Central Alaskan Yup'ik language - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Central Alaskan Yup'ik or just Yup'ik (also called Yupik, or Central Yup'ik) is a Yupik language of the Eskimo language family, in turn a member of the Eskimo–Aleut language group, spoken in western and southwestern Alaska. Both in ethnic population and in number of speakers, Central Alaskan Yup'ik is the largest of the languages spoken by Alaska Natives

Alaska Natives

Alaska Natives are the indigenous peoples of Alaska. They include: Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Eyak, and a number of Northern Athabaskan cultures.-History:In 1912 the Alaska Native Brotherhood was founded...

. Central Alaskan Yup'ik lies geographically and linguistically between Alutiiq

Alutiiq language

The Alutiiq language is a close relative to the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language spoken in the western and southwestern Alaska, but is considered a distinct language...

and Central Siberian Yupik. The use of the apostrophe in Central Alaskan Yup'ik, as opposed to Siberian Yupik, denotes a long p. The word Yup'ik represents not only the language but also the name for the people themselves (yuk, 'person,' and pik, 'real'.) Of a total population of more than 23,000 people, more than 14,000 are speakers of the language. Children still grow up speaking Yup'ik as their first language in 17 of 68 Yup'ik villages, those mainly located on the lower Kuskokwim River

Kuskokwim River

The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area.The river provides the principal drainage for an area of the...

, on Nelson Island

Nelson Island (Alaska)

Nelson Island is an island in the Bethel Census Area of southwestern Alaska. It is 42 miles long and 20–35 miles wide. With an area of 843 square miles , it is the 15th largest island in the United States...

, and along the coast between the Kuskokwim River and Nelson Island.

The difference between Yup'ik and Iñupiaq

Inupiaq language

The Inupiat language, also known as Inupiatun, Inupiaq, Iñupiaq, Inyupiaq, Inyupiat, Inyupeat, Inyupik, and Inupik, is a group of dialects of the Inuit language, spoken in northern and northwestern Alaska. The Iñupiaq language is a member of the Eskimo languages group. There are roughly 2,100...

is roughly the same as the difference between Spanish and French. Yup'ik should not be confused with the related language Yupik

Siberian Yupik language

Siberian Yupik is one of the four Yupik languages:* Central Siberian Yupik,...

Writing and literature

A syllabary

Syllabary

A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent syllables, which make up words. In a syllabary, there is no systematic similarity between the symbols which represent syllables with the same consonant or vowel...

known as the Yugtun script

Yugtun script

The Yugtun or Alaska script is a syllabary invented around the year 1900 by Uyaquk to write the Yugtun dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik. Uyaquk, who was monolingual in Yup'ik, initially used indigenous pictograms as a form of proto-writing that served as a mnemonic in preaching the Bible...

was invented for the language by Uyakoq, a native speaker, in about 1900, although the language is now mostly written using the Latin alphabet

Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...

. Early linguistic work in Central Yup'ik was done primarily by Russian Orthodox, then Jesuit Roman Catholic and Moravian Church missionaries, leading to a modest tradition of literacy used in letter writing. In the 1960s, Irene Reed and others at the Alaska Native Language Center

Alaska Native Language Center

The Alaska Native Language Center, established in 1972 in Fairbanks, Alaska, is a research center focusing on the research and documentation of the Alaska's Native languages. It publishes grammars, dictionaries, folklore collections and research materials, as well as hosting an extensive archive of...

developed a modern writing system for the language. Their work led to the establishment of the state's first school bilingual programs in four Yup'ik villages in the early 1970s. Since then a wide variety of bilingual materials has been published, as well as Steven Jacobson's comprehensive dictionary of the language and his complete practical classroom grammar, and story collections and narratives by many others including a full novel by Anna Jacobson.

Orthography

	bilabial	alveolar	lateral	post- alveolar	velar	uvular
nasal	m /m/, ḿ /m̥/	n /n/, ń /n̥/			ng /ŋ/, ńg /ŋ̊/
plosive	p /p/	t /t/		c /tʃ/	k /k/	q /q/
fricative	vv /f/, v /v/	ss /s/, s /z/	ll /ɬ/, l /l/*	y /j/*	gg /x/, g /ɣ/ w /xʷ/, u͡g /ɣʷ/	rr /χ/, r /ʁ/ u͡r /ʁʷ/

* l and y are not phonetically fricatives, but l behaves as one phonologically, while y is a fricative in other Eskimoan languages.

