Yahi dialect
{{Short description|Dialect of Yana}}{{Cleanup lang|date=January 2025|iso=ynn}}{{Infobox language
| name = Yahi
| familycolor = hokan
| states = USA
| region = California
| fam1 = Hokan?
| fam2 = Yana
| fam3 = Southern Yana
| isoexception = dialect
| extinct = 1916, with the death of Ishi
| ethnicity = Yahi people, a subgroup of the Yana
| glotto = yahi1243
| map = PSM_V86_D241_Location_of_the_yahi_and_Nozi_peoples_in_northern_california.jpg
| mapcaption = Distribution of Yahi and Nozi peoples
}}
Yahi was a dialect of the extinct Yana language that was spoken in the upper Sacramento Valley area, roughly in the area between Mill Creek and Deer Creek. It is one of the southern dialects of Yana, which is a language isolate, though with possible connections to Hokan. Yana is known as having been the language of Ishi, the last surviving Yana Indian, who worked with anthropologists to make a record of the language and culture.
History
The last documented speaker of Yahi was a man called Ishi who caused a scientific stir when he made contact with the outside world in 1911, long after the Yahi had been assumed to be extinct. Together with the language, he died in 1916.{{Cite book |last=Parkvall |first=Mikael |title=Limits of language: almost everything you didn't know you didn't know about language and languages |date=2008 |publisher=Battlebridge Publications |isbn=978-1-59028-198-7 |location=Wilsonville, Or}}
Vocabulary
Yahi distinguishes male and female forms with male forms, frequently marked with the suffix -na, generally longer than female forms. Some examples are:{{Cite book |last=Kroeber |first=Theodora |title=Ishi in two worlds: a biography of the last wild Indian in North America |last2=Gannett |first2=Lewis |date=1961 |publisher=University of California press |isbn=978-0-520-00675-1 |location=Berkeley Los Angeles}}
| class="wikitable"
!Male Form !Female Form !Meaning |
| diwai-ja
|diwai-tch |see me! |
| t'en'na
|t'et |grizzly bear |
| yana
|yah |person |
= Examples =
Some language samples from Kroeber, TKroeber, T. Ishi in two worlds Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984
| class="wikitable"
!Yahi !English |
| ähä
|yes |
| k'u'i
|no |
| kuwi |
| mudjaúpa
|chief |
| sake mahale
|menstruating woman |
| saltu
|white person |
| siwini |
| wataurisi
|bastard |
=Pronouns=
| class="wikitable"
!Yahi !English |
| ai'numa
|you (formal) |
auna - fire
=Numerals=
Some numerals from Sapir et al.,Sapir, E., Swadesh. M., Haas, M. Yana Dictionary University of California Press, 1960
| class="wikitable"
!Numeral !Yahi |
| 1
|baigu |
| 2
|uxmic'igu |
| 3
|bulmic'igu |
| 4
|daumigu |
| 5
|xaaʒan |
| 6
|baiwawi |
| 7
| |
| 8
| |
| 9
| |
| 10
|xaaʒanwilsamc'gu |
| 20
| |
| 40
| |
| 60
| |
| 80
| |
=Example Phrases=
| class="wikitable"
!Yahi !English |
| achi djeyauna?
|what is his name? |
| ine me yahi?
|are you an Indian? |
| wo-wi
|my house |
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ynn Ethnologue entry on the Yahi language]
{{Hokan languages}}{{Languages of California}}
Category:Language isolates of North America
Category:Extinct languages of North America
Category:Indigenous languages of California