Yamdena language

Yamdena
Yamdena
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Maluku Islands
Native speakers	69,000 (2023)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (MP) Central–Eastern MP Kei–Tanimbar Yamdena–North Bomberai Yamdena; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	jmd
Glottolog	yamd1240

Yamdena is an Austronesian language of Yamdena and surrounding islands in the Maluku Islands in Indonesia. In 1991, there were an estimated 25,000 speakers of the language.^{[citation needed]} Current BPS data has the present number of speakers at 69,000.^{[citation needed]}^[when?]

Phonology

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k
	voiced	b	d
	prenasal	ᵐp	ⁿd
Fricative		f	s
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Rhotic			r
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		j

Stops /b, t/ can very rarely be realized as coarticulated sounds [ɡ͡b, k͡t] by some speakers.
/m/ can be heard as voiceless [m̥] in free variation when before initial voiceless stops, or after voiceless stops.
/ŋ/ is heard as labialized [ŋʷ] when occurring before liquids, or in word-final position.
/r/ can be heard as [ɺ] in free variation intervocalically, and as [ɾ] when before voiceless consonants.
/d, ⁿd/ when occurring before /i/ can also be heard as palatal stops [ɟ, ᶮɟ].

↑ Yamdena at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
↑ Mettler, Anton; Mettler, Heidi (1990). "Yamdena phonology". Workpapers in Indonesian Languages and Cultures 8 (PDF). Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia: Pattimura University. pp. 29–79.