Yaqui language

Phonology

The remarks below use the orthography used by the Pascua Yaqui Tribe in the United States. There are also several orthographic systems used in Mexico differing slightly, mainly in using Spanish values for several consonants and Spanish spelling rules: rohikte" would be written "rojicte". There are minor differences between Mexican and US dialects in inclusion or exclusion of sounds, the US dialects tending to exclude an intervocalic "r" and final "k".

Vowels

Yaqui vowels are pronounced very much like in Spanish:

"A" is pronounced similarly to that in (American English) "father" (International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) /ɑ/).

"E" is pronounced similarly to that in (Am. Eng.) "get" (IPA /ɛ/).

"I" is pronounced similarly to that in (Am. Eng.) "machine" (IPA /i/).

"O" is pronounced similarly to that in (Am. Eng.) "go" (IPA /o/).

"U" is pronounced similarly to that in (Am. Eng.) "rude" (IPA /u/).

Vowels may be either short or long in duration. Often, long vowels are shortenwd when the word they are used in is used constructively: 'maaso' ('deer') is shortened to 'maso' in 'maso bwikam' ('deer songs'). Long vowels are written by doubling the vowel. Long vowels may change tone, but that is not represented in the written language. Some writers have referred to Yaqui as being a tonal language, but the modern forms of the language do not show any widespread and significant use of tonemes.

Consonants

The following consonantal sounds are present in Yaqui: b, ch, (d), (f), (g), h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, y, and one or two glottal stops (IPA /ʔ/), represented by an apostrophe. Except the glottal stops, most of them are pronounced nearly the same as they are in English, but "p", "t", and "k" are not aspirated. In the IPA, they are respectively /b t͡ʃ (d) (f) (ɡ) h k l m n p r s t β w j/. Many Yaqui speakers make no difference between b and v, pronouncing both as /β/, and thay appears to be intrinsic to the language and not an influence of Spanish, which has a similar feature. Additionally, there are two consonants written as clusters: "bw" (IPA /bʷ/) and "kt" (IPA /k͡t/), "bw" being a rounded "b" ('bwikam') and "kt" a simultaneous articulation of "k" and "t" ('rohikte'). The "kt" sound is found in many other Uto-Aztecan languages. Pronunciation of the rounded "b" as "b"+"w" and the "kt" as "k"+"t" is acceptable, but non-native.

Note that "d", "f", and "g" are present only in English and Spanish loanwords. Often, they are substituted with the native sounds "t"/"r"/"l", "p", and "w"/"k", respectively.

In Mexico, many speakers will often substitute "g" for syllable-initial "w". That is largely because the phoneme /w/ is not present in northern Mexican Spanish as an independent consonantal phoneme but rather as either a variant of the vowel /u/ or as an adjunct to /g/ and /k/. Use of "g" in place of "w" is considered by Yaqui speakers as an influence from Mexican Spanish and not as standard Yaqui usage, even in Mexico.

Glottal stops

There is at least one glottal stop, which is phonemic. There also appears to be a "fainter" glottal stop, sometimes used between vowels but with apparently little predictability. Whether it is phonemic or not is still unclear.

Sound symbolism

Sound symbolism is present in Yaqui. For example, a word with the phoneme /l/ in it may either be pronounced normally, to denote approval from the speaker or with an /r/ in place of the /l/ to denote disapproval or disfavor on the part of the speaker. Either variant form is correct.

Devoicing

Devoicing occurs at the ends of phrases. That is especially notable with the phoneme /m/ and with vowels. Yaqui speech often sounds "breathy" to English-speakers.

Gestures

One word, laute, has two contradictory meanings, "quickly" and "slowly". (English has a word mercurial, which can mean either "unhesitating" or "scatter-brained".) The word is often accompanied with a quick or slow open-handed movement to indicate the meaning. (Alternatively, laute could be translated as "at a different rate of speed" and requires a hand gesture to indicate the nature of the difference when needed for clarification.)

Syntax

Yaqui word order is generally subject–object–verb.

The object of a sentence is suffixed with "-ta".

“Inepo hamutta vichu”: “I am looking at the woman.”

