Yabem language
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Yabem, or Jabêm, is an Austronesian language of
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
.


Overview

Yabem belongs to the division of the
Melanesian languages In linguistics, Melanesian is an obsolete term referring to the Austronesian languages of Melanesia: that is, the Oceanic, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, or Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages apart from Polynesian and Micronesian. A typi ...
spoken natively (in 1978) by about 2,000 people at
Finschhafen Finschhafen is a town east of Lae on the Huon Peninsula in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. The town is commonly misspelt as Finschafen or Finschaven. During World War II, the town was also referred to as Fitch Haven in the logs of some U.S ...
, which is on the southern tip of the
Huon Peninsula Huon Peninsula is a large rugged peninsula on the island of New Guinea in Morobe Province, eastern Papua New Guinea. It is named after French explorer Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec. The peninsula is dominated by the steep Saruwaged and Finister ...
in
Morobe Province Morobe Province is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810 (2011 census), and since the division of Southern Highlands P ...
,
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
, despite historical evidence that shows that the language originated in the northern coast. However, Yabem was adopted as local
lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
along with Kâte for evangelical and educational purposes by the German Lutheran missionaries who first arrived at Simbang, a Yabem-speaking village, in 1885. Yabem was the first language for which the missionaries created a writing system because it was the first language that they encountered when they arrived. They even created a school system to provide education for the Yabem community. By 1939, it was spoken by as many as 15,000 people and understood by as many as 100,000 (Zahn 1940). In the decade after World War II, the mission's network of schools managed to educate 30,000 students by using Yabem as the medium of instruction (Streicher 1982). Although the usage of Yabem as a local
lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
was replaced by
Tok Pisin Tok Pisin (,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh ; Tok Pisin ), often referred to by English speakers as "New Guinea Pidgin" or simply Pidgin, is a creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea. It is an ...
, which was used in informal everyday life, such as religious meetings and the workplace, and English, which was used in more formal institutions like education and government in the 1950s, Yabem remains one of the best-documented Austronesian languages, with extensive instructional and liturgical materials (including many original compositions, not just translations from German or English) as well as grammars and dictionaries. The government wanted an easier assimilation to Western culture and values and access to their superior educational resources and so English was the most efficient language of instruction. Still, the transition from the usage of Kâte and Yabem, which are languages with local origins, to Tok Pisin and English, which are languages with foreign origins, affected the dynamic of the people and their view of language and the church somewhat negatively. Yabem also shares a close relationship with the Kela and Bukawa languages. In fact, many people who speak Bukawa also speak Yabem. Ethnologue classifies the language's status as "threatened." Its alternative names include Laulabu, Jabem, Jabêm, Jabim, Yabim, and Yabêm.


Phonology


Vowels (orthographic)

Yabem distinguishes seven vowel qualities.


Consonants (orthographic)

The
glottal stop The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
, written with a ''-c'', is distinctive only at the end of syllables. The only other consonants that can occur there are labials and nasals: ''p, b, m, ŋ''. The liquid /l/ is realized as either a flap or a lateral . Syllable-structure constraints are most easily explained if labialized and prenasalized consonants are considered to be unit
phonemes In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west o ...
rather than clusters. However,
Otto Dempwolff Otto Dempwolff (25 May 1871 in Pillau, Province of Prussia – 27 November 1938, in Hamburg) was a German physician, linguist and anthropologist who specialized in the study of the Austronesian language family. Initially trained as a physician, ...
, who greatly influenced the German missionary orthographies in New Guinea, apparently did not sanction labialized labials, preferring instead to signal rounding on labials by the presence of a round mid vowel (''-o-'' or ''-ô-'') between the labial consonant and the syllable nucleus, as in vs. ''ômôêŋ'' 'you'll come' vs. ''ômêŋ'' 'he'll come' or ''ômôa'' 'you'll dwell' vs. ''ômac'' 'you'll be sick' (Dempwolff 1939). (Compare the orthographies of Sio and Kâte.)


