Yabem Bible

The Bible Society of Papua New Guinea
Yabem Genesis Portion 180.89 kB

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Yabem Bible (JAEYHB)

Overview

The Yabem Bible is a near-complete Bible translation in the Yabem language, a Western Oceanic (Malayo-Polynesian) language spoken by approximately 2,100 people on the southern tip of the Huon Peninsula in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. [1] Although Yabem has few native speakers, it served as a major church and educational lingua franca across Morobe Province for much of the 20th century. German Lutheran missionaries from the Neuendettelsau Mission (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria) first arrived at Simbang, a Yabem-speaking village, in 1885, and adopted Yabem as the medium of instruction for their schools and churches. [2] The missionaries created the first written form of Yabem, produced grammars, dictionaries, and religious texts, and established a school system using the language. [1] Heinrich Zahn, a key figure in the mission, compiled the first Jabem-English dictionary in 1917. [3] By 1939, Yabem was spoken by as many as 15,000 people and understood by as many as 100,000 across the region (Zahn, 1940). [2] The complete Bible in Yabem was published in 1980 by the Bible Society of Papua New Guinea. [4] Since the 1950s, Yabem has been largely replaced by Tok Pisin and English in education and formal usage. [1]

Language and People

Yabem (ISO 639-3: jae) is spoken by approximately 2,080 people in Papua New Guinea, Map 11. [Glottolog: yabe1254]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by Bible Society of Papua New Guinea.

References