Valley Yokuts

Yawelmani (also Yowlumni) is an endangered Yokutsan language spoken in California by the Yawelmani people.

Sounds

Vowels

Yawelmani has 8 vowels:

	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 which are summarized below:

	Front		Back
	short	long	short	long
High	i (ɪ)		u (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:

/ts’u.juː-/	→	[ts’ujɔː]	c̓uyoo-	'urinate (base form)'
/ts’u.juːt/	→	[ts’ujɔt]	c̓uyot	'urinate (aorist)'

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)

• reduplication

’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.
• 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.