Geminate consonants are written with an apostrophe, as in the name Yup’ik.

The three vowels main, a i u, also occur long, aa ii uu. There is also a schwa spelled e.

Vowels

The three full vowels occur long and short, /a aː i iː u uː/. The schwa /ə/ does not. The vowel qualities /i(ː) u(ː)/ lower to [e(ː) o(ː)] before a uvular consonant such as /q/ or /ʁ/, or the back vowel /a(ː)/.

Consonants

		Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals...	Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...		Post- alveolar Postalveolar consonant Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate...	Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....		Uvular Uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and...
			central Central consonant A central or medial consonant is a consonant sound that is produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue. The class contrasts with lateral consonants, in which air flows over the sides of the tongue rather than down its center....	lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth....		plain	labialized	plain	labialized
Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...	voiceless	m̥	n̥			ŋ̊
	voiced	m	n			ŋ
Plosive		p	t			k		q
Affricate			ts		tʃ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ɬ		x	xʷ	χ	[χʷ]
Fricative	voiced	v	z			ɣ	ɣʷ	ʁ	ʁʷ
Approximant				l	j		[w]

The voiceless labialized uvular fricative [χʷ] occurs only in some speech variants and doesn't contrast with its voiced counterpart /ʁʷ/. The voiceless alveolar affricate

Voiceless alveolar affricate

The voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with ⟨⟩ or ⟨⟩ . The voiceless alveolar affricate occurs in such languages as German, Cantonese, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Mandarin...

[ts] is an allophone of /tʃ/ before the schwa vowel. The voiced labio-velar approximant [w] is a realization of /v/ between vowels other than the schwa.

/l/ is not phonetically a fricative, but behaves as one phonologically. /j/ is pronounced /tʃ/ in the Hooper Bay-Chevak and Nunviak dialects. Fricatives (and /l/) devoice immediately before or after a plosive, while nasals devoice only immediately after a plosive or a voiceless fricative.

Dialects

The dialect that holds the largest majority within Yup’ik is General Central Yup’ik
Yugtun
Yugtun is a dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik spoken in Central Alaska. A syllabic script, now referred to as the Yugtun script, was invented in the early 1900s by Uyaquk to write the language....

, which is spoken in Nelson Island, the Yukon, the Bristol Bay regions, and Kuskokwim. There are four other dialects within Central Yup’ik: Norton Sound, Nunivak
Nunivak Cup'ig language
Nunivak Cup'ig or just Cup'ig is a language or separate dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik spoken in Central Alaska at the Nunivak Island by Nunivak Cup'ig people...

, Egegik, and Hooper Bay-Chevak
Chevak Cup’ik language
Chevak Cup’ik or just Cup’ik , Hooper Bay–Chevak Cup’ik language is a language or dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik spoken in Central Alaska in the Chevak and Hooper Bay by Chevak Cup’ik people...

. Differences in pronunciation “(or accent)” and lexicon exist across these dialects and between them and General Central Yup’ik. In fact, speakers may be reluctant to take on another dialect’s lexicon or spelling because they “often feel proud of their own dialects,” which has led certain Yup’ik groups to call themselves “Cup’ik” (Chevak) or “Yupiaq” (Kuskokwim).

The main dialect is General Central Yup'ik, and the other four dialects are Norton Sound, Hooper Bay-Chevak, Nunivak

Nunivak Cup'ig language

Nunivak Cup'ig or just Cup'ig is a language or separate dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik spoken in Central Alaska at the Nunivak Island by Nunivak Cup'ig people...

, and Egegik. In the Hooper Bay-Chevak and Nunivak dialects, the name for the language and the people is "Cup'ik" .

The comparison of some words in the two subdialects of General Central Yup’ik (or Yugtun

Yugtun

Yugtun is a dialect of Central Alaskan Yup'ik spoken in Central Alaska. A syllabic script, now referred to as the Yugtun script, was invented in the early 1900s by Uyaquk to write the language....

