The Yup'ik Thread [Lesson Two, slowly but surely]
Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:53 pm
Yes, I realize it's been too long in the coming, and it'll probably grow slowly as well. Small talk aside, I'll toss out some basic stuff to keep you occupied for the time being.
Briefly: The Yu'pik language as taught here (as best as possible) is spoken in south-western Alaska, in the areas of Bristol Bay and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Approximately 20,000 as of 1995 speak the language, with 10,500 speaking the language as their only or first.
As I don't speak the language myself, and am only a 14-year-old kid with a grammar and a want to teach, if I happen to make up a sentence I can't guarantee its accuracy. To err on the safe side, the majority will be straight out of the book, paraphrasing where needed.
Lesson 1/2: Yup'ik Orthography and Phonology
I'm not going to present the orthography and phonology in table form as presented in the book - I believe that it's in the Wiki if you're interested. Since each letter is a practical one-to-one correspondence anyways, I'll just list it as... well, a list.
p /p/
t /t/
c /ts, tS/
k /k/
q /q/
v /v/
l /l/ (this is probably more of a /K\/ than anything else)
s /z/
y /j/
g /G/
ug /G_w/
r /R\/
ur /R\_w/
w /W/
vv /f/
ll /K/
ss /s/
gg /x/
rr /X/
urr /X_w/
m /m/
n /n/
ng /N/
m` /m_0/
n` /n_0/
ng` /N_0/
i /i/
u /u/
e /@, 1/
a /a/
There aren't many notable things about the orthography, except the doubling of consonants to indicate voicelessness. Please note, however, that in writing /ug/, /ur/, and /urr/ have ligature marks over the first two letters. Note also that the ` over /m`/, /n`/ and /ng`/ are acute accents in writing which indicate voicelessness (for the curious, nasals are not doubled in writing due to the existence of a rule which permits two nasals differing only in the feature of voicing to appear adjacent to one another).
Yep, that's your first half-lesson. The other half will feature the dreaded apostrophe and introduce the rules of (de-)voicing, rhythmic length, gemination, and how to form the absolutive form of a word from its stem. Nothing to be biting your nails about, but it's going to be there. <3
EDIT: Minor Sampa fix.
Briefly: The Yu'pik language as taught here (as best as possible) is spoken in south-western Alaska, in the areas of Bristol Bay and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Approximately 20,000 as of 1995 speak the language, with 10,500 speaking the language as their only or first.
As I don't speak the language myself, and am only a 14-year-old kid with a grammar and a want to teach, if I happen to make up a sentence I can't guarantee its accuracy. To err on the safe side, the majority will be straight out of the book, paraphrasing where needed.
Lesson 1/2: Yup'ik Orthography and Phonology
I'm not going to present the orthography and phonology in table form as presented in the book - I believe that it's in the Wiki if you're interested. Since each letter is a practical one-to-one correspondence anyways, I'll just list it as... well, a list.
p /p/
t /t/
c /ts, tS/
k /k/
q /q/
v /v/
l /l/ (this is probably more of a /K\/ than anything else)
s /z/
y /j/
g /G/
ug /G_w/
r /R\/
ur /R\_w/
w /W/
vv /f/
ll /K/
ss /s/
gg /x/
rr /X/
urr /X_w/
m /m/
n /n/
ng /N/
m` /m_0/
n` /n_0/
ng` /N_0/
i /i/
u /u/
e /@, 1/
a /a/
There aren't many notable things about the orthography, except the doubling of consonants to indicate voicelessness. Please note, however, that in writing /ug/, /ur/, and /urr/ have ligature marks over the first two letters. Note also that the ` over /m`/, /n`/ and /ng`/ are acute accents in writing which indicate voicelessness (for the curious, nasals are not doubled in writing due to the existence of a rule which permits two nasals differing only in the feature of voicing to appear adjacent to one another).
Yep, that's your first half-lesson. The other half will feature the dreaded apostrophe and introduce the rules of (de-)voicing, rhythmic length, gemination, and how to form the absolutive form of a word from its stem. Nothing to be biting your nails about, but it's going to be there. <3
EDIT: Minor Sampa fix.