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| Amuesha | |
|---|---|
| Yaneshac̈h/Yanešač̣ | |
| Pronunciation | [janeʃaˀt͡ʂʰ] |
| Native to | Peru |
| Region | Department of Pasco |
| Ethnicity | Yaneshaʼ |
Native speakers | (9,800 cited 2000)[1] |
Arawakan
| |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ame |
| Glottolog | yane1238 |
| ELP | Amuesha |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Yaneshaʼ (Yaneshac̈h/Yanešač̣; literally 'we the people'), also calledAmuesha orAmoesha is a language spoken by theAmuesha people ofPeru in central and easternPasco Region.
Due to the influence and domination of theInca Empire, Yaneshaʼ has many loanwords fromQuechua, including some core vocabulary. Yaneshaʼ may also have been influenced by Quechua's vowel system so that, today, it has a three-vowel system rather than a four-vowel one that is typical of relatedArawakan languages. There are also many loanwords fromKampa languages.[2]
Yaneshaʼ has 26consonants and 9vowel phonemes. The consonants have a certain degree ofallophonic variation while that of the vowels is more considerable.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | pal. | plain | pal. | plain | pal. | plain | pal. | |||
| Nasal | m⟨m⟩ | mʲ⟨m̃⟩ | n⟨n⟩ | nʲ⟨ñ⟩ | (ŋ)2 | |||||
| Plosive | p⟨p⟩ | pʲ⟨p̃⟩ | t⟨t⟩ | k⟨c/qu⟩ | kʲ⟨c̃⟩ | |||||
| Affricate1 | t͡s⟨ts⟩ | t͡ʂ⟨c̈h⟩ | t͡ʃ⟨ch⟩ | t͡ʃʲ⟨t̃⟩1 | ||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | s⟨s⟩ | ʃ⟨sh⟩ | x⟨j⟩ | xʲ⟨j̃⟩ | |||||
| voiced | β⟨b⟩ | βʲ⟨b̃⟩ | ʐ⟨rr⟩ | ɣ⟨g⟩ | ɣʲ⟨guë⟩ | |||||
| Liquid | ɾ⟨r⟩ | lʲ⟨ll⟩ | ||||||||
| Semivowel | j⟨y⟩ | w⟨hu/u⟩ | ||||||||
Yaneshaʼ, similar to languages likeRussian,Irish, andMarshallese, makes contrasts between certain pairs ofpalatalized and plain consonants:
The remaining two palatalized consonants,/lʲ/ and/t͡ʃʲ/, don't offer a one-to-one contrast with plain consonants; the former because it is the onlylateral consonant and so contrasts with no other phoneme on the basis of just palatalization;/t͡ʃʲ/, while contrasting with/t/, also contrasts with/ts/,/tʃ/, and/tʂ/. The bilabial palatalized consonants have a more perceptible palatal offglide than the alveolar ones. Word-finally, this offglide is voiceless for/pʲ/ and/lʲ/ while being absent for/mʲ/.
Another general feature of Yaneshaʼ is devoicing in certain contexts. In addition to the devoicing of palatal offglides above, theretroflex fricative/ʐ/ is voiceless when word final (final devoicing) or before a voiceless consonant (regressive assimilation):arrpa/ˈaʐpa/'here it is' →[ˈaʂpa]. Theapproximants/w/ and/j/ are voiceless before voiceless stops, as inhuautena/wawˈteːna/'barks' andneytarr/nejˈtaʐ/'my door';/j/ is also voiceless before affricates and word-finally:ahuey/aˈwej/'let's go'.
Similarly, the stops/p/,t/, and/k/ areaspirated word-finallyellap/eˈlʲap/'shotgun' →[eˈlʲapʰ]; preceding another stop or anaffricate, a stop may be aspirated or unreleased so thatetquëll/eːtˈkelʲ/ ('a fish') is realized as[eetʰkelʲ] or[eetkelʲ]. Thevelar fricative/x/ isdebuccalized to[h] before another consonant.
Yaneshaʼ has three basic vowel qualities,/a/,/e/, and/o/. Each contrasts phonemically between short, long, and "laryngeal" orglottalized forms as/aˀeˀoˀ/.
Laryngealization generally consists of glottalization of the vowel in question, creating a kind ofcreaky voice. In pre-final contexts, a variation occurs—especially before voiced consonants—ranging from creaky phonation throughout the vowel to a sequence of a vowel,glottal stop, and a slightly rearticulated vowel:ma'ñorr/maˀˈnʲoʐ/'deer' →[maʔa̯ˈnʲoʂ]. Before a word-final nasal, this rearticulated vowel may be realized as a syllabic quality of said nasal. Also, although not as long as a phonemically long vowel, laryngeal vowels are generally longer than short ones. When absolutely word-final, laryngealized vowels differ from short ones only by the presence of a following glottal stop.
Each vowel varies in its phonetic qualities, having contextual allophones as well asphones infree variation with each other:
/e/ is theshort phoneme consisting of phones that arefront andclose toclose-mid. Generally, it is realized as close[i] when followingbilabial consonants. Otherwise, the phones[e] and[ɪ] are in free variation with each other so that/nexˈse/ ('my brother') may be realized as either[nehˈse] or[nehˈsɪ].
/eː/ is the long counterpart to/e/. It differs almost solely in its length, although when it follows/k/ it becomes a sort ofdiphthong with the first element being identical invowel height while being moreretracted so thatquë'/keː/'large kind of parrot' is realized as[ke̠e].
Laryngeal/eˀ/ consists of the same variation and allophony of the short phoneme with the minor exception that it is more likely to be realized as close following/p/ as inpe'sherr/peˀˈʃeːʐ/'parakeet' →[piˀˈʃeeʂ].
/a/ is the short phoneme consisting of phones that arecentral. Its most frequent realization is that of anopen central unrounded vowel[ä] (represented hereafter without thecentralizing diacritic). Before/k/, there is free variation between this and[ə] so thatnanac/naˈnakʰ/'exceedingly' may be realized as[naˈnakʰ] or[nanˈəkʰ]. While the laryngeal counterpart is qualitatively identical to the short, the long counterpart,/aː/, differs only in that[ə] is not a potential realization.
/o/ is the short phoneme consisting of phones that areback as well asrounded. Generally,[o] and[u] are in free variation so thatoyua/ojoˈwa/'wild pig' may be realized as[ojoˈwa] or[ujuˈwa]. The phone[ʊ] is another potential realization, although it most frequently occurs before stops so thatnot/not/'my hand' may be realized as[nʊtʰ].[ʊ] is not a potential realization of long/oː/ but both the long and laryngeal counterparts are otherwise qualitatively identical to short/o/.
All consonants appear initially, medially, and finally with the exception that/ɣ/ and/w/ do not occur word-finally. With two exceptions (/tsʐ/ and/mw/), initial clusters include at least one stop. The other possible initial clusters are:
Word final clusters consist of either a nasal or/x/ followed by a plosive or affricate:
Medial clusters may be of two or three consonants.
Although apparently phonemic, stress tends to occur on the penultimate syllable but also in the ultimate. Less frequently, it is antepenultimate. Some words, likeoc̈hen/ˈotʂen/~/oˈtʂen/'comb', have stress in free variation.
A Yaneshaʼ Talking Dictionary was produced by Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages.[3][non-primary source needed]