Yawelmani Yokuts

Last updated
Yawelmani
Yowlumne
Yawʼlamnin ṭeexil
Yawelmani-tomorrow.svg
Yawelmani sentence documented by A. L. Kroeber
Pronunciation[jawˀlamninʈɛːxil]
Native to California
Region Kern River
Native speakers
20–25 (2007, fluent and semispeakers) [1]
Yok-Utian  ?
Language codes
ISO 639-3 –
Glottolog None
Yawelmani map.svg
Historical distribution of Yawelmani
Closeup map of historical Yawelmani distribution Yawelmani map closeup.svg
Closeup map of historical Yawelmani distribution

Yawelmani Yokuts (also spelled Yowlumne and Yauelmani) is an endangered dialect of Southern Valley Yokuts historically spoken by the Yokuts living along the Kern River north of Kern Lake in the Central Valley of California. [2] Today, most Yawelmani speakers live on or near the Tule River Reservation. [3]

Contents

Name

Academic sources frequently use the name Yawelmani while referring to the language, though tribe members more often use the name Yowlumne. [3] The difference in terminology comes from the language itself, where the form Yowlumne is singular and Yawelmani is the paucal form, that is, it refers to a small group. [3] : 5  An increasing number of academic sources, including Weigel (2005), have opted to use Yowlumne instead, as the use of Yawelmani can be regarded as a misnomer. [3] : 5  [a]

When referencing their language, modern speakers of Yawelmani use the terms inyana (Indian), and yaw'lamnin ṭeexil (speech of the Yowlumne). [3] : 5 

Speakers

A 2011 estimate by Victor Golla placed the number of fluent and semi-fluent Yawelmani speakers at "up to twenty-five." [4]

Revitalization efforts

In 1993, the Master-Apprentice Language Learning Program piloted a series of language programs that included Yawelmani. The program was reportedly effective in teaching conversational Yawelmani to tribal members without prior knowledge and increasing language use among elders. [5]

Phonology

Consonants

  Bilabial Dental Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop plainp /p/t /t/ṭ /ʈ/k /k/ʼ /ʔ/
aspirated ph /pʰ/th /tʰ/ṭh /ʈʰ/kh /kʰ/
ejective pʼ/pʼ/tʼ/tʼ/ṭʼ /ʈʼ/kʼ /kʼ/
Affricate plainc /t͡s/c̣ /t͡ʂ/
aspirated ch /t͡sʰ/c̣h /t͡ʂʰ/
ejective cʼ /t͡sʼ/c̣ʼ /t͡ʂʼ/
Fricative s /s/ṣ /ʂ/x /x/h /h/
Nasal plainm /m/n /n/ 
glottalized mʼ /mˀ/nʼ /nˀ/
Approximant plainw /w/l /l/y /j/
glottalized wʼ /wˀ/lʼ /lˀ/yʼ /jˀ/

Vowels

Yawelmani has 10 vowel phonemes: [8] : 19 

Unrounded Rounded
short long shortlong
High i iː u uː
Mid ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː
Low a aː

As can be seen, Yawelmani vowels have a number of different realizations (phones) which are summarized below; [ɪ] and [ʊ] are variants in rapid speech of /i/ and /u/, respectively: [8] : 19 

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 in wa 'however', or a consonant-vowel-consonant sequence (CVC), such as in xat 'eating, food'. [8] : 26,95,238  Thus the generalized syllable is the following:

CV(C)

Verbal roots [b] are disyllabic and have either one of two shapes: [8] : 26 

Outside of verbal roots, more complex phonotactic forms are also permitted, so long as each syllable has the structure CV(C). [8] : 26–27 

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

Case system

Yawelmani is a primary object language. [3]

A. L. Kroeber documented the language's case system in his 1907 paper The Yokuts Language of South Central California. [9]

Case suffixes (per Kroeber)
Objective Noun-a (-i)
Demonstrative -n, -in
(plural), Pronoun-wa
Possessive -in
Instrumental -ni
Locative -u
Ablative -nit

In his 1944 grammar of the Yokuts language, Newman analyzed the case system in greater depth, taking care for the different realizations of the case suffixes with nouns based primarily on the phonotactic profile of the root or stem to which the nouns attach, as in the table below. [8] Note that the forms represent the basic case suffixes; in Newman's analysis, vowel harmony with the preceding syllable may apply as appropriate. Elements in parentheses are analyzed by Newman to be added to the root in preparation for the affix (which he terms an "inorganic protective element"), [8] : 11  rather than forming part of the affix itself.

Case suffixes (per Newman)
SubjectiveObjectivePossessiveIndirect ObjectiveAblativeLocative
CVC (IAa)--i, -a-in(V:)-ni(V:)-nit(V)-w
CV:C (IAb)---in-ni-nit(V)-w
CV: (IBa)(')-(')-in, (')-an(')-in-ni-nit-w
CV: verb nominalizations (IBb)(')--i, -a(')-in-ni-nit-w
CV.CVC (IIA)--i, -a-in(V:)-ni(V:)-nit(V)-w
CV.CV:C (IIBa)--, -i, -a-in-ni-nit(V)-w
CV.CV:C variant form (IIBb)---in-ni-nit(V)-w
CV.CV:C limited set of words (IIBc)--i, -a-in(V:)-ni(V:)-nit(V)-w

Selected vocabulary

Notes

a These include, for example, Kiparsky (2023). [10]
b That is, "bases" in Newman's (1944) sense. [8] : 26 

References

  1. ↑ Yokuts at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. ↑ Whistler, Kenneth W.; Golla, Victor (1986). "Proto-Yokuts Reconsidered". International Journal of American Linguistics. 52 (4): 317–358. doi:10.1086/466028. ISSN   0020-7071. JSTOR   1265536. S2CID   144822697.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Weigel, William (2005). Yowlumne in the Twentieth Century (PhD thesis). University of California, Berkeley.
  4. ↑ Golla, Victor (2011-08-02). California Indian Languages. University of California Press. ISBN   9780520266674.
  5. ↑ "Survival of Endangered Languages: The California Master-Apprentice Program". International Journal of the Sociology of Language (123): 177–191. 2009. doi:10.1515/ijsl.1997.123.177. ISSN   1613-3668.
  6. ↑ Golla, Victor (2011). California Indian Languages. University of California Press.
  7. ↑ Newman, Stanley S. (1946). The Yawelmani Dialect of Yokuts. In Harry Hoijer (ed.), Linguistic Structures of Native America: New York: Viking Fund. pp. 222–248.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Newman, Stanley (1944). Yokuts Language of California. New York: The Viking Fund. Retrieved 4 October 2025.
  9. ↑ Kroeber, A. L. (1907). "The Yokuts Language of South Central California" (PDF). University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnography: 281.
  10. ↑ Kiparsky, Paul (2023). "A Stratal Optimality Theory perspective on vowel harmony" (PDF). In van der Hulst, Harry; Ritter, Nancy A. (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Vowel Harmony. pp. 192–219. Retrieved 4 October 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.