Yokuts language

Endangered language of California, US

Not to be confused with the Yakut language.

Yokuts

Yokutsan, Mariposa
Region| San Joaquin Valley, California
Ethnicity| Yokuts

Native speakers

| 50 (including semispeakers) (2007)[1]

Language family

Yok-Utian?

* Yokuts

Dialects|

* Palewyami †
* Buena Vista †
* Tule–Kaweah †
* Gashowu †
* Kings River †
* Delta †
* Valley

Language codes
ISO 639-3| `yok`
Glottolog| `yoku1255`
ELP| Yokuts

Pre-contact distribution of the Yokuts language

Yokuts, formerly known as Mariposa, is an endangered language family spoken in the interior of Northern and Central California in and around the San Joaquin Valley by the Yokuts people. The speakers of Yokuts languages were severely affected by disease, missionaries, and the Gold Rush. While descendants of Yokuts speakers currently number in the thousands, all languages apart from Valley Yokuts are now extinct.

Map of Yokuts with languages and dialects indicated

The Yawelmani dialect of Valley Yokuts has been a focus of much linguistic research.

## Languages and dialects

[edit]

Yokuts consists of half a dozen languages. An estimated forty linguistically distinct groups existed before Euro-American contact.

Yokutsan family tree[2]

* Yokuts[2]
* † Poso Creek
* † Palewyami Yokuts (a.k.a. Poso Creek, Altinin)
* General Yokuts (all others)
* † Buena Vista
* † Tulamni
* † Hometwali
* Nim
* † Tule–Kaweah
* † Wukchumni
* † Yawdanchi (a.k.a. Nutaa)
* † Bokninuwad
* Northern Yokuts
* † Gashowu
* † Kings River
* † Chukaymina (also spelled Chukaimina)
* † Michahay
* † Ayitcha (a.k.a. Aiticha, Kocheyali)
* † Choynimni (also spelled Choinimni)
* Valley Yokuts (sole living language)

Glottolog finds at least four distinct languages: Palewyami Yokuts, Buena Vista Yokuts, Northern Yokuts, Tule-Kaweah Yokuts.[1]

## Speakers and language revitalization

[edit]

Almost all Yokuts dialects are extinct, as noted above. Those that are still spoken are endangered.

Until recent years, Choinimni, Wikchamni, Chukchansi, Kechayi, Tachi and Yawelmani all had a few fluent speakers and a variable number of partial speakers. Choynimni went extinct in 2017. Wikchamni, Chukchansi, Tachi, and Yawelmani were being taught to at least a few children during the first decade of the twenty-first century.

Chukchansi is now a written language, with its own alphabet developed on a federal grant. Chukchansi also has a phrase book and dictionary that are partially completed. In May 2012, the Linguistics Department of Fresno State University received a $1 million grant to compile a Chukchansi dictionary and grammar texts,[3] and to "provide support for scholarships, programs, and efforts to assemble native texts and create a curriculum for teaching the language so it can be brought back into social and ritual use."[4]

## Genetic relations

[edit]

Yokuts is a key member in the proposed Penutian language stock. Some linguists consider most relationships within Penutian to be undemonstrated (cf. Campbell 1997[5]). Others consider a genetic relationship between Yokuts, Utian, Maiduan, Wintuan, and a number of Oregon languages to be definite (cf. DeLancey and Golla 1997[6]). Regardless of higher-order disagreement, Callaghan (1997) provides strong evidence uniting Yokuts and the Utian languages as branches of a Yok-Utian language family.[7]

The term "Delta Yokuts" has recently been introduced in lieu of the longer "Far Northern Valley Yokuts" for the dialect spoken by the people in the present Stockton and Modesto vicinities of San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, California, prior to their removal to Mission San Jose between 1810 and 1827. Of interest, Delta Yokuts contains a large number of words with no cognates in any of the other dialects, or for that matter in the adjacent Utian languages, although its syntax is typically Northern Valley Yokuts.[8] This anomaly has led Whistler (cited by Golla 2007[9]) to suggest, "The vocabulary distinctive of some of the Delta Yokuts dialects may reflect substratal influence from pre-proto-Yokuts or from an extinct Yok-Utian language." Golla[10] suggests that a "pre-proto-Yokuts" homeland was in the Great Basin, citing a rich plant and animal vocabulary for a dry environment and a close connection between Yokuts basketry styles and those of prehistoric central Nevada.

