Yurok language
Yurok is an Algic language. It is the traditional language of the Yurok of Del Norte County and Humboldt County on the far north coast of California, most of whom now speak English. The last native speaker died in 2013. As of 2012, Yurok language classes were taught to high school students, and other revitalization efforts were expected to increase the population of speakers.
The standard reference on the Yurok language grammar is by R. H. Robins.
Name
Concerning the etymology of "Yurok", this below is from Campbell :History
Decline of the language began during the California Gold Rush, due to the influx of new settlers and the diseases they brought with them. Native American boarding schools initiated by the United States government with the intent of incorporating the native populations of America into mainstream American society increased the rate of decline of the language.Current status
The program to revive Yurok has been lauded as the most successful language revitalization program in California. As of 2014, there are six schools in Northern California that teach Yurok - 4 high schools and 2 elementary schools. Rick Jordan, principal of Eureka High School, one of the schools with a Yurok Language Program, remarks on the impact that schools can have on the vitality of a language, "A hundred years ago, it was our organizations that were beating the language out of folks, and now we're trying to re-instill it - a little piece of something that is much larger than us".The last known native, active speaker of Yurok, Archie Thompson, died March 26, 2013. "He was also the last of about 20 elders who helped revitalize the language over the last few decades, after academics in the 1990s predicted it would be extinct by 2010. He made recordings of the language that were archived by UC Berkeley linguists and the tribe, spent hours helping to teach Yurok in community and school classrooms, and welcomed apprentice speakers to probe his knowledge."
Linguists at UC Berkeley began the Yurok Language Project in 2001. Professor Andrew Garrett and Dr. Juliette Blevins collaborated with tribal elders on a Yurok dictionary that has been hailed as a national model. The Yurok Language Project has gone much more in depth than just a printed lexicon, however. The dictionary is available online and fully searchable. It is also possible to search an audio dictionary - a repository of audio clips of words and short phrases. For a more in depth study, there is a database of compiled texts where words and phrases can be viewed as part of a larger context.
As of February 2013, there are over 300 basic Yurok speakers, 60 with intermediate skills, 37 who are advanced, and 17 who are considered conversationally fluent. As of 2014, nine people are certified to teach Yurok in schools. Since Yurok, like many other Native American languages, uses a master-apprentice system to train up speakers in the language, having even nine certified teachers would not be possible without a piece of legislation passed in 2009 in the state of California that allows indigenous tribes the power to appoint their own language teachers.
Phonology
Vowels
Vowels are as follows:| Front | Central | Back | |
| High | |||
| Mid | |||
| Low |
Consonants
Consonants are as follows:Notable is the lack of plain /s/.
Yurok has an anticipatory vowel harmony system where underlying non-high vowels /a/, /e/, and /ɔ/ are realized as if they precede an /ɚ/.
The glottalized approximants may be realized as creaky voice on the preceding vowel, a preceding glottal stop, or both. They are often devoiced when they occur at the end of a word.
Yurok has front-, central-, and back-closing diphthongs. The second element of the diphthongs is considered a consonant or semivowel. This is because Yurok diphthongs are falling diphthongs and behave similarly to nasal and approximates following a vowel and preceding a pause or voiceless non-glottalized consonant.
All Yurok Syllables begin with a consonant and contain at least one vowel. Here are some examples of the different kinds of syllable structure:
| CV | will, can | |
| CV: | to go | |
| CVC | when? how? | |
| CV:C | redwood tree | |
| CVCC | snail | |
| CVCCC | it is hot | |
| CV:CC | he gambles | |
| CV:CCC | he eats as a guest | |
| CCV | only | |
| CCV: | wide | |
| CCVC | earth | |
| CCV:C | late | |
| CCVCC | stick for measuring net meshes | |
| CCV:CC | they take | |
| CCVC | I look | |
| CCVCCC | near | |
| CV:VC | yew | |
| CCV:V | hawk |
V:V can only be or and is signaled by a change in pitch between the vowels.
Morphology
Yurok morphological processes include prefixation, infixation, inflection, vowel harmony, ablaut, consonantal alternation, and reduplication.Prefixation and infixation occur in nominals and verbals, and occasionally in other classes, although infixation occurs most frequently in verbals.
