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Nyelâyu (Yâlayu), also known as Nyalâyu, is a Kanak language of northern New Caledonia, spoken by approximately 2,000 speakers. There are two dialects that are not mutually intelligible. Pooc (or Haat) is spoken in the Belep islands, which are located just north of Grande Terre. Puma (or Paak or Ovac) is spoken in the northernmost regions of New Caledonia in the areas around Poum in the west and Pouébo and Balade in the east.
| Nyelâyu | |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | [jãlɑjʊ] |
| Native to | New Caledonia |
Native speakers | 2,000 (2009 census)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | yly |
| Glottolog | nyal1254 Nyalayu/Belepbala1316 Balade |
| ELP | Belep |
 Nyâlayu is not endangered according to the classification system of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Phonology
editConsonants
edit| Labiovelar | Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | plain | pʷ | p | t | c | k | |
| aspirated | pʰʷ | pʰ | tʰ | cʰ | kʰ | ||
| prenasalized | ᵐbʷ | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮɟ | ᵑg | ||
| Nasals | plain | mʷ | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| aspirated | mʰʷ | mʰ | nʰ | ɲʰ | |||
| Fricatives | β | ɣ (x) | h | ||||
| Semivowels | plain | w | j | ||||
| aspirated | wʰ | jʰ | |||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
| Laterals | l lʰ l᷉ | ||||||
Voiceless stops, nasals, and approximants exhibit a contrast of aspiration exhibited in the following examples.
- pe [pe] "ray fish" || phe [pʰe] "sharpening stone"
- teec [teec] "scorching" || theec [tʰeec] "washed up"
- nu [nu] "coconut palm" || nhu [nʰu] "hot"
Aspirated consonants are very subtly marked. Aspiration seems to be a prosodic trait that affects the overall realization of the syllable by lowering the register of the voice.[2]
Vowels
edit| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i (y) iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e (ø) eː | o oː | |
| Open | a aː |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | ĩ ĩː | ũ ũː | |
| Mid | ẽ ẽː | õ õː | |
| Open | ã ãː |
The vowels /y/ and /ø/ are in parentheses, because they are very rare and appear only in a few words.[2]
Notes
edit- ^ Nyelâyu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ a b Ozanne-Rivierre (1998).
References
edit- Ozanne-Rivierre, Françoise (1998). Le Nyelâyu de Balade (Nouvelle-Calédonie). Paris: Peeters Press.
- McCracken, Chelsea (2013). A grammar of Belep (Doctor of Philosophy thesis). Rice University. hdl:1911/71287.
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