Yurok language

Yurok (also Weitspekan) is an endangered Algic language.^[3] It is the traditional language of the Yurok tribe of Del Norte County and Humboldt County on the far North Coast of California, U.S., most of whom now speak English. There are about a dozen elders who learned the language as children, but it is no longer used at home.^[2] As of 2012, Yurok language classes are taught at the high school level, and other revitalization efforts are expected to increase the population of speakers.^[4]

The standard reference on the Yurok language is the grammar by Robins (1958).^[5]

Name

Concerning etymology of Yurok (AKA Weitspekan), this below is from Campbell (1997):

Current status

The program to revive Yurok has been lauded as the most successful language revitalization program in California.^[6] By early 2013, five high schools in Northern California had initiated Yurok-language programs, the largest being Eureka High School.^[6]

The last known native, active speaker of Yurok, Archie Thompson, died March 26, 2013. "He was also the last of about 20 elders who helped revitalize the language over the last few decades, after academics in the 1990s predicted it would be extinct by 2010. He made recordings of the language that were archived by UC Berkeley linguists and the tribe, spent hours helping to teach Yurok in community and school classrooms, and welcomed apprentice speakers to probe his knowledge."^[1]

Linguists at UC Berkeley began the Yurok Language Project in 2001. Professor Andrew Garrett and a colleague collaborated with tribal elders on a Yurok dictionary that has been hailed as a national model.^[6]

As of February 2013, there are over 300 basic Yurok speakers, 60 with intermediate skills, 37 who are advanced, and 17 who are considered conversationally fluent.^[6]

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Consonants are as follows:^{[citation needed]}

Notable is the lack of plain /s/.^{[citation needed]}

The glottalized approximants /ˀl ˀɻ ˀj ˀɰ ˀw/ may be realized as creaky voice on the preceding vowel, a preceding glottal stop, or both. They are often devoiced when they occur at the end of a word.^{[citation needed]}

Yurok has front-, central-, and back-closing diphthongs. The second element of the diphthongs is considered a consonant or semivowel. This is because Yurok diphthongs are falling diphthongs and behave similarly to nasal and approximates following a vowel and preceding a pause or voiceless non-glottalized consonant.^[5]

All Yurok Syllables begin with a consonant and contain at least one vowel. Here are some examples of the different kinds of syllable structure:^[5]

V:V can only be /oːo/ or /uːu/ and is signaled by a change in pitch between the vowels.

Morphology

Yurok Morphological processes include prefixation, infixtion, inflection, vowel harmony, ablaut, consonantal alternation, and reduplication.^[5]

Prefixation and infixation occur in nominals and verbals, and occasionally in other classes, although infixation occurs most frequently in verbals.

Vowel harmony occurs for prefixes, infixes, and inflections, depending on the vocalic and consonantal structure of the word stem. Internal vocalic alternation involves three alternating pairs: /e/~/i/, /e/~/iʔi/, /e/~/u/.

Reduplication occurs mostly on verb stems but occasionally for nouns and can connote repetition, plurality, etc. Reduplication occurs on the first syllable, and sometimes a part of the second syllable:

Anomalies

The counting system in Yurok is dependent on whether round or flat shapes are being counted, or whether humans or animals are being counted.^[6]

Yurok also lacks general terms for squirrel, owl or hawk, but it has names for specific types within those groups.^[6]

References

Bibliography

• Blevins, Juliette (October 2003). "The phonology of Yurok glottalized sonorants: Segmental fission under syllabification". International Journal of American Linguistics 69 (4): 371–396. doi:10.1086/382738. 
• Atherton, Kelley. "Back from the Brink: Learning the Yurok Language". The Daily Triplicate. Published 16 October 2010. Accessed 30 April 2012.
• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Dixon, Roland; & Kroeber, Alfred L. (1913). New linguistic families in California. American Anthropologist, 5, 1-26.
• Goddard, Ives. (1975). Algonquian, Wiyot, and Yurok: Proving a distant genetic relationship. In M. D. Kinkade, K. L. Hale, & O. Werner (Eds.), Linguistics and anthropology in honor of C. F. Voegelin (pp. 249–262). Lisse: Peter de Ridder Press.
• Goddard, Ives. (1979). Comparative Algonquian. In L. Campbell & M. Mithun (Eds.), The languages of native America: Historical and comparative assessment (pp. 70–132). Austin: University of Texas Press.
• Goddard, Ives. (1990). Algonquian linguistic change and reconstruction. In P. Baldi (Ed.), Linguistic change and reconstruction methodology (pp. 99–114). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
• Golla, Victor. (2011). California Indian Languages. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26667-4
• Haas, Mary R. (1958). Algonkian-Ritwan: The end of a controversy. International Journal of American Linguistics, 24, 159-173.
• Hinton, Leanne (1994). Flutes of fire: Essays on Californian Indian languages. Berkeley: Heyday Books.
• Michelson, Truman. 1914. Two alleged Algonquian languages of California. American Anthropologist, 16, 361-367.
• Michelson, Truman. 1915. Rejoinder (to Edward Sapir). American Anthropologist, 17, 4-8.
• Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
• Robins, Robert H. 1958. The Yurok Language: Grammar, Texts, Lexicon. University of California Publications in Linguistics 15.
• Sapir, Edward. 1913. Wiyot and Yurok, Algonkin languages of California. American Anthropologist, 15, 617-646.
• Sapir, Edward. (1915)a. Algonkin languages of California: A reply. American Anthropologist, 17, 188-194.
• Sapir, Edward. (1915)b. Epilogue. American Anthropologist, 17, 198.

External links

• Yurok Tribe Language Project
• Yurok Language Project at the University of California, Berkeley
• Yurok language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
• OLAC resources in and about the Yurok language
• Yurok language resources at the California Language Archive
• "Yurok Swadesh List". Retrieved 2012-08-26. 

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