Tone

Yabem has a simple system of
register tone Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), t ...
that distinguishes high-tone syllables from low-tone ones. In the standard orthography, high-tone syllables are unmarked, and the nuclei of low-tone syllables are marked with a grave accent, as in ''oc'' 'sun' vs. ''òc'' 'my foot' or ''uc'' 'breadfruit' vs. ''ùc'' 'hunting net'. Tone distinctions in Yabem appear to be of relatively recent origin (Bradshaw 1979) and still correlate strongly with obstruent voicing contrasts (but not in its closest relative, Bukawa). Only high tones occur in syllables with voiceless obstruents (''p, t, k''), and only low tone occurs in syllables with voiced obstruents (''b, d, g''). The fricative /s/ is voiced in low-tone syllables but voiceless in high-tone syllables. Other phonemes are neutral with respect to tone and so occur in both high-tone or low-tone environments.


Lexical categories

Yabem has nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns and adverbs. Some categories, such as verbs and nouns, are distinguishable by the types of morphology that they are able to take. Yabem nouns can take inalienable possessive suffixes, distinguishing person, number and inclusivity/exclusivity. Alienable possessives are indicated by a juxtaposed possessive word. Nouns can also take "affective" suffixes that indicate a speaker's attitude toward that thing: sympathy, affection or ridicule. Examples are from Bradshaw & Czobor (2005) unless otherwise stated: : ŋac : 'man' : ŋac-èc : man-DIM : 'dear little man' : gwad-êc : cousin-1SG.POSS : 'my cousin' : gwad-êc-sìgo : cousin-1SG.POSS-RID : 'my stupid cousin' Verbs are distinguishable by their prefixes. They can take pronominal prefixes to indicate person, number, and irrealis/realis mode, as can be seen above in the Morphology section. : kê-poa : 3SG-break : 'it breaks' Some words can function as either nouns or verbs and thus take either nominal or verbal morphology: : lac : 'a sail' : ŋoc lac : 1SG.POSS-sail : 'my sail' : ta-lac : 1PL-sail : 'we sail' Most of these are derived from the sense of the noun originally, though some appear to be derived from actions expressed by verbs: : ta-ômac : 1PL-laugh : 'we laugh' : ômac : 'laughter'


Grammatical relations and alignment

Yabem has a nominative-accusative system of alignment, as is evidenced by the pronominal prefixes that appear on verbs that always mark the subject of either a transitive or intransitive verb. There is no case-marking on the nominals themselves, and word order is typically SVO. Examples are from Bradshaw & Czobor (2005:10-34) unless otherwise noted: : ga-sô tuŋ : 1SG-tie fence : 'I tied the fence' : ga-ŋgôŋ : 1SG-sit : 'I remain' Subject prefixes can also occur with full subject pronouns, as is shown in the example below. Both bolded morphemes refer to the first-personal singular. : aê ga-ŋô aômnêm biŋ atom : 1SG 1SG-hear 2SG.POSS talk NEG : 'I didn't hear your speech' Word order (SVO) is another marker of the nominative/accusative system. Below, the first person singular free pronoun precedes the first whether it is the subject of an intransitive verb or the agent of a transitive verb. : aê ga-jam : 1SG 1SG-make.thanks :'I give thanks' :aê ge-no mo :1SG 1SG-cook taro :'I cook taro'


Voice and valency

Yabem, like many other languages of the area, both Oceanic and Papuan, has no passive voice. There is also no morphological method to create a causative. Detransitivization can be accomplished via periphrastic reflexive/reciprocal phrases, as can be seen below. Example is from Bradshaw (1999:289-91). : ma sê-kic bing sê-wing taung : and 3PL-bind word 3PL-join selves : 'and they planned together' (Lit: 'They bound words and joined each other') : ma sê-sam taung se-be Sibôma : and 3PL-call selves 3PL-say Sibôma : 'and they called themselves Sibôma'