## Proto-language

[edit]

Proto-Yokuts

Reconstruction of| Yokuts languages

Proto-Yokuts reconstructions from Whistler and Golla (1986):[2]

gloss | Proto-Yokuts

|

acorn | *pʰutʰuʂ
beaver | *t’ɨːpɨkʰ ~ *ʈ’ɨːpɨkʰ
blood | *hɨːpa-ʔ
bone | *c’iy
child | *witʰip
child (diminutive) | *wicʰip
coyote | *kʰay’iw
eight | *mun’us
eye | *sasa-ʔ
fingernail | *xiːsix
fire | *ʔoʂitʰ
fish | *lopʰiʈʰ
flea | *p’aːk’il
friend | *noːcʰi
head louse | *tʰihiʈʰ
heart | *ʔuʂik’
horn | *ɨʂɨl’
mountain | *lomitʰ
mouth | *sama-ʔ
north | *xosim
nose | *ʈʰɨŋɨk’
shaman | *ʔaŋʈʰiw
skunk | *cʰox
sky | *ʈʰipʰin
star | *c’ayatas
string | *c’ikiy
tears | *maŋal
three | *ʂoːpʰin
two | *poŋiy
water | *ʔilik’

## See also

[edit]

* Yokuts people

## Further reading

[edit]

* Adisasmito-Smith, Niken and Guekguezian, Peter and Wyatt, Holly (2022). "Chukchansi Yokuts". Illustrations of the IPA. Journal of the International Phonetic Association: 1–30. doi:10.1017/S0025100321000268`{{cite journal}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link), with supplementary sound recordings.

## References

[edit]

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

1. ^ a b Yokuts at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. ^ a b c Whistler & Golla 1986.
3. ^ "Chukchansi language to be preserved with grant". KFSN News. abc30.com. 2:14 minutes in. Archived from the original on 2014-04-13. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
4. ^ "Fresno State Receives $1 Million to Preserve, Revitalize Chukchansi Language". Foundation Center Philanthropy News Digest. 2012-05-13. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
5. ^ Campbell 1997.
6. ^ DeLancey & Golla 1997.
7. ^ Callaghan 1997.
8. ^ Kroeber 1959, p. 15-17.
9. ^ Golla 2007, p. 76.
10. ^ Golla 2007, p. 77.

* Callaghan, Catherine (1997). "Evidence for Yok-Utian". International Journal of American Linguistics. 63: 121–133. doi:10.1086/466313. S2CID 144374174.
* Callaghan, Catherine (2001). "More Evidence for Yok-Utian: A Reanalysis of the Dixon and Kroeber Sets". International Journal of American Linguistics. 67 (3): 313–345. doi:10.1086/466461. S2CID 145406834.
* Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press.
* DeLancey, Scott; Golla, Victor (1997). "The Penutian Hypothesis: Retrospect and Prospect". International Journal of American Linguistics. 63: 171–202. doi:10.1086/466318. S2CID 143844592.
* Gamble, Geoffery (1988). "Reconstructed Yokuts Pronouns". Diachronica. 5 (1–2): 59–71. doi:10.1075/dia.5.1-2.04gam.
* Golla, Victor (1964). Bright, William (ed.). "Comparative Yokuts Phonology". Studies in Californian Linguistics. Berkeley: University of California Press.
* Golla, Victor (2007). Jones, Terry L.; Klar, Kathryn A. (eds.). "Linguistic Prehistory". California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity. New York: Altamira Press: 71–82. ISBN 978-0-7591-0872-1.
* Golla, Victor (2011). California Indian Languages. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26667-4. JSTOR 10.1525/j.ctt1ppmrt.
* Hockett, Charles (1973). "Yokuts As a Testing Ground for Linguistic Methods". International Journal of American Linguistics. 39 (2): 63–79. doi:10.1086/465244. S2CID 143585441.
* Kroeber, A. L. (1959). "Northern Yokuts". Anthropological Linguistics. 1 (8): 1–19. JSTOR 30022216.
* Kroeber, A. L. (1963). "Yokuts Dialect Survey" (PDF). University of California Anthropological Records. 11 (3): 177–251.
* Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7.
* Newman, Stanley S. (1944). Yokuts Language of California. LCCN 44004245.
* Newman, Stanley S. (1946). Osgood, Cornelius (ed.). "The Yawelmani Dialect of Yokuts" (PDF). Linguistic Structures of Native America. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology (6). New York: 222–248.
* Powell, John Wesley (1891). "Indian Linguistic Families of America, North of Mexico". Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886. Washington: Government Printing Office.
* Whistler, Kenneth; Golla, Victor (1986). "Proto-Yokuts Reconsidered". International Journal of American Linguistics. 52 (4): 317–358. doi:10.1086/466028. S2CID 144822697.

