Valley Yokuts
| Valley Yokuts | |
|---|---|
| Region | San Joaquin Valley, California |
| Ethnicity | Yokut |
Native speakers | 8 Chukchansi speakers (2011)[1] |
|
Yok-Utian ?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | (included in yok) |
| Glottolog |
vall1251 (Valley Yokuts)[2]yoku1256 (Yokuts (Yawelmani))[3] |
Valley Yokuts is a dialect cluster of the Yokutsan language family of California.
Chukchansi, which is still spoken natively, has language classes and a preschool for children. It is also taught at a local elementary school. Though there are no longer any native speakers, Tachi has a Headstart language program.
Varieties
Valley Yokuts is sometimes considered three languages, of which only Northern Valley Yokuts is still spoken.[4]
- Far Northern Valley Yokuts (AKA Delta Yokuts) (†)
- Yachikumne (AKA Chulamni)
- Chalostaca
- Lakisamni
- Tawalimni
- Northern Valley Yokuts
- Nopṭinṭe
- Chawchila
- Chukchansi
- Kechayi
- Dumna
- Southern Valley Yokuts (†)
- Wechihit
- Nutunutu–Tachi
- Chunut (AKA Sumtache)
- Wo’lasi–Choynok
- Wowol
- Telamni
- Koyeti–Yawelmani
Of these, Yawelmani /jɑːwɛlˈmɑːni/,[5] also known as Yowlumni, is the best known. See also Chukchansi dialect.
Sounds
Yawelmani will be taken as representative.
Consonants
| Bilabial | Dental | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Occlusive | Tenuis | p p | t t | ṭ ʈ | k k | ʼ ʔ | |
| Aspirate | ph pʰ | th tʰ | ṭh ʈʰ | kh kʰ | |||
| Ejective | pʼpʼ | tʼtʼ | ṭʼ ʈʼ | kʼ kʼ | |||
| Affricate | Tenuis | c t͡s | |||||
| Aspirate | ch t͡sʰ | ||||||
| Ejective | cʼ t͡sʼ | ||||||
| Fricative | s s | ṣ ʂ | x x | h h | |||
| Nasal | Plain | m m | n n | ||||
| Glottalized | mʼ mʼ | nʼ nʼ | |||||
| Approximant | Plain | w w | l l | y j | |||
| Glottalized | wʼ wʼ | lʼ lʼ | yʼ jʼ | ||||
Vowels
Yawelmani has 8 vowel phonemes:
| Unrounded | Rounded | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | |
| High | i | iː | u | uː |
| Non-high | a | aː | ɔ | ɔː |
- There are 4 short-long vowel pairs.
- Short high vowels may become more centralized in fast speech: /i/ → [ɪ], /u/ → [ʊ].
- Long high vowels are almost always lower than their short counterparts: /iː/ → [ɛː], /uː/ → [ɔː].
- All long vowels may be shortened by a phonological process. Thus, a single long vowel has two different phonetic realizations:
- /iː/ → [ɛ, ɛː],
- /aː/ → [a, aː],
- /uː/ → [ɔ, ɔː],
- /ɔː/ → [ɔ, ɔː].
- Note that the high long vowel /uː/ is usually pronounced the same as /ɔ/ and /ɔː/.
As can be seen, Yawelmani vowels have a number of different realizations (phones) which are summarized below:
| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | |
| High | i | u | ||
| Near-high | ɪ | ʊ | ||
| Mid | ɛ | ɛː | ɔ | ɔː |
| Low | a | aː | ||
Syllable & phonotactics
The Yawelmani syllables can be either a consonant-vowel sequence (CV), such as deeyi- 'lead', or a consonant-vowel-consonant sequence (CVC), such as xata- 'eat'. Thus the generalized syllable is the following:
- CV(C)
Word roots are bisyllabic and have either one of two shapes:
- CV.CV
- CV.CVC
Phonological processes
vowel shortening
When long vowels are in closed syllables, they are shortened:
/p’a.xaː.t’it/ → [p’axaːt’it] p̓axaat̕it 'mourn (passive aorist)' (/aː/ remains long) /p’a.xaːt’.hin/ → [p’axat’hin] p̓axat̕hin 'mourn (aorist)' (/aː/ is shortened) /ts’u.juː.hun/ → [ts’ujɔːhun] c̓uyoohun 'urinate (aorist)' (/uː/ remains long) /ts’u.juːt/ → [ts’ujɔt] c̓uyot 'urinate (passive aorist)' (/uː/ is shortened)
vowel harmony
Yawelmani has suffixes that contain either an underspecified high vowel /I/ or an underspecified non-high vowel /A/.
- Underspecified /I/ will appear as /u/ following the high rounded vowel /u/ and as /i/ following all other vowels /i, a, ɔ/:
/-hIn/ -hun/-hin (aorist suffix) /muʈhIn/ → [muʈhun] muṭhun 'swear (aorist)' /ɡij’hIn/ → [ɡij’hin] giy̓hin 'touch (aorist)' /ɡɔphIn/ → [ɡɔphin] gophin 'take care of infant (aorist)' /xathIn/ → [xathin] xathin 'eat (aorist)'
- Underspecified /A/ will appear as /ɔ/ following the non-high rounded vowel /ɔ/ and as /a/ following all other vowels /i, u, a/:
/-tAw/ -tow/-taw (nondirective gerundial suffix) /ɡɔptAw/ → [ɡɔptɔw] goptow 'take care of infant (nondir. ger.)' /ɡij’tAw/ → [ɡij’taw] giy̓taw 'touch (nondir. ger.)' /muʈtAw/ → [muʈtaw] muṭtaw 'swear (nondir. ger.)' /xattAw/ → [xatːaw] xattaw 'eat (nondir. ger.)'
vowel epenthesis
Yawelmani adds vowels to stems, when suffixes with an initial consonant are affixed to word with two final consonants in order to avoid a triple-consonant-cluster.