Yukon (Kuigpak)	Kuskokwim (Kusquqvak)	meaning
elicar-	elitnaur-	to study (intrans.); to teach someone (trans.)
elicaraq	elitnauraq	student
elicari-	elitnauri	to teach (intrans.)
elicarista	elitnaurista	teacher
aiggaq	unan	hand
ikusek	cingun	elbow
ayuqe-	kenir-	to cook by boiling
cella	ella	weather, outside, universe, awareness
naniq	kenurraq	lamp, light
uigtua-	naspaa-	to sample or taste, attempt, try

Yup'ik language education

Small changes have been made towards teaching Yup’ik to the native Alaskan Yup’iks. In 1972, the Alaska State Legislature stated that if “a [school is attended] by at least 15 pupils whose primary language is other than English, [then the school] shall have at least one teacher who is fluent in the native language”. This bill also corresponded with written educational materials and eradicated the law that English must be the only language spoken in Alaskan Yup’ik schools. Then, during the mid-1970s, educational programs emerged in order to revive and sustain the Yup’ik language: MacLean notes that “In 1975, an Alaska State statute was enacted directing all school boards to ‘…provide a bilingual-bicultural education program for each school…which is attended by at least 8 pupils of limited English-speaking ability and whose primary language is other than English’”. However, “the statute addressed all languages other than English, and thus expanded bilingualism equally to immigrant languages,” meaning that although the statute welcomed non-English languages into schools, its primary “aim” was to “promote English proficiency,” not to keep Yup’ik alive.
Later, during the 1987-8 school year, three organizations, including members of the Alaska Native community, “initiated a process to establish an Alaska Native Language Policy for schools in Alaska,” which “states that schools have a responsibility to teach and use as the medium of instruction the Alaska Native language of the local community to the extent desired by the parents of that community”. This proposal for the Alaska Native Language Policy comes three years after Steven A. Jacobson’s “Central Yup'ik and the Schools: A Handbook for Teachers,” a guide for teachers which exemplifies differences and similarities between English and Yup’ik so that Yup’ik or English-speaking teachers might successfully engage English-speaking Eskimo Yup’ik students in a “bilingual-bicultural education” that teaches their native language.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks

University of Alaska Fairbanks

The University of Alaska Fairbanks, located in Fairbanks, Alaska, USA, is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska System, and is abbreviated as Alaska or UAF....

offers Bachelors degrees in Yup'ik language and culture and in Yup'ik Eskimo, as well as Associates Degrees in Native Language Education, with a concentration in Yup'ik, and in Yup'ik Language Proficiency.

Morphology

A Yup’ik word carries as much information as an English sentence due its rich manner of suffixing; therefore, Yup’ik words are often quite long and highly agglutinative. A Yup’ik word may have up to four sections, where the first must be the stem, which carries the core meaning of the word, then “zero, one, or more postbase

Postbase

In linguistics a postbase is a special kind of grammatical suffixing morpheme that is suffixed to a base. It is mostly found in Eskimo–Aleut languages. Postbases differ from most other affixes in that they usually carry a much more salient semantic content than affixes in other languages and are...

s,” which “serve somewhat the same function as suffixes in English,” then an ending, which “shows grammatical relationships of case or mood, person and number,” and then, possibly, an enclitic (Reed 18). An enclitic follows at the end of the word with a hyphen or an equals sign and it usually “[indicates] the speaker’s attitude towards what he is saying such as questioning, hoping, reporting, etc.”

Suffixing additionally works in Yup’ik to show noun and verb alignment. Irene Reed states that “Yup’ik word endings are either intransitive or transitive,” and that “most verb bases can take either type of ending through some take only one type of ending and must first be modified by certain postbases before the other type of ending can be used on them” (49). In addition, Yup’ik uses ergative/absolutive alignment. For example, the sentence “Angyaq tak’uq” means “The boat is long” and shows how “the absolutive case can function as the subject of an intransitive verb” (Angyaq is the noun) (64). Comparatively, the sentence “Angyaq kiputaa,” or “He buys the boat,” shows the absolutive case in regards to a transitive verb, where the object is once again “Angyaq”.

Syntax

This concept of suffixing is shown in Example 1:

(1) Angya -liur -vig -pa -li -ciq =uq
Boat -to:work:on -place -big -build -FUT =3sg
“he will build a big place for working on boats.”

Another example of how Yup’ik includes additional morphemes in order to create a word is shown in Example 2:

(2) Angya -li -ciq -sugnar -quq =llu
Boat -make -FUT -PROB -3S =also
“also, he probably will make a boat”

where “Angya” is the stem, “li,” “ciq,” and “sugnar” are postbases, “quq” is the ending, and “llu” is the enclitic.

External links

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