Yanesha' language
Encyclopedia
Yanesha' also called Amuesha or Amoesha is a language spoken by the Amuesha people of Peru
in central and eastern Pasco Region
.
Due to the influence and domination of the Inca Empire
, Yanesha' has many loanwords from Quechua
, including some core vocabulary. Yanesha' may also have been influenced by Quechua's vowel system so that, today, it has a three-vowel system rather than a four-vowel one that is typical of related Arawakan languages
.
s and 9 vowel
phonemes. The consonants have a certain degree of allophonic
variation while that of the vowels is more considerable.
Yanesha', similar to languages like Russian
, Irish
, and Marshallese
, makes contrasts between certain pairs of palatalized
and plain consonants:
('he answered him') vs /aˈnaxp/ ('he answered') ('entered my saw') vs /eˈʃota neˈnamo/ ('entered my mouth') ('he') vs /na/ ('I')
The remaining two palatalized consonants, /lʲ/ and /tʲ/, don’t offer a one-to-one contrast with plain consonants; the former because it is the only lateral consonant
and so contrasts with no other phoneme on the basis of just palatalization; /tʲ/, while contrasting with /t/, also contrasts with /ts/, /tʃ/, and /tʂ/. The bilabial palatalized consonants have a more perceptible palatal offglide than the alveolar ones. Word-finally, this offglide is voiceless for /pʲ/ and /lʲ/ while being absent for /mʲ/.
Another general feature of Yanesha' is devoicing in certain contexts. In addition to the devoicing of palatal offglides above, the retroflex
fricative /ʐ/ is voiceless when word final (final devoicing) or before a voiceless consonant (regressive assimilation): /ˈaʐpa/ ('here it is') → [ˈaʂpa]. The approximants
/w/ and /j/ are voiceless before voiceless plosives, as in /wawˈteːna/ ('barks') and /nejˈtaʐ/ ('my door'); /j/ is also voiceless before affricates and word-finally: /aˈwej/ ('let's go').
Similarly, the plosive consonants /p/, t/, and /k/ are aspirated word-finally /eˈlʲap/ ('shotgun') → [eˈlʲapʰ]; preceding another plosive or an affricate
, a plosive may be aspirated or unreleased so that /eːtˈkelʲ/ ('a fish') is realized as [eetʰkelʲ] or [eetkelʲ]. The velar
fricative /x/ is debuccalized
to [h] before another consonant.
forms.
Laryngealization generally consists of glottalization of the vowel in question, creating a kind of creaky voice
. In pre-final contexts, a variation occurs—especially before voiced consonants—ranging from creaky phonation throughout the vowel to a sequence of a vowel, glottal stop
, and a slightly rearticulated vowel: /maˀˈnʲoʐ/ ('deer') → [maʔa̯ˈnʲoʂ]. Before a word-final nasal, this rearticulated vowel may be realized as a syllabic quality of said nasal. Also, although not as long as a phonemically long vowel, laryngeal vowels are generally longer than short ones. When absolutely word-final, laryngealized vowels differ from short ones only by the presence of a following glottal stop.
Each vowel varies in its phonetic qualities, having contextual allophones as well as phones in free variation
with each other:
/e/ is the short
phoneme consisting of phones that are front
and close
to close-mid
. Generally, it is realized as close [i] when following bilabial consonant
s. Otherwise, the phones [e] and [ɪ] are in free variation with each other so that /nexˈse/ ('my brother') may be realized as either [nehˈse] or [nehˈsɪ].
/eː/ is the long counterpart to /e/. It differs almost solely in its length, although when it follows /k/ it becomes a sort of diphthong
with the first element being identical in vowel height while being more retracted so that /keː/ ('large kind of parrot') is realized as [ke̠e].
Laryngeal /eˀ/ consists of the same variation and allophony of the short phoneme with the minor exception that it is more likely to be realized as close following /p/ as in /peˀˈʃeːʐ/ ('parakeet') → [piˀˈʃeeʂ] 'parakeet'
/a/ is the short phoneme consisting of phones that are central
. Its most frequent realization is that of an open central unrounded vowel
[ä] (represented hereafter without the centralizing diacritic). Before /k/, there is free variation between this and [ə] so that /naˈnakʰ/ ('exceedingly') may be realized as [naˈnakʰ] or [nanˈəkʰ]. While the laryngeal counterpart is qualitatively identical to the short, the long counterpart, /aː/, differs only in that [ə] is not a potential realization.