Morphological typology

Yabem shows elements of morphological fusion and agglutination but is not very high in either respect. The primary factor determinative of fusion/agglutination degree is lexical category. Verbs, for example, take subject prefixes, which fusionally mark person, number, inclusivity (for the first person plural), realis/irrealis, and high- and have low-tone variants. Nouns also display low levels of agglutination, sometimes taking possessive suffixes. Verbal derivation is not something that occurs morphologically although nominalization does so. Some derivational morphology for nominalization can be seen below in building a noun via the agentive suffix. In the second example, the patient of a verb (in this case ''-àwêwàga'' 'woman') is combined with the agent (here ''ŋac'' 'man') to construct an agentive nominalized form. Examples are from Bradshaw & Czobor (2005:30) :ge-job-wàga :3SG-guards-AGEN :'guardian' :ŋac-gebe-ênam-àwêwàga :man-3SG.wants-he.takes-woman :'bridegroom' :


Relative clauses

Relative clauses are created by use of the demonstrative pronouns/adjectives, which come in several forms themselves. The three series above represent three degrees of proximity in the demonstratives. First series correlates to something nearest or most relevant to the 1st person (the speaker), and the second series corresponded to the 2nd person (addressee), while the third series corresponds to what is nearest or most relevant to the 3rd person (non-speech act participant). The forms beginning with ''t-'' are those that offer a specific or precise degree of evidentiality (with regard to the referent). Examples of this degree of precision can be seen below. :ŋac tonec :man PROX :'this man (near me, whom I know)' :moc onec :bird PROX :'this bird (that I heard, but cannot point out now)' :sê-moa onaŋ :3PL-stay DIST :'they stay there (near you, but not visible)' The bolded forms in the above table are the short forms of these demonstratives. They are phonologically reduced but carry no difference in meaning from the long forms. It is these short demonstratives that are used to create relative clauses. The three degrees of proximity as well as the two degrees of evidential precision still come into play when these forms are used as relative pronouns. :''aê tec ga-moa amàc ŋa-sawa nec ka-tôm ŋac-gê-jam-sakiŋ-wàga'' :1SG tec 1SG-stay 2SG 3SG.POSS-middle NEC 1SG-suffice man-3SG-do-service-agen :‘I who dwell in your midst am also one who serves’ :''ô-sôm biŋ mo-wề-ŋa ê-ndêŋ àwê taŋ gê-ngôŋ malac'' :2sg.irr-speak word taro-root-gen 3sg-reach woman taŋ 3sg-sit village :‘talk about taro shoots to the woman sitting in the village’ :''aêàc a-pi waŋ taŋ dêbu-c'' :1pl 1pl-ascend canoe taŋ grandfather-1sg.poss :‘we’ll board a canoe whose sideboards :''ke-to ŋa-lêsiŋ naŋ'' :3sg-paint 3sg.poss-sideboard naŋ :my grandfather painted’ It is of note that the t- pronoun may precede the n- form, or two n-/n- forms may co-occur, but the n- form may never precede the t- form. This means that taŋ…naŋ and naŋ…naŋ are acceptable but not *naŋ…taŋ.


Serial verb constructions

Yabem has a rich serial verb construction system (SVC). It incorporates both different subject (switch-subject) SVCs and same subject SVCs. The SVC system is symmetrical. The two verbs of the SVC must agree in mode (realis/irrealis) and must have the same object if they are transitive. Semantic usages include directionals, resultatives, causatives, comitatives and adverbial modifiers: :''sê-janda moc sê-moa gwêc'' :3pl-hunt bird 3pl-stay at.sea :‘they hunted birds at sea’ :''sê-lac sê-na gwêc'' :3pl-sail 3pl-go at.sea :‘they’ll sail out to sea’ :''ta-sêwa ŋop ê-nêc malaclùŋ'' :1pl.incl-pour.out betel.lime 3sg.irr-lie village.plaza :‘we’ll pour out the betel lime in the village plaza’ :''ka-siŋ i ga-wiŋ teo-c-àc'' :1sg-catch fish 1sg-accompany older.brother-1sg.poss-coll :‘I caught fish with my older brothers’


Morphology


Pronouns and person markers


Free pronouns

First person plural inclusive and exclusive are not distinguished in the free pronouns, but are distinguished in the subject prefixes and the genitives.


