The Yele language, or Yélî Dnye (IPA: [ˈjelɯ ʈɳʲɛ]), is the language of Rossel Island, the easternmost island in the Louisiade Archipelago off the eastern tip of Papua New Guinea.
Typologically it is more similar to the Oceanic languages of southern New Guinea than to the isolates of New Britain.
Usher classifies it as an Oceanic language, with regular sound correspondences obscured by the development of the doubly articulated consonants.
Altogether, there are 58 attested consonants (56 demonstrated with solid minimal pairs) and one more that is somewhat dubious.
/ʈɳ/ (orthographic dn) is only attested from the inflectional clitic -dniye, and it is not clear that it is distinct from well-attested palatalized /ʈɳʲ/ (for *-dnyiye) (Levinson 2022:45).
(Possibly redundant y or w are found in the sequences iy and uw followed by most short vowels.)
The labial-velar and labial-coronal consonants are written with the labial second: kp /k͡p/, dp /ʈ͡p/, tp /t̪͡p/, ngm /ŋ͡m/, nm /ɳ͡m/, ńm /n̪͡m/, lv /l͡βʲ/.
Nasal release is likewise written n or m, as in dny /ʈɳʲ/, kn /kŋ/, dm /ʈ͡pɳ͡m/, km /k͡pŋ͡m/.
Yele has eleven postpositions equivalent to English on; using different ones depending factors such as whether the object is on a table (horizontal), a wall (vertical), or atop a peak; whether or not it is attached to the surface; and whether it is solid or granular (distributed).
[citation needed] Additionally, special registers and terms are used when discussing shell money (kêndapî), at a mortuary feast (kpaakpaa) and during songs.