/o/ is the short phoneme consisting of phones that are back
as well as rounded. Generally, [o] and [u] are in free variation so that /ojoˈwa/ ('wild pig') may be realized as [ojoˈwa] or [ujuˈwa]. The phone [ʊ] is another potential realization, although it most frequently occurs before plosives so that /not/ ('my hand') may be realized as [nʊtʰ]. [ʊ] is not a potential realization of long /oː/ but both the long and laryngeal counterparts are otherwise qualitatively identical to short /o/.
Word final clusters consist of either a nasal or /x/ followed by plosive or affricate:, /nt/, /nk/, /ntʲ/, /ntʃ/, /ntʂ/
Medial clusters may be of two or three consonants.
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
in central and eastern Pasco Region
Pasco Region
Pasco is a region in central Peru. Its capital is Cerro de Pasco.-Political division:The region is divided into 3 provinces , which are composed of 28 districts .-Provinces:...
.
Due to the influence and domination of the Inca Empire
Inca Empire
The Inca Empire, or Inka Empire , was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century...
, Yanesha' has many loanwords from Quechua
Quechua languages
Quechua is a Native South American language family and dialect cluster spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably...
, including some core vocabulary. Yanesha' may also have been influenced by Quechua's vowel system so that, today, it has a three-vowel system rather than a four-vowel one that is typical of related Arawakan languages
Arawakan languages
Macro-Arawakan is a proposed language family of South America and the Caribbean based on the Arawakan languages. Sometimes the proposal is called Arawakan, in which case the central family is called Maipurean....
.
Phonology
Yanesha' has 22 consonantConsonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
s and 9 vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
phonemes. The consonants have a certain degree of allophonic
Allophone
In phonology, an allophone is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, and are allophones for the phoneme in the English language...
variation while that of the vowels is more considerable.
Consonants
| Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Retroflex Retroflex consonant A retroflex consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants, especially in Indology... |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | palatalized Palatalization In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate.... |
||||||
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | mʲ | n | nʲ | (ŋ) 2 | ||
| Plosive | p | pʲ | t | tʲ 1 | k | ||
| Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... 1 |
t͡s | t͡ʂ | t͡ʃ | ||||
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
voiceless | s | ʃ | x | |||
| voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
β | ʐ | ɣ | ||||
| Flap Flap consonant In phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator is thrown against another.-Contrast with stops and trills:... |
ɾ | ||||||
| Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
central Central consonant A central or medial consonant is a consonant sound that is produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue. The class contrasts with lateral consonants, in which air flows over the sides of the tongue rather than down its center.... |
j | w | ||||
| lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth.... |
lʲ | ||||||
- The affricates and /tʲ/ are phonetically aspirated
- [ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ before /k/
Yanesha', similar to languages like Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
, and Marshallese
Marshallese language
The Marshallese language is a Malayo-Polynesian language of the Marshall Islands, and the principal language of the country...
, makes contrasts between certain pairs of palatalized
Palatalization
In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
and plain consonants:
('he answered him') vs /aˈnaxp/ ('he answered') ('entered my saw') vs /eˈʃota neˈnamo/ ('entered my mouth') ('he') vs /na/ ('I')
The remaining two palatalized consonants, /lʲ/ and /tʲ/, don’t offer a one-to-one contrast with plain consonants; the former because it is the only lateral consonant
Lateral consonant
A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth....
and so contrasts with no other phoneme on the basis of just palatalization; /tʲ/, while contrasting with /t/, also contrasts with /ts/, /tʃ/, and /tʂ/. The bilabial palatalized consonants have a more perceptible palatal offglide than the alveolar ones. Word-finally, this offglide is voiceless for /pʲ/ and /lʲ/ while being absent for /mʲ/.
Another general feature of Yanesha' is devoicing in certain contexts. In addition to the devoicing of palatal offglides above, the retroflex
Retroflex consonant
A retroflex consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate. They are sometimes referred to as cerebral consonants, especially in Indology...
fricative /ʐ/ is voiceless when word final (final devoicing) or before a voiceless consonant (regressive assimilation): /ˈaʐpa/ ('here it is') → [ˈaʂpa]. The approximants
Approximant consonant
Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no...
/w/ and /j/ are voiceless before voiceless plosives, as in /wawˈteːna/ ('barks') and /nejˈtaʐ/ ('my door'); /j/ is also voiceless before affricates and word-finally: /aˈwej/ ('let's go').
Similarly, the plosive consonants /p/, t/, and /k/ are aspirated word-finally /eˈlʲap/ ('shotgun') → [eˈlʲapʰ]; preceding another plosive or an affricate
Affricate consonant
Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :...