Genitive pronouns

The short, underdifferentiated genitive forms are often disambiguated by adding the free pronoun in front.


Subject prefixes on verbs

Verbs are prefixed to show the person and number of their subjects. (The 1st person plural exclusive and 2nd person plural prefixes are homophonous but can be disambiguated by using the free pronouns in subject position.) The singular prefixes also distinguish
Realis A realis mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentences. Mos ...
and
Irrealis In linguistics, irrealis moods (abbreviated ) are the main set of grammatical moods that indicate that a certain situation or action is not known to have happened at the moment the speaker is talking. This contrasts with the realis moods. Every ...
mood (which usually translates to Nonfuture vs.
Future tense In grammar, a future tense (abbreviated ) is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. An example of a future tense form is the French ''aimera'', meaning ...
). Each prefix also has a high-tone (H) and a low-tone (L) allomorph to meet the tone requirements of each of five conjugation classes.


Possessed nouns


Alienable vs. inalienable possession

Preposed genitive pronouns are used to mark
alienable possession In linguistics, inalienable possession (abbreviated ) is a type of possession in which a noun is obligatorily possessed by its possessor. Nouns or nominal affixes in an inalienable possession relationship cannot exist independently or be "alie ...
by humans, as in ''ŋoc àndu'' 'my house', ''nêm i'' 'your fish', ''nê jàc'' 'his brother-in-law (wife's brother)'.
Inalienable possession In linguistics, inalienable possession (abbreviated ) is a type of possession in which a noun is obligatorily possessed by its possessor. Nouns or nominal affixes in an inalienable possession relationship cannot exist independently or be "alie ...
is marked by suffixes directly on the nouns denoting the possessions, which are typically kinship relations and body parts. The underdifferentiated suffixes are often disambiguated by adding the free pronoun in front of the suffixed noun. The final ''-i'' on the plurals of kin terms is a distributive marker, indicating some but not all of the class to which the noun refers.


Inherent possession

Genitive relations for other than humans are not marked by either the genitive pronouns (for alienables) or the genitive suffixes (for inalienables). Instead, inherent possession of nouns as progeny or parts of wholes is marked by a prefix ''ŋa-'', as in ''(ka) ŋalaka'' '(tree) branch', ''(lôm) ŋatau'' '(men's house) owner', and ''(talec) ŋalatu'' '(hen's) chick'. The same is true of adjectives (attributes of other entities) when derived from nouns, as in ''ŋadani'' 'thick, dense' (< ''dani'' 'thicket') or ''ŋalemoŋ'' 'muddy, soft' (< ''lemoŋ'' 'mud'). Other genitive constructions Nouns denoting persons use a genitive suffix of -''nê'' in the singular and -''nêŋ.'' ''Apômtau-nê intêna'' lord-gen his.way 'of the lord's way' The plural version of the suffix is applied to plural nouns or singular nouns that are plural in meaning. ''lau-nêŋ kôm'' people-gen field 'the people's field'


