Yanesha' language

Infobox Language
name=Yanesha'
nativename=Unicode|Yanešač̣
states=flagicon|Peru Peru
speakers=primary language: 9,831
rank=
familycolor=American
fam2=Arawakan
fam3=Maipurean
fam4=Southern Maipurean
fam5=Western Branch
script=Latin alphabet
iso1=ame

Yanesha' (Unicode|Yanešač̣; literally 'we the people'), 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 Arawak languages.

Phonology

Yanesha' has 22 consonants and 9 vowel phonemes. The consonants have a certain degree of allophonic variation while that of the vowels is more considerable.

Consonants

#The affricates and IPA|/tʲ/ are phonetically aspirated
#IPA| [ŋ] is an allophone of IPA|/n/ before IPA|/k/

Yanesha', similar to languages like Russian, Irish, and Marshallese, makes contrasts between certain pairs of palatalized and plain consonants:

* ('he answered him') vs IPA|/aˈnaxp/ ('he answered')
* ('entered my saw') vs IPA|/eˈʃota neˈnamo/ ('entered my mouth')
* ('he') vs IPA|/na/ ('I')

The remaining two palatalized consonants, IPA|/lʲ/ and IPA|/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; IPA|/tʲ/, while contrasting with IPA|/t/, also contrasts with IPA|/ts/, IPA|/tʃ/, and IPA|/tʂ/. The bilabial palatalized consonants have a more perceptible palatal offglide than the alveolar ones. Word-finally, this offglide is voiceless for IPA|/pʲ/ and IPA|/lʲ/ while being absent for IPA|/mʲ/).

Another general feature of Yanesha' is devoicing in certain contexts. In addition to the devoicing of palatal offglides above, the retroflex fricative IPA|/ʐ/ is voiceless when word final or before a voiceless consonant: IPA|/ˈaʐpa/ ('here it is') → IPA| [ˈaʂpa] . The approximants IPA|/w/ and IPA|/j/ are voiceless before voiceless plosives, as in IPA|/wawˈteːna/ ('barks') and IPA|/nejˈtaʐ/ ('my door'); IPA|/j/ is also voiceless before affricates and word-finally: IPA|/aˈwej/ ('let's go').

Similarly, the plosive consonants IPA|/p/, IPA|t/, and IPA|/k/ are aspirated word-finally IPA|/eˈlʲap/ ('shotgun') → IPA| [eˈlʲapʰ] ; preceding another plosive or an affricate, a plosive may be aspirated or unreleased so that IPA|/eːtˈkelʲ/ ('a fish') is realized as IPA| [eetʰkelʲ] or IPA| [eetkelʲ] . The velar fricative IPA|/x/ is debuccalized to IPA| [h] before another consonant.

Vowels

Yanesha' has three basic vowel qualities, IPA|/a/, IPA|/e/, and IPA|/o/. Each contrasts phonemically between short, long, and "laryngeal" or glottalized 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: IPA|/maˀˈnʲoʐ/ ('deer') → IPA| [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:

IPA|/e/ is the short phoneme consisting of phones that are front and close to close-mid. Generally, it is realized as close IPA| [i] when following bilabial consonants. Otherwise, the phones IPA| [e] and IPA| [ɪ] are in free variation with each other so that IPA|/nexˈse/ ('my brother') may be realized as either IPA| [nehˈse] or IPA| [nehˈsɪ] .

IPA|/eː/ is the long counterpart to IPA|/e/. It differs almost solely in its length, although when it follows IPA|/k/ it becomes a sort of diphthong with the first element being identical in vowel height while being more retracted so that IPA|/keː/ ('large kind of parrot') is realized as IPA| [ke̠e] .

Laryngeal IPA|/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 IPA|/p/ as in IPA|/peˀˈʃeːʐ/ ('parakeet') → IPA| [piˀˈʃeeʂ] 'parakeet'

IPA|/a/ is the short phoneme consisting of phones that are central. Its most frequent realization is that of an open central unrounded vowel IPA| [ä] (represented hereafter without the centralizing diacritic). Before IPA|/k/, there is free variation between this and IPA| [ɘ] so that IPA|/naˈnakʰ/ ('exceedingly') may be realized as IPA| [naˈnakʰ] or IPA| [nanˈəkʰ] . While the laryngeal counterpart is qualitatively identical to the short, the long counterpart, IPA|/aː/, differs only in that IPA| [ɘ] is not a potential realization.

IPA|/o/ is the short phoneme consisting of phones that are back as well as rounded. Generally, IPA| [o] and IPA| [u] are in free variation so that IPA|/ojoˈwa/ ('wild pig') may be realized as IPA| [ojoˈwa] or IPA| [ujuˈwa] . The phone IPA| [ʊ] is another potential realization, although it most frequently occurs before plosives so that IPA|/not/ ('my hand') may be realized as IPA| [nʊtʰ] . IPA| [ʊ] is not a potential realization of long IPA|/oː/ but both the long and laryngeal counterparts are otherwise qualitatively identical to short IPA|/o/.

Phonotactics

All consonants appear initially, medially, and finally with the exception that IPA|/ɣ/ and IPA|/w/ do not occur word-finally. With two exceptions (IPA|/tsʐ/ and IPA|/mw/), initial clusters include at least one plosive. The other possible initial clusters are:
*, IPA|/pr/, IPA|/tr/, IPA|/kj/
*, IPA|/ʐp/, IPA|/tʃt/, IPA|/ʃt/

Word final clusters consist of either a nasal or IPA|/x/ followed by plosive or affricate:
*, IPA|/nt/, IPA|/nk/, IPA|/ntʲ/, IPA|/ntʃ/, IPA|/ntʂ/

Medial clusters may be of two or three consonants.

tress

Although apparently phonemic, stress tends to occur on the penultimate syllable but also in the ultimate. Less frequently, it is antepenultimate. Some words, like IPA|/ˈotʂen/~/oˈtʂen/ ('comb'), have stress in free variation.

References