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