## External links

[edit]

Wiktionary has a list of reconstructed forms at Appendix:Proto-Yokuts reconstructions

* Yokuts[usurped]
* Yokuts languages fonts, Languagegeek.com
* Yokuts (Northern Foothill): Lord's prayer
* Chawchila metathesis
* Native Tribes, Groups, Language Families and Dialects of California in 1770 Archived 2011-04-30 at the Wayback Machine (map after Kroeber)
* Yokuts languages language overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
* "OLAC resources in and about the Yokuts language". Retrieved 2012-07-30.
* "General Yokuts – California Language Archive". Retrieved 2012-07-30.

* v
* t
* e

Yokuts nation

People|

| Indigenous|

* Yoimut
* Estanislao
* Clarence Atwell Jr.
* Marie Wilcox
* Poppies Martinez

|

Euro-American|

* Thomas Jefferson Mayfield
* Frank Forrest Latta
* A. L. Kroeber

History and geography|

* Tulare Lake
* Islands in Tulare Lake
* Buena Vista Lake
* Painted Rock (Tulare County, California)
* San Luis Gonzaga Archeological District

Languages and sub-tribes|

* Yokuts language
* Proto-Yokuts
* Yok-Utian languages
* Buena Vista Yokuts
* Chukchansi dialect
* Delta Yokuts
* Gashowu Yokuts
* Hometwoli dialect
* Kings River Yokuts
* Northern Valley Yokuts
* Palewyami Yokuts
* Southern Valley Yokuts
* Tulamni
* Tule-Kaweah Yokuts
* Valley Yokuts
* Yawdanchi dialect

Culture and spirituality|

* Yokuts traditional narratives
* Kuksu
* Ghost Dance

Reservations and rancherías|

* Tule River Farm
* Santa Rosa Rancheria
* Tejon Indian Tribe of California
* Table Mountain Rancheria
* Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians

* v
* t
* e

Penutian languages

Chinookan|

* Kathlamet
* Lower Chinook
* Upper Chinook

Plateau|

* Klamath
* Molala
* Sahaptian
* Nez Perce
* Sahaptin

Takelma|

* Takelma

Kalapuyan|

* Central Kalapuya
* Northern Kalapuya
* Yoncalla

Coast Oregon|

* Alsean
* Coosan
* Hanis
* Miluk
* Siuslaw

Wintuan|

* Nomlaki
* Patwin
* Southern Patwin
* Wintu

Maiduan|

* Chico
* Konkow
* Maidu
* Nisenan

Yok-Utian|

* Yokuts
* Utian
* Miwok
* Ohlone

Tsimshianic|

* Coast Tsimshian
* Gitksan
* Nisga’a
* Southern Tsimshian

Italics indicate extinct languages

* v
* t
* e

Primary language families

Africa|

* Afroasiatic
* Austronesian
* Khoe–Kwadi
* Kx'a
* Niger–Congo
* Nilo-Saharan?
* Tuu
* Mande?
* Songhay?
* Ijaw?
* Ubangian?
* Kadu?

Isolates|

* Bangime
* Hadza
* Jalaa
* Sandawe
* Laal?
* Shabo?

Eurasia
(Europe
and Asia)|

* Afroasiatic
* Ainu
* Austroasiatic
* Austronesian
* Chukotko-Kamchatkan
* Dravidian
* Eskaleut
* Great Andamanese
* Hmong–Mien
* Hurro-Urartian
* Indo-European
* Japonic
* Kartvelian
* Koreanic
* Kra–Dai
* Mongolic
* Nivkh
* Northeast Caucasian
* Northwest Caucasian
* Ongan
* Sino-Tibetan
* Tungusic
* Turkic
* Tyrsenian
* Uralic
* Yeniseian
* Yukaghir
* Digaro?
* Hrusish?
* Kho-Bwa?
* Mijiic?
* Miju?
* Siangic?

Isolates|

* Basque
* Burushaski
* Elamite
* Hattic
* Kenaboi?
* Kusunda
* Minoan?
* Nihali
* Shompen?
* Sumerian
* Tambora?

New Guinea
and the Pacific|

* Arai–Samaia
* Austronesian
* Binanderean–Goilalan
* Border
* Bulaka River
* Central Solomons
* Chimbu–Wahgi
* Demta–Sentani
* Doso–Turumsa
* East Geelvink Bay
* East New Britain
* East Strickland
* Eleman
* Engan
* Fas
* Foja Range
* Kaure–Kosare
* Kiwaian
* Kutubuan
* Lakes Plain
* Lower Mamberamo
* Lower Sepik
* Madang
* Mairasi
* North Bougainville
* Pauwasi
* Ramu
* Senagi
* Senu River
* Sepik
* Skou
* South Bougainville
* Teberan
* Torricelli
* Trans-Fly
* Trans–New Guinea
* Turama–Kikorian
* Upper Yuat
* West Papuan
* Yam
* Yawa
* Yuat
* Northwest Papuan?
* Papuan Gulf?