Compounds

Compound nouns are often composed of two parts, the first of which is the genitive of the second. ''ja-dauŋ'' fire-smoke 'smoke of a fire' Sometimes the compounds are metaphorical in their meaning. ''bu-mata'' water-eye 'spring (of water)' Some compounds include a possessive suffix on the first element of the compound. ''môkê-c-lauŋ'' head-1s.poss-hair 'my head's hair' = 'my head hair' ''lusô-m-sùŋ'' nose-2s.poss-hole 'your nose's hole' = 'your nostril' Some elements of these body part compounds exist only within the compound. ''bô-c-dagi'' ?-1s.poss-chest 'my chest' ''bô-n-dagi'' ?-2s.poss-chest 'your chest' ''tê-∅-tac'' belly-3s.poss-? 'his belly' ''tê-n-tac'' belly-2s.poss-? 'your belly' Less common are compounds that do not expression possessive, but some other kind of genitive relationship, such as apposition. ''lau-sìŋ'' people-sword/fight lit. 'people of the sword' = 'warriors' ''nom-ku'' earth-pot 'clay for pots'


Numerals

Traditional counting practices started with the digits of one hand, then continued on the other hand, and then the feet to reach '20', which translates as 'one person'. Higher numbers are multiples of 'one person'. Nowadays, most counting above '5' is done in Tok Pisin. As in other
Huon Gulf languages The Huon Gulf languages are Western Oceanic languages spoken primarily in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. They may form a group of the North New Guinea languages, perhaps within the Ngero–Vitiaz branch of that family. Unusually for Oceani ...
, an alternate form of the numeral '1' ''(teŋ)'' functions as an indefinite article. The numeral ''luagêc'' '2' can similarly function as an indefinite plural indicating 'a couple, a few, some'. The numeral root ''ta'' '1' suffixed with the adverbial marker ''-geŋ'' renders 'one, only one', while the numeral '2' similarly suffixed ''(luàgêc-geŋ)'' renders 'only a few'. Reduplicated numerals form distributives: ''tageŋ-tageŋ'' 'one by one', ''têlêàc-têlêàc'' 'in threes', etc.


Vocabulary

Due to the limited amount of consonants and vowels in the Yabem language, pronunciation is critical in order to get the correct meaning across. In some cases, simply changing the accent on a letter can change the meaning of a word entirely. *Table taken from Tonogeneis in the North Huon Gulf Chain by Malcolm D. Ross


References

* Bisang, Walter (1986). "Die Verb-Serialisierung im Jabêm." ''Lingua'' 70:131–162. * Bradshaw, Joel (1979). "Obstruent harmony and tonogenesis in Jabêm." ''Lingua'' 49:189–205. * Bradshaw, Joel (1983). "Dempwolff’s description of verb serialization in Yabem." In Amram Halim, Lois Carrington, and S. A. Wurm, eds., ''Papers from the Third International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics,'' vol. 4, ''Thematic variation,'' 177–198. Series C-77. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. * Bradshaw, Joel (1993). "Subject relationships within serial verb constructions in Numbami and Jabêm." ''Oceanic Linguistics'' 32:133–161. * Bradshaw, Joel (1998). "Squib: Another look at velar lenition and tonogenesis in Jabêm." ''Oceanic Linguistics'' 37:178-181. * Bradshaw, Joel (1999). "Null subjects, switch-reference, and serialization in Jabêm and Numbami." ''Oceanic Linguistics'' 38:270–296. * Bradshaw, Joel (2001). "The elusive shape of the realis/irrealis distinction in Jabêm." In Joel Bradshaw and Kenneth L. Rehg, eds., ''Issues in Austronesian morphology: A focusschrift for Byron W. Bender,'' 75–85. Pacific Linguistics 519. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. * Bradshaw, Joel, and Francisc Czobor (2005). ''Otto Dempwolff's grammar of the Jabêm language in New Guinea.'' Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication No. 32. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. * Dempwolff, Otto (1939). ''Grammatik der Jabêm-Sprache auf Neuguinea.'' Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiet der Auslandskunde, vol. 50. Hamburg: Friederichsen de Gruyter. * Ross, Malcolm (1993). "Tonogenesis in the North Huon Gulf chain." In Jerold A. Edmondson and Kenneth J. Gregerson, eds., ''Tonality in Austronesian languages,'' 133–153. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication No. 24. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. * Streicher, J. F. (1982). ''Jabêm–English dictionary.'' Series C-68. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. (First compiled by Heinrich Zahn in 1917; later translated and revised by J. F. Streicher.) * Zahn, Heinrich (1940). ''Lehrbuch der Jabêmsprache (Deutsch-Neuguinea).'' Zeitschrift für Eingeborenen-Sprache, Beiheft 21. Berlin: Reimer.


