Yavapai language

Yavapai
Native to	United States
Region	Arizona
Ethnicity	1,420 Yavapai people (2004) [1]
Native speakers	245 (2015 census) [2]
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).

Geographic distribution

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.

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

Warren Gazzam, a Tolkapaya speaker, reported that "you know they (Hualapais) speak the same language as we do, some words or accents are a little different". ^[3]

Due to extensive cultural interchange, many Yavapai were once bilingual in Apache, and some Apache were bilingual in Yavapai. ^[4]

Phonology

Yavapai consonant phonemes are shown below. ^[5]

Consonants in Yavapai

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

Vowels occur short, mid and long in stressed syllables. The contrast is reduced to two lengths in unstressed syllables.

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iˑ iː		u uˑ uː
Mid	e eˑ eː		o oˑ oː
Open	( æ )	a aˑ aː

There are two tones on stressed syllables, high level and falling, which are neutralized to mid on unstressed syllables.

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

Syntax

Yavapai is a subject-verb-object language. ^[6]

Examples

Some sample words given in Yavapai translation: ^[7]

English	Yavapai
	Transliteration	IPA transcription
Hello	Mham jik'gah
Home	Wah yoh woh
Land	Mat[ citation needed ]
Rivers	Aha gah hel’lah
Fire	Oo	/oʔo/
Grand Canyon	Mahđ K'illa or Wika'ilaha
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. ^[8]

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. ^[9]

There have been attempts to save the language in the Yavapai community. ^[10]

Poetry and stories have been published in Yavapai on several 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.

Alan Shaterian has published a dictionary of Northeastern Yavapai. Pamela Munro is working^{[ when? ]} on a dictionary and grammar for Tolkepaya. ^[11]

Footnotes

1. Havasupai‑Walapai‑Yavapai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Yavapai at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)
3. "California Language Archive".
4. Mierau, Eric (January 1963). "Concerning Yavapai-Apache Bilingualism". International Journal of American Linguistics. 29 (1): 1–3. doi:10.1086/464706. S2CID   144439528.
5. Shaterian, Alan (1983). Phonology and Dictionary of Yavapai.
6. Kendall, Martha (1974). "Relative Clause Formation and Topicalization in Yavapai". International Journal of American Linguistics. 40 (2): 89–101. doi:10.1086/465291. S2CID   143492840.
7. "Yavapai Apache Language". Archived from the original on March 3, 2017.
8. Kendall, Martha Oaks (Burnett); Sine, Harold (2017-03-09). "Yavapai linguistic material" . Retrieved 2017-03-09.
9. House, Deborah. "Yavapai Language Programs". Stabilizing Indigenous Languages.
10. "Museum honors Yavapai elder for language work - USATODAY.com". usatoday30.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
11. "Pamela Munro". Department of Linguistics - UCLA. Retrieved 2025-03-26.

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. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
• Yavapai basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database