Vowel harmony occurs for prefixes, infixes, and inflections, depending on the vocalic and consonantal structure of the word stem. Internal vocalic alternation involves three alternating pairs:,,.
Reduplication occurs mostly on verb stems but occasionally for nouns and can connote repetition, plurality, etc. Reduplication occurs on the first syllable, and sometimes a part of the second syllable:
Classifications
Numerals and adjectives can be classified according to the noun grammatically associated with them.| Numerals | Common root frame: /n - hks-/ |
| Human beings | /nahkseyl/ |
| Animals and birds | /nrhksrʔrʔy/ |
| Round things | /nrhksrʔrʔy/ |
| Tools | /nahksoh/ |
| Plants other than trees | /nahksek'woʔn/ |
| Trees and sticks | /nahkseʔr/ |
| Body parts and clothes | /nahkseʔn/ |
| Long things | /nahksek'/ |
| Flat things | /nahksok's/ |
| Houses | /nahkseʔli/ |
| Boats | /nahksey/ |
| Days | /nahksemoyt/ |
| Arm's lengths | /nahksemrys/ |
| Finger joint lengths | /nahksepir/ |
| Times | /nahksemi/ |
| Adjectives | red | big |
| Human beings | /prkaryrʔry/ | /peloy-/ |
| Animals and birds | /prkryrʔry/ | /plrʔry-/ |
| Round things | /prkryrh/ | /ploh/, /plohkeloy-/ |
| Tools | /pekoyoh/ | /peloy-/ |
| Plants other than trees | /pekoyoh/ | /ploh/, /plohkeloy-/ |
| Trees and sticks | /pekoyeʔr/ | /peloy-/, /plep-/ |
| Body parts and clothes | /pekoyoh/ | /plep-/, /plohkeloy-/ |
| Long things | /pekoyoh/ | /plep-/ |
| Flat things | /pekoyoks-/ | /ploks-/ |
| Houses | /pekoyoh/ | /pleʔloy-/ |
| Boats | /pekoyoh/ | /pleyteloy-/ |
| Water | /pekoyop-/ | --- |
Tense and aspect
Tense - Yurok has no way to differentiate tense through verbal inflection. Past, present and future may be inferred through both linguistic and nonlinguistic context.Aspect - Aspect in Yurok is indicated by preverbal particles. These occur either directly or indirectly before a verb. These can combine with verbs and other particles to indicate time and many other aspects.
Some preverbal particles include: ho ; kic ; wo ; ?ap ; etc.
Basic syntax
The most common form of sentence structure consists of a Nominal + Verbal. Indeed, most other, seemingly more complex sentence structures can be viewed as expanding on this fundamental type.nek helomey- ek
I be dancing-1sg
I am dancing
pu:k roʔop'
deer run
The deer is running
Sentences can also be equational, consisting of two nominals or nominal groups:
wok ne-let
3sg.pro. 1sg poss.-sister
That is my sister
woʔot ku tmi:gomin
3sg.pro. art. hunter
He is the hunter
Sentences can also be composed of one or more verbals without nominals as explicit arguments.
tmo:l-ok'
to shoot-1sg.infl.
I am shooting
hoʔop'-es
build a fire-2sg.imp.infl.
Build a fire!
The same is true for nominals and nominal groups, which can stand alone as complete sentences, following a similar pattern to the equational sentences already mentioned.
kwesi twegoh
adv. raccoon
And it was the raccoon
Complex sentences are formed along similar principles to these, but with expanded verbals or nominals, or verbals and/or nominals connected by coordinators.
Word order is sometimes used to distinguish between the categories of subject and object.
ku pegək noʔp'eʔn mewiɬ
the man to chase elk
The man chased the elk.
However, if the morphological inflections are sufficiently unambiguous, it is not necessary to maintain a strict word order.
nekac new-ohpeʔn ku wencokws
1sg.Obj. to see-3sg.infl. art. woman
The woman saw me.
In the sentences composed of a subject and a verb, the two are often interchangeable.
helom-eʔy ku pegək or ku pegək helom-eʔy
to dance-3sg.infl. art. man or art. man to dance-3sg.infl.
The man dances.