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Yagua language

December 18, 2023

The Yagua /ˈjɑːɡwɑː/[2] language is spoken primarily in northeastern Peru by the Yagua people. As of 2005, it appears that a few speakers may have migrated across the Peruvian-Colombian border near the town of Leticia. A third of the population is monolingual, and Yagua is the language of instruction in local primary schools.

Yagua
Nijyamïï Nikyejaada
Native toPeru, Colombia
Regionwestern Amazon
EthnicityYagua
Native speakers
5,700 in Peru (2000)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3yad
Glottologyagu1244
ELPYagua
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Name edit

The exonym is spelled Yagua, Yawa, Yahua, Llagua, Yava, Yegua. They also go by Nijyamïï Nikyejaada.

Genetic affiliation edit

The Yagua language is a branch of the Peba–Yaguan language family.

Sociolinguistic situation edit

By the end of the 20th century, there were about 6,000 speakers of the language. At that time, a majority of Yagua individuals were bilingual in both Spanish and the Yagua language. A few distant communities were still largely monolingual, and children were learning the language, though in at least some communities there was parental pressure on children to just speak Spanish. Some ethnic Yaguas are monolingual in Spanish.

There is some degree of semilingualism among certain Yagua women who are culturally assimilated into mainstream Peruvian culture, not having native-like command of either Spanish or Yagua. They contrast with three other groups of Yagua: 1) older women who are fluent Yagua speakers with some degree of Spanish, 2) unassimilated monolingual Yaguas, and 3) men, who all speak Yagua with varying degrees of Spanish fluency. These young women are primarily addressed in Yagua, but respond in a simplified Spanish.[3]: 17 

Phonology edit

Yagua has 6 vowels and 11 consonants, as shown in the chart below. (Orthographic symbols in bold, IPA values in square brackets.)

Vowels edit

  Front Central Back
Close i [i] ɨ [ɨ] u [u]
Mid e [e] o [ɔ]
Open a [a]
  • Some vowels show a significant degree of allophonic variation, notably /u/ which can be [u], [ʊ] or [o], /i/ which can be [i] or [ɪ], and /a/, which can be [a] or [æ].
  • Vowels are both oral and nasal.

Consonants edit

  1. A nasal consonant preceding a nasal vowel is a simple nasal sound ( [m], [n]); but a nasal consonant preceding an oral vowel has an oral release ([mb], [nd])
  2. All phones except for /s/, /tʃ/, and /j/ may be palatalized. In addition, bilabial stops may be labialized. /t, n, s/ when palatalized are heard as [tʲ, ɲ, ʃ].
  3. /s/ and /tʃ/ show significant allophonic variation, being either pre-stopped or not. Thus /s/ ranges from [s] to [ts], and /tʃ/ ranges from [tʃ] to [ʃ].
  4. The rhotic r is often retroflex ([ɽ]) and may have some laterality ([ɺ]); simple taps ([ɾ]) are also heard. /r/ can also be realized as [d], especially when palatalized.
  5. /w/ can be realized as [β], especially when palatalized.
  6. Within a word, there is metathesis of any morpheme-final /j/ with the onset of the following syllable

The language has either tone or a complex pitch-accent system, but this has never been adequately described.

Morphology edit

The language is highly agglutinative, such that most words consist of multiple morphemes, and a single word may contain more than one root.

Syntax edit

Most Yagua sentences begin with the verb, followed by the subject and object in that order (VSO). It is a "double object" language, with no known syntactic differences between the two objects of verbs like 'give', for example, or applied objects.

The language has numerous postpositions (and no prepositions, which is generally unexpected for VSO languages). There are over 40 noun classifiers, and essentially no "adjectives". Nouns are modified either by nouns, by classifiers, or by other suffixes.

