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Yaqay language

{{Short description|Fly River language spoken in Indonesia}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Yaqay

|state=Indonesia

|region=South Papua

|speakers=10,000

|date=1987

|ref = e18

|familycolor=Papuan

|fam1=Trans–New Guinea

|fam2=Fly River (Anim)

|fam3=Marind–Yakhai

|fam4=Yaqay languages

|iso3=jaq

|glotto=yaqa1246

|glottorefname=Yaqay

}}

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

The following is the phonology of Yaqay, as defined in {{lang|id|Fonologi Bahasa Yakhai}}.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

= Consonants =

class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; text-align: center;"

|+ Consonants

! colspan=2|

! Labial

! Dental /
Alveolar

! Postalveolar /
Palatal

! Velar

! Glottal

colspan=2| Nasal

| {{IPA link|m}} {{angbr|m}}

| {{IPA link|n}} {{angbr|n}}

|

| ({{IPA link|ŋ}} {{angbr|ngg}}?)

|

rowspan=2| Plosive

! voiceless

| {{IPA link|p}} {{angbr|p}}

| {{IPA link|t̪}} {{angbr|t}}

|

| {{IPA link|k}} {{angbr|k}}

| {{IPA link|ʔ}} {{angbr

k}}
voiced

| {{IPA link|b}} {{angbr|b}}

| {{IPA link|d̪}} {{angbr|d}}

| {{IPA link|d͡ʒ}} {{angbr|j}}

| {{IPA link|g}}{{IPA link|ʱ}} {{angbr|gh}}

| rowspan=2|{{IPA link|h}} {{angbr|h}}

colspan=2| Fricative

| {{IPA link|f}} {{angbr|f}}

|

|

| {{IPA link|x}} {{angbr|kh}}

colspan=2| Approximant

| {{IPA link|w}} {{angbr|w}}

| {{IPA link|r}} {{angbr|r}}

| {{IPA link|j}} {{angbr|y}}

|

|

  • {{angbr|t}} and {{angbr|d}} are both dental consonants, while {{angbr|n}} and {{angbr|r}} are alveolar consonants.
  • {{angbr|j}} is a postalveolar consonant while {{angbr|y}} is palatal.
  • {{IPA|/ŋ/}} seems to be an allophone of {{IPA|/n/}} found before velar consonants, like in the word {{lang|jaq|yanggo}} {{IPA|/jaŋgo/}} (it is unclear whether the sequence {{lang|jaq|nng}} is pronounced {{IPA|/ŋg/}}, {{IPA|/ŋgʱ/}}, or just {{IPA|/ŋ/}}, but it seems to most likely be {{IPA|/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 {{IPA|/k/}} (or {{IPA|/x/}}, see later notes), while at the end of syllables, it's pronounced {{IPA|/ʔ/}}, for example, in the word {{lang|jaq|kerak}} {{IPA|/keraʔ/}}, meaning 'walking'.
  • {{IPA|/x/}}, represented by {{lang|jaq|kh}}, is pronounced like {{IPA|/k/}} in some words, for example, {{lang|jaq|khayafo}} {{IPA|/kajafo/}}, meaning 'spear'.
  • {{IPA|/k/}} is pronounced like {{IPA|/x/}} in some words, for example, {{lang|jaq|kah}} {{IPA|/xah/}}, meaning 'smelling'.
  • The original source makes it unclear whether {{IPA|/h/}} is the voiceless glottal fricatives {{IPA|[h]}} or a voiced glottal stop {{IPA|[ʡ]}}, but it is most likely the voiceless glottal fricative {{IPA|[h]}}.

==Consonant Distribution==

class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; text-align: center;"

! colspan=1|Consonant

! Beginning

! Center

! End

{{IPA|/m/}}

| Y

| Y

| Y

{{IPA|/n/}}

| Y

| Y

| Y

{{IPA|/p/}}

| Y

| N

| N

{{IPA|/t/}}

| Y

| Y

| N

{{IPA|/k/}}

| Y

| N

| N

{{IPA|/ʔ/}}

| N

| Y

| Y

{{IPA|/b/}}

| Y

| Y

| Y

{{IPA|/d/}}

| Y

| Y

| Y

{{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}}

| N

| Y

| N

{{IPA|/gʱ/}}

| N

| Y

| N

{{IPA|/f/}}

| Y

| Y

| Y

{{IPA|/x/}}

| Y

| N

| N

{{IPA|/h/}}

| Y

| Y

| Y

{{IPA|/w/}}

| Y

| Y

| N

{{IPA|/r/}}

| Y

| Y

| Y

{{IPA|/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:

class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; text-align: center;"

! colspan=1|Consonant

! Beginning

! Center

! End

{{IPA|/t/}}

| Y

| Y

| N

  • means that the consonant {{IPA|/t/}} can be found at the beginning and center of a word, but not at the end of one.

=Vowels=

class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; text-align: center;"

! rowspan="2" |

! rowspan="2" | Front

! rowspan="2" | Central

! colspan="2" | Back

Unrounded

!Rounded

Close

| {{IPAlink|i}} {{angbr|i}}

|

|

| {{IPAlink|u}} {{angbr|u}}

Close mid

| {{IPAlink|e}} {{angbr|e}}

|

| ({{IPAlink|ɤ}})

| {{IPAlink|o}} {{angbr|o}}

Open mid

| ({{IPAlink|ɛ}})

|

|

|

Open

|

| {{IPAlink|a}} {{angbr|a}}

|

  • {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ɤ/}} are sometimes considered to be the same phoneme as {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/o/}} respectively, while others consider them as separate phonemes that are in free variation.

==Vowel Distribution==

class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; text-align: center;"

! colspan=1|Vowel

! Beginning

! Center

! End

{{IPA|/a/}}

| Y

| N

| N

{{IPA|/i/}}

| Y

| N

| N

{{IPA|/u/}}

| N

| N

| Y

{{IPA|/e/}}

| Y

| N

| N

{{IPA|/o/}}

| N

| N

| Y

  • A pattern can be seen here wherein front vowels {{IPA|/a/, /i/, and /e/}} can all only occur at the beginning of syllables, while the back vowels {{IPA|/u/ and /o/}} can only occur at the ends of syllables.

=Syllable Structure=

The syllable structure is not explicitly stated, but it appears to be:

Maximum syllable structure: CVNC, as in the word, {{lang|jaq|xobandede}}, meaning 'squat'.

Minimum syllable structure: CV, as in the word, {{lang|jaq|xa}}, meaning, 'hole'.

References

{{Reflist}}

  • Kriens, Ron and Randy Lebold. 2010. [https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/9214 Report on the Wildeman River Survey in Papua, Indonesia]. SIL International.

External links

  • [https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/trans-new-guinea/fly-river/marind-yakhai/yakhai-warkay/yakhai Yakhai]. New Guinea World.

{{Anim languages}}

Category:Marind–Yaqai languages

Category:Languages of Indonesia

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