, a plosive may be aspirated or unreleased so that /eːtˈkelʲ/ ('a fish') is realized as [eetʰkelʲ] or [eetkelʲ]. The velar
Velar consonant
Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....
fricative /x/ is debuccalized
Debuccalization
Debuccalization is a sound change in which a consonant loses its original place of articulation and becomes or . The pronunciation of a consonant as is sometimes called aspiration, but in phonetics aspiration is the burst of air accompanying a plosive...
to [h] before another consonant.
Vowels
Yanesha' has three basic vowel qualities, /a/, /e/, and /o/. Each contrasts phonemically between short, long, and "laryngeal" or glottalizedGlottalization
Glottalization is the complete or partial closure of the glottis during the articulation of another sound. Glottalization of vowels and other sonorants is most often realized as creaky voice...
forms.
Laryngealization generally consists of glottalization of the vowel in question, creating a kind of creaky voice
Creaky voice
In linguistics, creaky voice , is a special kind of phonation in which the arytenoid cartilages in the larynx are drawn together; as a result, the vocal folds are compressed rather tightly, becoming relatively slack and compact...
. In pre-final contexts, a variation occurs—especially before voiced consonants—ranging from creaky phonation throughout the vowel to a sequence of a vowel, glottal stop
Glottal stop
The glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of...
, and a slightly rearticulated vowel: /maˀˈnʲoʐ/ ('deer') → [maʔa̯ˈnʲoʂ]. Before a word-final nasal, this rearticulated vowel may be realized as a syllabic quality of said nasal. Also, although not as long as a phonemically long vowel, laryngeal vowels are generally longer than short ones. When absolutely word-final, laryngealized vowels differ from short ones only by the presence of a following glottal stop.
Each vowel varies in its phonetic qualities, having contextual allophones as well as phones in free variation
Free variation
Free variation in linguistics is the phenomenon of two sounds or forms appearing in the same environment without a change in meaning and without being considered incorrect by native speakers...
with each other:
/e/ is the short
Vowel length
In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
phoneme consisting of phones that are front
Front vowel
A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also...
and close
Close vowel
A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the...
to close-mid
Close-mid vowel
A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from a close vowel to a mid vowel...
. Generally, it is realized as close [i] when following bilabial consonant
Bilabial consonant
In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...
s. Otherwise, the phones [e] and [ɪ] are in free variation with each other so that /nexˈse/ ('my brother') may be realized as either [nehˈse] or [nehˈsɪ].
/eː/ is the long counterpart to /e/. It differs almost solely in its length, although when it follows /k/ it becomes a sort of diphthong
Diphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
with the first element being identical in vowel height while being more retracted so that /keː/ ('large kind of parrot') is realized as [ke̠e].
Laryngeal /eˀ/ consists of the same variation and allophony of the short phoneme with the minor exception that it is more likely to be realized as close following /p/ as in /peˀˈʃeːʐ/ ('parakeet') → [piˀˈʃeeʂ] 'parakeet'
/a/ is the short phoneme consisting of phones that are central
Central vowel
A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel...
. Its most frequent realization is that of an open central unrounded vowel
Open central unrounded vowel
The open central unrounded vowel, or low central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. The International Phonetic Alphabet officially has no dedicated letter for this sound between front and back...
[ä] (represented hereafter without the centralizing diacritic). Before /k/, there is free variation between this and [ə] so that /naˈnakʰ/ ('exceedingly') may be realized as [naˈnakʰ] or [nanˈəkʰ]. While the laryngeal counterpart is qualitatively identical to the short, the long counterpart, /aː/, differs only in that [ə] is not a potential realization.
/o/ is the short phoneme consisting of phones that are back
Back vowel
A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...
as well as rounded. Generally, [o] and [u] are in free variation so that /ojoˈwa/ ('wild pig') may be realized as [ojoˈwa] or [ujuˈwa]. The phone [ʊ] is another potential realization, although it most frequently occurs before plosives so that /not/ ('my hand') may be realized as [nʊtʰ]. [ʊ] is not a potential realization of long /oː/ but both the long and laryngeal counterparts are otherwise qualitatively identical to short /o/.
Phonotactics
All consonants appear initially, medially, and finally with the exception that /ɣ/ and /w/ do not occur word-finally. With two exceptions (/tsʐ/ and /mw/), initial clusters include at least one plosive. The other possible initial clusters are:, /pr/, /tr/, /kj/, /ʐp/, /tʃt/, /ʃt/Word final clusters consist of either a nasal or /x/ followed by plosive or affricate:, /nt/, /nk/, /ntʲ/, /ntʃ/, /ntʂ/
Medial clusters may be of two or three consonants.