Yagua uses adjective-like nouns as adjectives. The problem then occurs in a sentence like the red hen, which would be more like "the red one, the hen". Both "the red one" and "the hen" could be the head of the noun phrase. This is solved by determining which of the two nouns persists in the following discourse. If "the red one" persists, then "red" is the head; if "the hen" persists, then "hen" is the head.[3]: 35  The order of elements is sensitive to determining the head.[4]

The language is documented in various works by Paul Powlison, Esther Powlison, Doris L. Payne, and Thomas E. Payne.

Vocabulary edit

Yagua has a quinary (base 5) counting system. Different numbers are used for inanimate objects/counting and animate objects (see measure word).

# Inanimate/Counting Animate # Inanimate/Counting Animate
1 tárakí tíkí 6 tárakínihyátee tíkinihyátee
2 dárahúy dánuhúy 7 dárahúnihyátee dánuhunihyátee
3 múmurí múuváy 8 múmurínihyátee múúványihyátee
4 dáryahúyu dányuhúyu 9 dáryahúyunihyátee dányuhúyunihyátee
5 tádahyó tádahyó 10 βuyahúy βuyahúy

Bibliography edit

  • Payne, Doris L. 1985. Aspects of the Grammar of Yagua: A Typological Perspective (Peru). University of California at Los Angeles.
  • Payne, Doris L. 1986. Basic word order in Yagua. Handbook of Amazonian Languages 1, ed. by Desmond Derbyshire and Geoffrey Pullum. Berlin: Mouton.
  • Payne, Doris L. forthcoming. Source of the Yagua classifier system.
  • Payne, Thomas E. 1994. The Twins Stories: Participant Coding in Yagua Narrative. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Powlison, Paul and Esther Powlison. 1958. "El sistema numérico del yagua."

References edit

  1. ^ Yagua at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh
  3. ^ a b Payne, Thomas E. (1997). Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  4. ^ Payne, Doris L. (1990). The Pragmatics of Word Order: Typological Dimensions of Verb-initial Languages. Berlin and New York: Mouton.