Isolates|

* Abinomn
* Abun
* Anêm?
* Ata?
* Kol
* Kuot
* Maybrat
* Mpur
* Pawaia
* Porome
* Sulka?
* Taiap?
* Tambora?
* Wiru

Australia|

* Arnhem/Macro-Gunwinyguan?
* Bunuban
* Darwin Region?
* Eastern Daly
* Eastern Tasmanian
* Garawan
* Iwaidjan
* Jarrakan
* Marrku–Wurrugu?
* Mirndi
* Northern Tasmanian
* Northeastern Tasmanian
* Nyulnyulan
* Pama–Nyungan
* Southern Daly?
* Tangkic
* Wagaydyic
* Western Daly
* Western Tasmanian
* Worrorran
* Yangmanic (incl. Wagiman)?

Isolates|

* Giimbiyu
* Malak-Malak (Northern Daly?)
* Tiwi

North
America|

* Algic
* Alsea
* Caddoan
* Chimakuan
* Chinookan
* Chumashan
* Comecrudan
* Coosan
* Eskaleut
* Iroquoian
* Kalapuyan
* Keres
* Maiduan
* Muskogean
* Na-Dene
* Palaihnihan
* Plateau Penutian
* Pomoan
* Salishan
* Shastan
* Siouan
* Tanoan
* Tsimshianic
* Utian
* Uto-Aztecan
* Wakashan
* Wintuan
* Yukian
* Yuman–Cochimí

Isolates|

* Chimariko
* Esselen
* Haida
* Karuk
* Kutenai
* Seri
* Siuslaw
* Takelma
* Timucua
* Tonkawa
* Waikuri
* Washo
* Yana
* Yokuts
* Yuchi
* Zuni

Mesoamerica|

* Chibchan
* Jicaquean
* Lencan
* Mayan
* Misumalpan
* Mixe–Zoque
* Oto-Manguean
* Tequistlatecan
* Totonacan
* Uto-Aztecan
* Xincan

Isolates|

* Cuitlatec
* Huave
* Tarascan/Purépecha

South
America|

* Andoque–Urequena
* Arauan
* Araucanian
* Arawakan
* Arutani–Sape
* Aymaran
* Barbacoan
* Boran
* Cahuapanan
* Cariban
* Catacaoan
* Chapacuran
* Charruan
* Chibchan
* Choco
* Chonan
* Guaicuruan
* Guajiboan
* Harákmbut–Katukinan
* Jirajaran
* Jivaroan
* Katembri–Taruma
* Mascoian
* Matacoan
* Nadahup
* Nambikwaran
* Otomákoan
* Pano-Tacanan
* Peba–Yaguan
* Quechuan
* Piaroa–Saliban
* Ticuna–Yuri
* Timotean
* Tiniguan
* Tucanoan
* Tupian
* Uru–Chipaya
* Witotoan
* Yanomaman
* Zamucoan
* Zaparoan
* Bora-Witoto?
* Chimuan?
* Esmeralda–Yaruro?
* Hibito–Cholón?
* Lule–Vilela?
* Macro-Jê?
* Tequiraca–Canichana?

Isolates
(extant in 2000)|

* Aikanã?
* Alacalufan
* Camsá
* Candoshi
* Chimane
* Chiquitano
* Cofán?
* Fulniô
* Guató
* Hodï/Joti
* Irantxe?
* Itonama
* Kunza
* Leco
* Maku (Maku-Auari/Jukude)
* Movima
* Mura-Pirahã
* Nukak?
* Páez
* Puinave
* Huaorani/Waorani
* Trumai
* Urarina
* Warao
* Yamana
* Yuracaré

Sign
languages|

* Arab
* BANZSL
* Chinese
* Francosign
* Germanosign
* Indo-Pakistani
* Japanese
* Original Thai
* Swedish
* Tanzanian?

Isolates|

* See list of sign languages

See also|

* Constructed languages
* Creoles
* Language isolates
* Mixed languages
* Pidgins
* Unclassified languages

* Families with question marks (?) are disputed or controversial.
* Families in italics have no living members.
* Families with more than 30 languages are in bold.