External links


Yabem Wordlist at the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
*
Paradisec The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) is a cross-institutional project that supports work on endangered languages and cultures of the Pacific and the region around Australia. They digitise reel-to ...
has two collections of
Arthur Capell Arthur Capell (28 March 1902 – 10 August 1986) was an Australian linguist, who made major contributions to the study of Australian languages, Austronesian languages and Papuan languages. Early life Capell was born in Newtown, New South Wales ...
's materials
AC1AC2
, which include Yabem language materials *
Paradisec The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) is a cross-institutional project that supports work on endangered languages and cultures of the Pacific and the region around Australia. They digitise reel-to ...
's Malcolm Ross collectio
includes Yabem language materials
*
Paradisec The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) is a cross-institutional project that supports work on endangered languages and cultures of the Pacific and the region around Australia. They digitise reel-to ...
's collection of Meinrad Scheller's field recording
includes Yabem language materials


Bibliography

* Bisang, Walter (1986). "Die Verb-Serialisierung im Jabêm." ''Lingua'' 70:131–162. * Bradshaw, Joel (1979). "Obstruent harmony and tonogenesis in Jabêm." ''Lingua'' 49:189–205. * Bradshaw, Joel (1983). "Dempwolff’s description of verb serialization in Yabem." In Amram Halim, Lois Carrington, and S. A. Wurm, eds., ''Papers from the Third International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics,'' vol. 4, ''Thematic variation,'' 177–198. Series C-77. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. * Bradshaw, Joel (1993). "Subject relationships within serial verb constructions in Numbami and Jabêm." ''Oceanic Linguistics'' 32:133–161. * Bradshaw, Joel (1998). "Squib: Another look at velar lenition and tonogenesis in Jabêm." ''Oceanic Linguistics'' 37:178-181. * Bradshaw, Joel (1999). "Null subjects, switch-reference, and serialization in Jabêm and Numbami." ''Oceanic Linguistics'' 38:270–296. * Bradshaw, Joel (2001). "The elusive shape of the realis/irrealis distinction in Jabêm." In Joel Bradshaw and Kenneth L. Rehg, eds., ''Issues in Austronesian morphology: A focusschrift for Byron W. Bender,'' 75–85. Pacific Linguistics 519. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. * Bradshaw, Joel, and Francisc Czobor (2005). ''Otto Dempwolff's grammar of the Jabêm language in New Guinea.'' Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication No. 32. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. * Dempwolff, Otto (1939). ''Grammatik der Jabêm-Sprache auf Neuguinea.'' Abhandlungen aus dem Gebiet der Auslandskunde, vol. 50. Hamburg: Friederichsen de Gruyter. * Ross, Malcolm (1993). "Tonogenesis in the North Huon Gulf chain." In Jerold A. Edmondson and Kenneth J. Gregerson, eds., ''Tonality in Austronesian languages,'' 133–153. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication No. 24. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press. * Streicher, J. F. (1982). ''Jabêm–English dictionary.'' Series C-68. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. (First compiled by Heinrich Zahn in 1917; later translated and revised by J. F. Streicher.) * Zahn, Heinrich (1940). ''Lehrbuch der Jabêmsprache (Deutsch-Neuguinea).'' Zeitschrift für Eingeborenen-Sprache, Beiheft 21. Berlin: Reimer.


External links


Yabem Wordlist
at the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database North Huon Gulf languages Languages of Morobe Province Tonal languages in non-tonal families