External links edit

December 18, 2023
yagua, language, yagua, ɑː, ɑː, language, spoken, primarily, northeastern, peru, yagua, people, 2005, appears, that, speakers, have, migrated, across, peruvian, colombian, border, near, town, leticia, third, population, monolingual, yagua, language, instructio. The Yagua ˈ j ɑː ɡ w ɑː 2 language is spoken primarily in northeastern Peru by the Yagua people As of 2005 it appears that a few speakers may have migrated across the Peruvian Colombian border near the town of Leticia A third of the population is monolingual and Yagua is the language of instruction in local primary schools YaguaNijyamii NikyejaadaNative toPeru ColombiaRegionwestern AmazonEthnicityYaguaNative speakers5 700 in Peru 2000 1 Language familyPeba Yaguan YaguaLanguage codesISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code yad class extiw title iso639 3 yad yad a Glottologyagu1244ELPYaguaThis article contains IPA phonetic symbols Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols instead of Unicode characters For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA Contents 1 Name 2 Genetic affiliation 3 Sociolinguistic situation 4 Phonology 4 1 Vowels 4 2 Consonants 5 Morphology 6 Syntax 7 Vocabulary 8 Bibliography 9 References 10 External linksName editThe exonym is spelled Yagua Yawa Yahua Llagua Yava Yegua They also go by Nijyamii Nikyejaada Genetic affiliation editThe Yagua language is a branch of the Peba Yaguan language family Sociolinguistic situation editBy the end of the 20th century there were about 6 000 speakers of the language At that time a majority of Yagua individuals were bilingual in both Spanish and the Yagua language A few distant communities were still largely monolingual and children were learning the language though in at least some communities there was parental pressure on children to just speak Spanish Some ethnic Yaguas are monolingual in Spanish There is some degree of semilingualism among certain Yagua women who are culturally assimilated into mainstream Peruvian culture not having native like command of either Spanish or Yagua They contrast with three other groups of Yagua 1 older women who are fluent Yagua speakers with some degree of Spanish 2 unassimilated monolingual Yaguas and 3 men who all speak Yagua with varying degrees of Spanish fluency These young women are primarily addressed in Yagua but respond in a simplified Spanish 3 17 Phonology editYagua has 6 vowels and 11 consonants as shown in the chart below Orthographic symbols in bold IPA values in square brackets Vowels edit Front Central BackClose i i ɨ ɨ u u Mid e e o ɔ Open a a Some vowels show a significant degree of allophonic variation notably u which can be u ʊ or o i which can be i or ɪ and a which can be a or ae Vowels are both oral and nasal Consonants edit Bilabial Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar GlottalNasal m nPlosive p t kAffricate c tʃ Fricative s hTap r ɾ Approximant w y j A nasal consonant preceding a nasal vowel is a simple nasal sound m n but a nasal consonant preceding an oral vowel has an oral release mb nd All phones except for s tʃ and j may be palatalized In addition bilabial stops may be labialized t n s when palatalized are heard as tʲ ɲ ʃ s and tʃ show significant allophonic variation being either pre stopped or not Thus s ranges from s to ts and tʃ ranges from tʃ to ʃ The rhotic r is often retroflex ɽ and may have some laterality ɺ simple taps ɾ are also heard r can also be realized as d especially when palatalized w can be realized as b especially when palatalized Within a word there is metathesis of any morpheme final j with the onset of the following syllableThe language has either tone or a complex pitch accent system but this has never been adequately described Morphology editThe language is highly agglutinative such that most words consist of multiple morphemes and a single word may contain more than one root Syntax editMost Yagua sentences begin with the verb followed by the subject and object in that order VSO It is a double object language with no known syntactic differences between the two objects of verbs like give for example or applied objects The language has numerous postpositions and no prepositions which is generally unexpected for VSO languages There are over 40 noun classifiers and essentially no adjectives Nouns are modified either by nouns by classifiers or by other suffixes Yagua uses adjective like nouns as adjectives The problem then occurs in a sentence like the red hen which would be more like the red one the hen Both the red one and the hen could be the head of the noun phrase This is solved by determining which of the two nouns persists in the following discourse If the red one persists then red is the head if the hen persists then hen is the head 3 35 The order of elements is sensitive to determining the head 4 The language is documented in various works by Paul Powlison Esther Powlison Doris L Payne and Thomas E Payne Vocabulary editYagua has a quinary base 5 counting system Different numbers are used for inanimate objects counting and animate objects see measure word Inanimate Counting Animate Inanimate Counting Animate1 taraki tiki 6 tarakinihyatee tikinihyatee2 darahuy danuhuy 7 darahunihyatee danuhunihyatee3 mumuri muuvay 8 mumurinihyatee muuvanyihyatee4 daryahuyu danyuhuyu 9 daryahuyunihyatee danyuhuyunihyatee5 tadahyo tadahyo 10 buyahuy buyahuyBibliography editPayne Doris L 1985 Aspects of the Grammar of Yagua A Typological Perspective Peru University of California at Los Angeles Payne Doris L 1986 Basic word order in Yagua Handbook of Amazonian Languages 1 ed by Desmond Derbyshire and Geoffrey Pullum Berlin Mouton Payne Doris L forthcoming Source of the Yagua classifier system Payne Thomas E 1994 The Twins Stories Participant Coding in Yagua Narrative Berkeley University of California Press Powlison Paul and Esther Powlison 1958 El sistema numerico del yagua References edit Yagua at Ethnologue 18th ed 2015 subscription required Laurie Bauer 2007 The Linguistics Student s Handbook Edinburgh a b Payne Thomas E 1997 Describing morphosyntax A guide for field linguists Cambridge Cambridge University Press Payne Doris L 1990 The Pragmatics of Word Order Typological Dimensions of Verb initial Languages Berlin and New York Mouton External links editYagua language dictionary online from IDS select simple or advanced browsing Yagua Intercontinental Dictionary Series Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Yagua language amp oldid 1169195964, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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