* v
* t
* e

Languages of California

Italics indicate extinct languages

Indigenous|

| Algic|

* Wiyot
* Yurok

|

Athabaskan|

* Tolowa
* Hupa
* Mattole
* Cahto
* Wailaki

Chumashan|

* Obispeño
* Cruzeño
* Purisimeño
* Ineseño
* Barbareño
* Ventureño

Ohlone|

* Karkin
* Chochenyo
* Ramaytush
* Tamyen
* Awaswas
* Mutsun
* Rumsen
* Chalon

Hokan|

* Chimariko
* Karuk
* Achomawi
* Atsugewi
* Northeastern Pomo
* Eastern Pomo
* Southeastern Pomo
* Northern Pomo
* Central Pomo
* Southern Pomo
* Kashaya
* Washo
* Mojave
* Kumeyaay
* Yana
* Yahi

Penutian|

* Klamath-Modoc
* Yokuts
* Buena Vista Yokuts
* Gashowu Yokuts
* Kings River Yokuts
* Palewyami
* Tule–Kaweah Yokuts
* Valley Yokuts
* Wintu
* Miwok
* Bay Miwok
* Coast Miwok
* Lake Miwok
* Plains Miwok
* Central Sierra Miwok
* Northern Sierra Miwok
* Southern Sierra Miwok
* Maiduan
* Chico
* Maidu
* Konkow
* Nisenan

Shastan|

* Konomihu
* New River Shasta
* Okwanuchu
* Shasta

Uto Aztecan|

* Cahuilla
* Cupeño
* Kawaiisu
* Kitanemuk
* Luiseño-Juaneño
* Mono
* Northern Paiute
* Panamint
* Serrano
* Tataviam
* Tongva
* Tübatulabal
* Ute

Wintuan|

* Nomlaki
* Patwin
* Southern Patwin
* Wintu

Yukian|

* Yuki, Wappo

Language isolates
and unclassified|

* Esselen, Chimariko, Karuk, Salinan, Takelma
Plains Sign Talk

Non-Indigenous|

| Indo-European|

* American English
* California English
* Chicano English
* Californian Spanish
* Armenian
* Persian
* Punjabi
* Russian

|

Asian|

* Chinese
* Korean
* Tagalog
* Vietnamese

Sign language|

* American Sign Language

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Indigenous language families and isolates of North America

Language families
and isolates|

* Haida
* Yuki–Wappo
* Chumashan
* Adai
* Beothuk
* Bidai
* Cayuse
* Kutenai
* Timucua
* Waikuri
* Pericú

| Eskaleut|

* Aleut
* Eskimoan

|

Na-Dene|

* Tlingit
* Eyak
* Athabaskan

Algic|

* Wiyot
* Yurok
* Algonquian

Mosan ?|

* Salishan
* Wakashan
* Chimakuan

Macro-Siouan ?|

* Siouan
* Caddoan
* Iroquoian
* Yuchi

Penutian ?|

* Chinookan
* Wintuan
* Maiduan
* Yok-Utian
* Yokuts
* Utian
* Tsimshianic

| Plateau ?|

* Klamath
* Molala
* Sahaptian

|

Coast Oregon ?|

* Alsean
* Coosan
* Siuslaw

Takelma–Kalapuyan ?|

* Takelma
* Kalapuyan

Hokan ?|

* Shastan
* Palaihnihan
* Pomoan
* Yuman
* Tequistlatecan
* Chimariko
* Esselen
* Jicaquean
* Karuk
* Salinan
* Seri
* Washo
* Yana

Pueblo
linguistic area|

* Tanoan
* Keres
* Zuni

Coahuiltecan
linguistic area|

* Aranama
* Karankawa
* Maratino
* Naolan
* Quinigua
* Solano
* Tonkawa

| Pakawan ?|

* Coahuilteco
* Cotoname
* Comecrudo
* Garza
* Mamulique

|

Gulf ?|

* Muskogean
* Natchez
* Atakapa
* Chitimacha

| Calusa–Tunica ?|

* Tunica
* Calusa

|

Mesoamerican
linguistic area|

* Chibchan
* Jicaquean
* Lencan
* Mayan
* Misumalpan
* Oto-Manguean
* Tequistlatecan
* Totozoquean
* Totonacan
* Mixe–Zoque
* Uto-Aztecan
* Xincan
* Cuitlatec
* Huave
* Purépecha
* Alagüilac ?

Caribbean
linguistic area|

* Arawakan
* Cariban

| Pre-Arawakan|

* Guanahatabey
* Macorix
* Ciguayo

|

Proposed groupings|

* Amerind
* Algonquian–Wakashan
* Aztec–Tanoan
* Macro-Mayan
* Macro-Chibchan
* Tolatecan
* Waroid

Lists|

* Classification
* Extinct languages
* Unclassified languages
* Linguistic areas

*[†]: Extinct
*[a.k.a.]: also known as
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template