Salt-Yui language


Salt, or Yui, is a Trans–New Guinea language of Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea.

Basics

The following are some basic examples of phrases and nouns in Salt-Yui:
Salt-YuiEnglish translation or meaning
yahunoBasic greeting
ere poBasic farewell
na hana ___my name is ___
na pimgii understand
ni han dalotell me your name
akiodon't touch this

Pronunciation

Vowels

The following is how you pronounce certain vowels in Salt-Yui:
  • /a/ is pronounced as in father
  • /e/ is pronounced as in peg
  • /i/ is pronounced as in tin
  • /o/ is pronounced as in more
  • /u/ is pronounced as in put

    Consonants

Most consonants are similar to English, except for the following:
  • r between vowels is flapped i.e. like 'd'. And if placed at the end of a word it is not voiced but trilled.
  • l between vowels is flapped i.e. like 'd'. but if not, it has the same friction as the English 'l'.
  • ng is normally pronounced as in 'sing', but if it is in the 2nd person it should be pronounced as a sequence of 'n+g'

    Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns">Possessive pronouns">Possessive Pronouns

Most nouns may show ownership this way:
1st Person2nd Person3rd Person
Singular-na-ni-ng
Plural-na-ni-ng

Example:
Noun1st Person2nd Person3rd Person
wa wana wani wang

Personal Pronouns">Personal pronoun">Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns are shown like this:
1st Person2nd Person3rd Person
Singularna ni yali
Pluralna ni yali

Verbs

The following is how to conjugate verbs with personal pronouns shown with an example:
1st Person 1st Person2nd Person3rd Person
Singulardigi dimgi dingi dungwi
PluralXdimgi dingi dungwi

1st Person 1st Person2nd Person3rd Person
Singulardikigi dikimgi dikingi dikungw
PluralXdikimgi dikingi dikungw

As seen above, Salt-Yui has a special form for verbs with 'I alone'; why this is is still unknown.
Other example verbs:
Salt-YuiEnglish
di/duto be
molto be
olto do
ke paito live
ne/noto eat/to drink
te/toto give

All of these verbs can follow the previous conjugations for verbs.

Adjectives

In Salt-Yui, adjectives usually follow the noun, here are some examples of adjectives in Salt-Yui:
Salt-YuiEnglish
migigasmall
obilgasmall amount
mikimany
nolred/pink
moriblue/green
pegewhite

Numerals

There are five cardinal numerals that have been written down, which are the following:
Salt-YuiEnglish
tanigaone
sutanitwo
suitai direthree
sui sui direfour
ana holulufive

Locatives

The following are examples of known locatives in Salt-Yui:
Salt-YuiEnglish
yolbidown
manalaunder
mibiabove
alain
malanear
binabeside, edge