Subject object

The following sentences display a variation of the language’s structure and the forms allowed. In the following example, we can see an S and an O. This structure of SO is allowable due to a common feature among languages— the verb/ copula to be. ‘He’ is the subject in this example and since ‘he’ shows no variation in positioning in the sentence, there will not be further explanation for it. The object in this example ‘child’ has the possessor ‘him’ preceding to show ownership, but what is being possessed by ‘him’ is the child. Therefore, ‘child’ has a nominalizer for being the object of the sentence and a possession marker on it for being possessed. Having the nominalizer on the ‘child’ allows the subject ‘he’ to imply a state of being on the ‘child’. This structure SO uses the to be verb/ copula, when information is being stated that x is y.

Example sentence

Subject verb object

In the following example, we can see an example of where the primary word order SOV, deviates to become SVO. Note the pronoun ‘I’ doesn’t have any case marking active and is in pronoun form (see Cases on Pronouns). Next, on the first or main verb ‘able’, there isn’t any specification for the type of verb. When the main verb is followed by another verb, it seems the second verb becomes intransitivized. On the object of the sentence ‘axe’, there are multiple cases active: accusative case (the direct object of the verb), a plural suffix, and an instrumental case (the means by how or with what something gets done) on the noun.

Example sentence

Object subject verb

The following is an additional example that shows variant in word order than previously seen— OSV. In this structure, a suffix called connective is used to show that two constituents are being connected; simply, they function as a conjunction. Although this is a simple function, it is worth mentioning in understanding the way Yaqui functions as a system. The subject comes after the object in the correct subject pronoun form. Following is the verb ‘remember’, which may be a trigger to the word order. Perhaps this word order implies the topic should be who/what is being remembered.

Example sentence

Case

Yaqui is a "noun-heavy" agglutinative language.

For example, the first person singular pronoun "in" or "ne" (which varies by dialect), is more often used in the form "inepo", which can be translated "within me". The "-(e)po" ending is quite common and seems to denote much more than simple physical inclusion.

Cases are marked on the nouns with suffixes. The following is a list of all the cases that are marked in the language.

Nouns

Plural nouns are formed by adding the suffix "-im", or "-m" if the noun ends in a vowel. If the noun ends in a "t", it changes to "ch" when "-im" is added.

If a plural noun is the object of a sentence, the suffixation of "-t" or "-ta" is not used.

Verbs

Usually, adding the suffix "-k" to a verb indicates past tense, though there are many exceptions. If a verb ends in a diphthong, "-kan" is added. If a verb ends in "-i", "-akan" is added. If a verb ends in "-o" or "-u", "-ekan" is added, and if a verb ends in "-a", "-ikan" is added. If a verb ends in "-k", "-an" is added.

Regularly, "-ne" indicates the future.

Tense and Aspect

Yaqui possess a “prior state” or ‘used to be, now deceased’ suffix. It is -tu-káꞋu. This specific suffix attaches to a nominal noun to indicate a prior existence, but can also attach as a verb to reflect the state of a human noun (not only animate). For example, (suffixed as a verb) to the right.

The following is a table on the various tense markers that act more as aspectual values and epistemic states.

Adjectives

In Yaqui, adjectives very often act as verbs (in Afro-Asiatic linguistics, they would be called stative verbs). For instance, "vemela" or "new", would most often be used to mean "is new". Adjectives have tenses, the same as verbs.

Reduplication

Reduplication is present in Yaqui. Reduplicating the first syllable of a verb indicates habitual action:

Primary reduplication is also used to pluralize adjectives.

Reduplicating the second consonant of a verb is used to show that an action is performed rarely.

Sample words and phrases

Greetings often are very formal. The following formula of four phrases is often used even among close friends:

Language revitalization and teaching

In 2009, the Pascua Yaqui Tribal Council and the University of Arizona collaborated on a program in which tribal elders teach the Yaqui language to families. As of 2010, a revitalization project was underway at the University, "using 30 year old audio tapes recorded by tribal member Maria Leyva." As of 2012, "Any teaching materials, tools, lessons, audio lessons, etc.," on the website of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe were "restricted to 'Tribally enrolled Members' only."