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]

Yachikumne (AKA Chulamni)
Chalostaca
Lakisamni
Tawalimni
Nopṭinṭe
Chawchila
Chukchansi
Kechayi
Dumna
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/ /ʈ/ k /k/ ʼ /ʔ/
Aspirate ph // th // ṭh /ʈʰ/ kh //
Ejective // // ṭʼ /ʈʼ/ //
Affricate Tenuis c /t͡s/
Aspirate ch /t͡sʰ/
Ejective /t͡sʼ/
Fricative s /s/ /ʂ/ x /x/ h /h/
Nasal Plain m /m/ n /n/  
Glottalized mʼ // nʼ //
Approximant Plain w /w/ l /l/ y /j/
Glottalized wʼ // lʼ // yʼ //

Vowels

Yawelmani has 8 vowel phonemes:

Unrounded Rounded
short long short long
High i u
Non-high a ɔ 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

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:

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/.

/-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)'
/-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

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

References

  1. Carmen George (2011-09-29). "Chukchansi issues disenrollment letters". Sierra Star. Oakhurst CA. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Valley Yokuts". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Yokuts (Yawelmani)". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. 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.
  5. Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh


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