[3] However, Yabem was adopted as local lingua franca along with Kâte[4] for evangelical and educational purposes by the German Lutheran missionaries who first arrived at Simbang, a Yabem-speaking village, in 1885.
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 was replaced by Tok Pisin, which was used in informal everyday life, such as religious meetings and the workplace,[6] and English, which was used in more formal institutions like education and government in the 1950s,[4] 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.
Syllable-structure constraints are most easily explained if labialized and prenasalized consonants are considered to be unit phonemes rather than clusters.
Examples are from Bradshaw & Czobor (2005) unless otherwise stated: ŋac-ècman-DIMŋac-ècman-DIM'dear little man'gwad-êccousin-1SG.POSSgwad-êccousin-1SG.POSS'my cousin'gwad-êc-sìgocousin-1SG.POSS-RIDgwad-êc-sìgocousin-1SG.POSS-RID'my stupid cousin' Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);Verbs are distinguishable by their prefixes.
aê1SGga-ŋô1SG-hearaômnêm2SG.POSSbiŋtalkatomNEGaê ga-ŋô aômnêm biŋ atom1SG 1SG-hear 2SG.POSS talk NEG'I didn't hear your speech'Word order (SVO) is another marker of the nominative/accusative system.
aê1SGga-jam1SG-make.thanksaê ga-jam1SG 1SG-make.thanks'I give thanks'aê1SGge-no1SG-cookmotaroaê ge-no mo1SG 1SG-cook taro'I cook taro'Yabem, like many other languages of the area, both Oceanic and Papuan, has no passive voice.
'They bound words and joined each other')maandsê-sam3PL-calltaungselvesse-be3PL-saySibômaSibômama sê-sam taung se-be Sibômaand 3PL-call selves 3PL-say Sibôma'and they called themselves Sibôma'Yabem shows elements of morphological fusion and agglutination but is not very high in either respect.
The forms beginning with t- are those that offer a specific or precise degree of evidentiality (with regard to the referent).
[9] ŋacmantonecPROXŋac tonecman PROX'this man (near me, whom I know)' Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);mocbirdonecPROXmoc onecbird PROX'this bird (that I heard, but cannot point out now)' Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);sê-moa3PL-stayonaŋDISTsê-moa onaŋ3PL-stay DIST'they stay there (near you, but not visible)'The bolded forms in the above table are the short forms of these demonstratives.
aê1SGtectecga-moa1SG-stayamàc2SGŋa-sawa3SG.POSS-middlenecNECka-tôm1SG-sufficeŋac-gê-jam-sakiŋ-wàgaman-3SG-do-service-agenaê tec ga-moa amàc ŋa-sawa nec ka-tôm ŋac-gê-jam-sakiŋ-wàga1SG 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-sôm2sg.irr-speakbiŋwordmo-wề-ŋataro-root-genê-ndêŋ3sg-reachàwêwomantaŋtaŋgê-ngôŋ3sg-sitmalacvillageô-sôm biŋ mo-wề-ŋa ê-ndêŋ àwê taŋ gê-ngôŋ malac2sg.irr-speak word taro-root-gen 3sg-reach woman taŋ 3sg-sit village'talk about taro shoots to the woman sitting in the village'aêàc1pla-pi1pl-ascendwaŋcanoetaŋtaŋdêbu-cgrandfather-1sg.posske-to3sg-paintŋa-lêsiŋ3sg.poss-sideboardnaŋnaŋaêàc a-pi waŋ taŋ dêbu-c ke-to ŋa-lêsiŋ naŋ1pl 1pl-ascend canoe taŋ grandfather-1sg.poss 3sg-paint 3sg.poss-sideboard naŋ'we’ll board a canoe whose sideboards 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.
Semantic usages include directionals, resultatives, causatives, comitatives and adverbial modifiers: sê-janda3pl-huntmocbirdsê-moa3pl-staygwêcat.seasê-janda moc sê-moa gwêc3pl-hunt bird 3pl-stay at.sea'they hunted birds at sea'sê-lac3pl-sailsê-na3pl-gogwêcat.seasê-lac sê-na gwêc3pl-sail 3pl-go at.sea'they’ll sail out to sea'ta-sêwa1pl.incl-pour.outŋopbetel.limeê-nêc3sg.irr-liemalaclùŋvillage.plazata-sêwa ŋop ê-nêc malaclùŋ1pl.incl-pour.out betel.lime 3sg.irr-lie village.plaza'we'll pour out the betel lime in the village plaza'ka-siŋ1sg-catchifishga-wiŋ1sg-accompanyteo-c-àcolder.brother-1sg.poss-collka-siŋ i ga-wiŋ teo-c-àc1sg-catch fish 1sg-accompany older.brother-1sg.poss-coll'I caught fish with my older brothers'First-person plural inclusive and exclusive are not distinguished in the free pronouns, but are distinguished in the subject prefixes and the genitives.
The singular prefixes also distinguish realis and irrealis mood (which usually translates to nonfuture vs. future tense).
[11] Preposed genitive pronouns are used to mark alienable possession by humans, as in ŋoc àndu 'my house', nêm i 'your fish', nê jàc 'his brother-in-law (wife's brother)'.
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.
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').
As in other Huon Gulf languages, an alternate form of the numeral 'one' (teŋ) functions as an indefinite article.
[9]: 52–54 Due to the limited amount of consonants and vowels in the Yabem language, pronunciation is critical in order to get the correct meaning across.