Yaqay language
Appearance
Yaqay | |
---|---|
Native to | Indonesia |
Region | South Papua |
Native speakers | (10,000 cited 1987)[1] |
Trans–New Guinea
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | jaq |
Glottolog | yaqa1246 |
Yaqay (Yakhai, Yaqai, Jakai, Jaqai) is a Papuan language spoken in Indonesia by over 10,000 people. It is also called Mapi or Sohur; dialects are Oba-Miwamon, Nambiomon-Mabur, Bapai.
According to Ethnologue, Yaqay is spoken along the south coast of Mappi Regency, along the Obaa River north to the Gandaimu area.
Phonology
[edit]The following is the phonology of Yaqay, as defined in Fonologi Bahasa Yakhai.[2]
Consonants
[edit]Labial | Dental / Alveolar |
Postalveolar / Palatal |
Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | (ŋ ⟨ngg⟩?) | |||
Plosive | voiceless | p ⟨p⟩ | t̪ ⟨t⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ | ʔ ⟨-k⟩ | |
voiced | b ⟨b⟩ | d̪ ⟨d⟩ | d͡ʒ ⟨j⟩ | gʱ ⟨gh⟩ | h ⟨h⟩ | |
Fricative | f ⟨f⟩ | x ⟨kh⟩ | ||||
Approximant | w ⟨w⟩ | r ⟨r⟩ | j ⟨y⟩ |
- ⟨t⟩ and ⟨d⟩ are both dental consonants, while ⟨n⟩ and ⟨r⟩ are alveolar consonants.
- ⟨j⟩ is a postalveolar consonant while ⟨y⟩ is palatal.
- /ŋ/ seems to be an allophone of /n/ found before velar consonants, like in the word yanggo /jaŋgo/ (it is unclear whether the sequence nng is pronounced /ŋg/, /ŋgʱ/, or just /ŋ/, but it seems to most likely be /ŋg/).
- The letter 'k' is only found at the beginning of words or at the end of syllables. At the beginning of a word, it's pronounced like /k/ (or /x/, see later notes), while at the end of syllables, it's pronounced /ʔ/, for example, in the word kerak /keraʔ/, meaning 'walking'.
- /x/, represented by kh, is pronounced like /k/ in some words, for example, khayafo /kajafo/, meaning 'spear'.
- /k/ is pronounced like /x/ in some words, for example, kah /xah/, meaning 'smelling'.
- The original source makes it unclear whether /h/ is the voiceless glottal fricatives [h] or a voiced glottal stop [ʡ], but it is most likely the voiceless glottal fricative [h].
Consonant Distribution
[edit]Consonant | Beginning | Center | End |
---|---|---|---|
/m/ | Y | Y | Y |
/n/ | Y | Y | Y |
/p/ | Y | N | N |
/t/ | Y | Y | N |
/k/ | Y | N | N |
/ʔ/ | N | Y | Y |
/b/ | Y | Y | Y |
/d/ | Y | Y | Y |
/d͡ʒ/ | N | Y | N |
/gʱ/ | N | Y | N |
/f/ | Y | Y | Y |
/x/ | Y | N | N |
/h/ | Y | Y | Y |
/w/ | Y | Y | N |
/r/ | Y | Y | Y |
/j/ | Y | Y | N |
- 'Y' means that the consonant on the left of the row occurs in the word position at the top of the column. For instance, this section of the table:
Consonant | Beginning | Center | End |
---|---|---|---|
/t/ | Y | Y | N |
- means that the consonant /t/ can be found at the beginning and center of a word, but not at the end of one.
Vowels
[edit]Front | Central | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Unrounded | Rounded | |||
Close | i ⟨i⟩ | u ⟨u⟩ | ||
Close mid | e ⟨e⟩ | (ɤ) | o ⟨o⟩ | |
Open mid | (ɛ) | |||
Open | a ⟨a⟩ |
- /ɛ/ and /ɤ/ are sometimes considered to be the same phoneme as /e/ and /o/ respectively, while others consider them as separate phonemes that are in free variation.
Vowel Distribution
[edit]Vowel | Beginning | Center | End |
---|---|---|---|
/a/ | Y | N | N |
/i/ | Y | N | N |
/u/ | N | N | Y |
/e/ | Y | N | N |
/o/ | N | N | Y |
- A pattern can be seen here wherein front vowels /a/, /i/, and /e/ can all only occur at the beginning of syllables, while the back vowels /u/ and /o/ can only occur at the ends of syllables.
Syllable Structure
[edit]The syllable structure is not explicitly stated, but it appears to be:
Maximum syllable structure: CVNC, as in the word, xobandede, meaning 'squat'.
Minimum syllable structure: CV, as in the word, xa, meaning, 'hole'.
References
[edit]- ^ Yaqay at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Kainakainu, Barth and Paidi, Yacobus and Rinantanti, Yulini and Morin, Izak. 1998. Fonologi bahasa Yakhai. Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan. 190pp. https://repositori.kemdikbud.go.id/2531/1/fonologi%20bahasa%20yakhai%20%20%20199.pdf
- Kriens, Ron and Randy Lebold. 2010. Report on the Wildeman River Survey in Papua, Indonesia. SIL International.
External links
[edit]- Yakhai. New Guinea World.