Yavapai language

Yavapai
Region	Arizona, United States
Ethnicity	1,420 Yavapai people (2004)
Native speakers	100–150 (2007)
Language family	Yuman Core Yuman Pai Yavapai
Language codes
ISO 639-3	yuf Havasupai‑Walapai‑Yavapai
Glottolog	hava1248  Havasupai‑Walapai‑Yavapai yava1252  Yavapai

Yavapai is an Upland Yuman language, spoken by Yavapai people in central and western Arizona. There are four dialects: Kwevkepaya, Wipukpaya, Tolkepaya, and Yavepe. Linguistic studies of the Kwevkepaya (Southern), Tolkepaya (Western), Wipukepa (Verde Valley), and Yavepe (Prescott) dialects have been published (Mithun 1999:578).

Yavapai was once spoken across much of north-central and western Arizona, but is now mostly spoken on the Yavapai reservations at Fort McDowell, the Verde Valley and Prescott.

Geographic Distribution

The rate of mutual comprehension between Yavapai and Havasupai–Hualapai is similar to that between Mohave and Maricopa (Biggs 1957).

Due to extensive cultural interchange, many Yavapai were once bilingual in Apache, and some Apache were bilingual in Yavapai.

Unlike in Havasupai and Hualapai, postaspirated stops cannot appear in word-initial position (Shaterian 1983:215).

Phonology

Yavapai has a large amount of consonant morphemes.

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar			Uvular		Glottal
							nor.	pal.	lab.	nor.	lab.	nor.	lab.
Plosive	plain	p	t				k	kʲ	kʷ	q	qʷ	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ				kʰ		kʰʷ
Affricate	plain				tʃ
	aspirated				tʃʰ
Fricative		β	θ	s	ʃ							h	hʷ
Nasal		m	n			ɲ
Trill			r
Lateral			l			ʎ
Approximant		w				j

Vowels are /a/, /æ/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/.

Syntax

Yavapai is a subject-verb-object language.

/-k/ and /-m/ Problem

According to Martha Kendall, the morphemes /k/ and /m/ are "semantically contrastable," but are pronounced the same. She writes that homophony is present in Yavapai, and /k/ and /m/ are similar in phonological situations, but are syntactically different. 

Examples

Some sample words given in Yavapai translation:

English	Yavapai
Hello	M'hahjik'gah
Home	Wah yoh woh
Land	Mahđa
Rivers	Aha gah hel'lah
Fire	Oo
Grand Caynon	Mahđ K’illa
Thank you	Honnii guhm

Preservation Efforts

There have been recordings of Yavapai (as well as other Yuman languages) done in 1974, relating to phonology, syntax, and grammar. This was meant to understand the three topics better and to hear them.

There is an effort to revitalize the language. There is a Yavapai language program for adults to learn the language and pass on to future generations.

There have been attempts to save the language in Yavapai community.

Poetry and stories have been published in Yavapai on several different occasions. Yavapai poems are featured in Gigyayk Vo'jka, the anthology of poetry in Yuman languages edited by Hualapai linguist Lucille Watahomigie. Yavapai stories also appear in Spirit Mountain: An Anthology of Yuman Story and Song. Both works are accompanied by English translations, and the poems in Gigyayk Vo'jka also feature a morphological analysis.

There is a published dictionary by Shaterian and an in process dictionary and grammar by Pamela Munro.

References

• Biggs, Bruce. 1957. Testing Intelligibility among Yuman Languages. In International Journal of American Linguistics. Vol. 23, No. 2. (April 1957), pp. 57–62. University of Chicago Press.
• Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge University Press.
• Shaterian, Alan William. 1983. Phonology and Dictionary of Yavapai. University of California, Berkeley.

External links

• "Language use by Yavapai-Apache students with recommendations for curriculum design". Journal of American Indian Education. 20 (1). October 1980. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
• Yavapai basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database