yeqën

Hiw

Etymology

Cognate with Mwotlap lōqōvēn. From Proto-Torres-Banks *loᵐbʷeβine, ultimately from Proto-Oceanic *pine (“woman”), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *binahi, from Proto-Austronesian *bahi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jəkʷen/

Noun

yeqën (dual tör̄ör̄ë, plural tun̄wuyegë)

1. female
2. woman, adult woman

References

• p.322 of: François, Alexandre. 2017. The economy of word classes in Hiw, Vanuatu: Grammatically flexible, lexically rigid. Studies in Language 41 (2): 294–357.
• p.344 of: François, Alexandre. 2019. Verbal number in Lo-Toga and Hiw: The emergence of a lexical paradigm. Transactions of the Philological Society 117‒3 (Dec 2019). 338-371.