricative		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/				pronounced as /link/
Nasal		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Trill			pronounced as /link/
Approximant			pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/

Pronouns

Foreman (1974)^[4] describes two kinds of pronouns in Yessan-Mayo: non-emphatic and emphatic pronouns.

In addition to the non-emphatic pronouns, there is also the reflexive pronoun kwarara (self), as well as the demonstrative pronouns op (this) and otop (that).

Non-emphatic

		singular	dual	plural
1st person		an	nis	nim
2nd person		ni	kep	kom
3rd person	male	ri	rip	rim
	female	ti

Emphatic

		singular	dual	plural
1st person		arin	nisis	nirim
2nd person		nirin	kerip	kerim
3rd person	male	atar	atep	atem
	female	atat

External links

• Paradisec has a collection of Don Laycock's (DL2) that includes Yessan-Mayo language materials.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Papua New Guinea languages . Ethnologue

   Languages of the World

   . 22nd . Eberhard . David M. . Simons . Gary F. . Fennig . Charles D. . 2019 . Dallas . SIL International.
2. Web site: Papua New Guinea Village Coordinates Lookup . United Nations in Papua New Guinea . Humanitarian Data Exchange . 1.31.9 . 2018.
3. Book: Foley, William A. . William A. Foley

   . William A. Foley . Palmer . Bill . 2018 . The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide . The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs . The World of Linguistics . 4 . Berlin . De Gruyter Mouton . 197-432 . 978-3-11-028642-7.

4. Book: Foreman, Velma. Grammar of Yessan-Mayo. 1974. Summer Institute of Linguistics. Santa Ana, California. 0883122049. registration. Internet Archive.