Jennifer Wilson

Yeri, the people

Ever since I learned what linguistics is, I have wanted to help document endangered languages. I finally got my chance this summer when I spent three months in the Torricelli mountains of Papua New Guinea, working with some of the most generous and welcoming people I have ever met. They adopted me into their family, sheltered me, and fed me. They shared their lives, their culture, and their language with me, and through it all proved to be bright, enthusiastic teachers. To say I have a new perspective on life is an understatement. I will be returning in the summer of 2012 to continue collecting data, and am hopeful that funding may allow for a return visit in the summer of 2011.

Yeri, the language

Yeri is a Wapei language spoken by a single village of approximately 100-150 people. Although it is still spoken sometimes by the younger generation, it is slowly being replaced by Tok Pisin, and in the time I was there, I never heard the youngest generation use anything besides pidgin. Yeri is a beautiful and complex langauge with a variety of interesting characteristics. For the next several years I will be involved in writing a grammar of the language in order to describe and document these unique features.

While there, I worked principally with two wonderful consulants, Yitembian Ainaris (Leo) and Wanesi Sirio (John). Both proved to be incredible intelligent and interested in the project, and were a joy to work with. While the entire village went out of their way to show me their customs and teach me their language, I was a very lucky linguist to have found two such wonderful consultants willing to devote as much of their time as these two did to the project.