Bulaka River languages
| Bulaka River | |
|---|---|
| Yelmek–Maklew Jabga | |
| Ethnicity | Jab (Yab) |
| Geographic distribution | New Guinea |
| Linguistic classification | primary language family |
| Subdivisions | |
| Glottolog | bula1259 |
 Map: The Bulaka River languages of New Guinea
The Bulaka River languages
Trans–New Guinea languages
Other Papuan languages
Austronesian languages
Uninhabited | |
The Bulaka River languages are a pair of closely related Papuan languages, Yelmek and Maklew, on the Bulaka River in Indonesian West Papua. They are ethnically Yab (Jab); their speech is Yabga (Jabga). Ross (2005) tentatively includes them in the proposed Trans-Fly – Bulaka River family, but Usher, who reconstructs the family, retains Bulaka River as a primary language family.[1]
Pronouns
The pronouns Ross reconstructs for the family are,
- Proto–Bulaka River
I *ŋöl we *ŋag thou *ob you *el s/he *ib they *im
References
- Ross, Malcolm (2005). "Pronouns as a preliminary diagnostic for grouping Papuan languages". In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Robin Hide; Jack Golson (eds.). Papuan pasts: cultural, linguistic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. 15–66. ISBN 0858835622. OCLC 67292782.