Grammar
- ablaut
- suffix
- deeyi 'to lead'
- deeyen 'he will lead'
- deyhin 'he led'
- diyhatinhin 'he wanted to lead'
- diyee’iy 'place where one got the lead' (subjective)
- diyaa’an 'he is leading'
- deydiyen 'he will lead repeatedly'
- diyidyiisaahin ’anam 'they led each other repeatedly'
- diyeediyic’ 'one who is leading repeatedly' (subjective)
- deyday 'act of leading repeatedly' (subjective)
- ’ɔɔṭ’hun 'he stole' - ’ɔɔṭ’uṭ’hun 'he stole often'
- ’ɔɔṭ’al 'he might steal' - ’ɔɔṭ’uṭ’al 'he might steal often'
Bibliography
- Archangeli, Diana B. (1985). Extrametricality in Yawelmani. Linguistic review, 4 (2), 101-120.
- Archangeli, Diana B. (1986). Yokuts harmony: Evidence for coplanar representation in nonlinear phonology. Linguistic inquiry, 16, 335-372.
- Archangeli, Diana B. (1988). Underspecification in Yawelmani phonology and morphology. Outstanding dissertations in linguistics. New York: Garland Pub. ISBN 0-8240-5175-0. (Revision of 1984 doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
- Archangeli, Diana B. (1991). Syllabification and prosodic templates in Yawelmani. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 9, 231-283.
- Gamble, Geoffrey. (1975). Consonant symbolism in Yokuts. International Journal of American Linguistics, 41, 306-309.
- Harris, Zellig. (1944). Yokuts structure and Newman's grammar. International Journal of American Linguistics, 10, 196-211.
- Hockett, Charles. (1967). The Yawelmani basic verb. Language, 26, 278-282.
- Hockett, Charles. (1973). Yokuts as a testing ground for linguistic methods. International Journal of American Linguistics, 39, 63-79.
- Hymes, Dell H. (1964). Language in culture and society: A reader in linguistics and anthropology. New York: Harper & Row.
- Kuroda, S.-Y. (1967). Yawelmani phonology. Special technical report (No. 15); M.I.T. research monograph series (No. 43). Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Research Laboratory of Electronics.
- Kroeber, Alfred L. (1906). The Yokuts and Yuki languages. In B. Laufer & H. A. Andrews (Eds.), Boas anniversary volume (pp. 64–79). New York: G.E. Stechert & Co. (Reprinted as separate book 1906).
- Kroeber, Alfred L. (1906). The Yokuts and Yuki languages. New York: Stechert. (Originally in Laufer & Andrews 1906).
- Kroeber, Alfred L. (1907). The Yokuts language of south central California. University of California publications in American archaeology and ethnology (Vol. 2, pp. 165–377).
- Laufer, Berthold,; & Andrews, H. A. (Eds.). (1906). Boas anniversary volume: Anthropological papers written in honor of Franz Boas. New York: G.E. Stechert & Co.
- Newman, Stanley S. (1932). The Yawelmani dialect of Yokuts. International Journal of American Linguistics, 7, 85-89.
- Newman, Stanley S. (1940). Linguistic aspects of Yokuts style. Anthropological Record, 5 (1), 4-15. (Reprinted in Hymes 1964).
- Newman, Stanley S. (1944). Yokuts language of California. Viking Fund publications in anthropology (No. 2). New York: Viking Fund. (Reprinted 1963 & 1968, New York: Johnson Reprint Corp.).
- Newman, Stanley S. (1946). The Yawelmani dialect of Yokuts. In C. Osgood & H. Hoijer (Eds.), Linguistic structures of native America (pp. 222–248). New York: The Viking Fund.
- Newman, Stanley S. (1964). Linguistic aspects of Yokuts style. In D. H. Hymes, Language in culture and society. New York: Harper & Row. (Originally published as Newman 1940).
- Newman, Stanley S. (1966). Word classes in Yokuts. Lingua, 17, 182-199.
- Noske, Roland. (1985). Syllabification and Syllable Changing Processes in Yawelmani. In Harry van der Hulst & Norval S.H. Smith (Eds.), Advances in Nonlinear Phonology, Dordrecht: Foris, 335-361.
- Noske, Roland. (1993). A Theory of Syllabification and Segmental Alternation. With studies on the phonology of French, German, Tonkawa and Yawelmani. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
- Osgood, Cornelius; & Hoijer, Harry (Eds.). (1946). Linguistic structures of native America. Viking fund publications in anthropology (No. 6). New York: The Viking Fund. (Reprinted 1963, 1965, 1967, & 1971, New York: Johnson Reprint Corp.).
- Pullum, Geoffrey. (1973). Yokuts bibliography: An addendum. International Journal of American Linguistics, 39, 269-271.
- Steriade, Donca. (1986). Yokuts and the vowel plane. Linguistic inquiry, 17, 129-146.
References
- ↑ Carmen George (2011-09-29). "Chukchansi issues disenrollment letters". Sierra Star (Oakhurst CA). Retrieved 2012-09-01.
- ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Valley Yokuts". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
- ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Yokuts (Yawelmani)". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
- ↑ Northern Valley is sometimes called "Northern Foothill". However, in Gamble's 1988 classification, Foothill Yokuts is a cover term for Gashowu–Kings River, Tule-Kaweah, and Buena Vista Yokuts.
- ↑ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
External links
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