Yokuts Languages

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The Yokuts language is spoken in central California, primarily along the San Joaquin Valley. In total, there have been more than twenty distinct languages classified as Yokuts, but many are no longer spoken.

I have no information on any official orthography of the Yokuts languages, so I am presenting the charts below in the Americanist linguistics orthography given in Gamble. When I learn of how the people write their languages, I will update this page. I arrived at these sound charts by text analysis.

Note: There are several Roman Orthography conventions on this site that may require further explanation. On the charts below, there is lots of phonetic terminology that may not be familiar to everyone.

This page uses no characters outside the Unicode standard.

Community Names:

Picayune (Chukchansi)
Santa Rosa (Tachi)
Table Mountain
Tule River
Tuolumne

There are currently 78 speakers of North Foothill Yokuts, and 25 speakers of Tachi (Southern Valley Yokuts) according to the U.S. Census

Yokuts Languages

Buena Vista: Hometwoli, Loasau, Tuhohi, Tulamni

Tule-Kaweh: Bokninuwad, Kawia, Wuchamni, Yausanchi, Yokod

Kings River: Aiticha, Choinimni, Chukaimina, Gashowu, Kocheyali, Michahai, Toihicha

Northern Foothills: Chukchansi, Dalinchi, Dumna, Kechayi, Toltichi

Paleuyami

Southern Valley: Apiachi, Choinok, Chunut, Koyeti, Nutunutu, Tachi, Telamni, Tsineuhiu, Wechihit, Wimilchi, Wo'lasi, Wowol, Yowlumni (Yawelmani)

Northern Valley: Chauchila, Chulamni, Coconoon, Hannesuk, Heuchi, Hoyima, Kakisamni, Nupchinche, Pitkachi, Tawalimnu, Wakichi

Chawchila Yokuts Consonants

	bilabial	alveolar	retroflex	palato-alveolar	palatal	velar	rounded velar	glottal
voiceless stop	p	t	ṭ	č		k		ʔ
aspirated stop	pʰ	tʰ	ṭʰ	čʰ		kʰ
ejective stop	p’	t’	ṭ’	č’		k’
voiceless fricative		s	ṣ	š		x		h
nasal	m	n
glottalised nasal	m’	n’
resonant		l			y		w
glottalised resonant		l’			y’		w’

Chawchila Yokuts Vowels

	front	mid	back
high	i		u
mid	e		o
low		a

Note

There are both long and short quantities of the vowels

Choynimni Yokuts Consonants

	bilabial	alveolar	retroflex	palato-alveolar	palatal	velar	rounded velar	glottal
voiceless stop	p	t	ṭ	č		k		ʔ
aspirated stop	pʰ	tʰ	ṭʰ	čʰ		kʰ
ejective stop	p’	t’	ṭ’	č’		k’
voiceless fricative			ṣ	š		x		h
nasal	m	n
glottalised nasal	m’	n’
resonant		l			y		w
glottalised resonant		l’			y’		w’

Choynimni Yokuts Vowels

	front	mid	back
high	i		u
mid	e		o
low		a

Note

There are both long and short quantities of the vowels

Chukchansi Yokuts Consonants

	bilabial	alveolar	retroflex	palato-alveolar	palatal	velar	rounded velar	glottal
voiceless stop	p	t		č		k		ʔ
aspirated stop	pʰ	tʰ		čʰ		kʰ
ejective stop	p’	t’		č’		k’
voiceless fricative		s	ṣ			x		h
nasal	m	n
glottalised nasal	m’	n’
resonant		l			y		w
glottalised resonant		l’			y’		w’

Chukchansi Yokuts Vowels

	front	mid	back
high	i		u
mid	e		o
low		a

Note

There are both long and short quantities of the vowels

Dumna Yokuts Consonants

	bilabial	alveolar	retroflex	palato-alveolar	palatal	velar	rounded velar	glottal
voiceless stop	p	t		č		k		ʔ
aspirated stop	pʰ	tʰ		čʰ		kʰ
ejective stop	p’	t’		č’		k’
voiceless fricative		s	ṣ	š		x		h
nasal	m	n
glottalised nasal	m’	n’
resonant		l			y		w
glottalised resonant		l’			y’		w’

Dumna Yokuts Vowels

	front	mid	back
high	i		u
mid	e		o
low		a

Note

There are both long and short quantities of the vowels

Gashowu Yokuts Consonants

	bilabial	alveolar	retroflex	palato-alveolar	palatal	velar	rounded velar	glottal
voiceless stop	p	t	ṭ	č		k		ʔ
aspirated stop	pʰ	tʰ	ṭʰ	čʰ		kʰ
ejective stop	p’	t’	ṭ’	č’		k’
voiceless fricative			ṣ	š		x		h
nasal	m	n
glottalised nasal	m’	n’
resonant		l			y		w
glottalised resonant		l’			y’		w’

Gashowu Yokuts Vowels

	front	mid	back
high	i		u
mid	e		o
low		a

Note

There are both long and short quantities of the vowels

Tachi Yokuts Consonants

	bilabial	alveolar	alveolar affricate	retroflex affricate	palatal	velar	rounded velar	glottal
voiceless stop	p	t	c	c̣		k		ʔ
ejective stop	p’	t’	c’	c̣’		k’
voiceless fricative			s			x		h
nasal	m	n
resonant		l			y		w

Tachi Yokuts Vowels

	front	mid	back
high tense	i		u
high lax	ɪ		ʊ
mid tense	e		o
mid lax	ɛ
low		a

Note

There are both long and short quantities of the vowels

Wikchamni Yokuts Consonants

	bilabial	alveolar	retroflex	palato-alveolar	palatal	velar	rounded velar	glottal
voiceless stop	p	t	ṭ	č		k		ʔ
aspirated stop	pʰ	tʰ	ṭʰ	čʰ		kʰ
ejective stop	p’	t’	ṭ’	č’		k’
voiceless fricative		s		š		x		h
nasal	m	n				ŋ
glottalised nasal	m’	n’				ŋ’
resonant		l			y		w
glottalised resonant		l’			y’		w’

Wikchamni Yokuts Vowels

	front	mid	back
high	i	ɨ	u
mid	e	ǝ	o
low		a

Notes

There are both long and short quantities of the vowels
The mid vowels /ɨ/ and /ǝ/ are pronounced with partially rounded lips.

Yowlumni Yokuts Consonants (Practical Orthography)

	bilabial	alveolar	alveolar affricate	retroflex affricate	palatal	velar	rounded velar	glottal
voiceless stop	b	d	z	dr		g		’
aspirated stop	p	t	ts	tr		k
ejective stop	p’	t’	ts’	tr’		k’
voiceless fricative			s	sr		x		h
nasal	m	n
resonant		l			y		w

Yawelmani Yokuts Vowels (Practical Orthography)

	front	mid	back
high	i		u
mid	e		o
low		a

Yawelmani Yokuts Consonants (Linguistic Symbols)

	bilabial	alveolar	alveolar affricate	retroflex	retroflex affricate	palatal	velar	rounded velar	glottal
voiceless stop	p	t	c	ṭ	c̣		k		ʔ
aspirated stop	pʰ	tʰ	cʰ	ṭʰ	c̣ʰ		kʰ
ejective stop	p’	t’	c’	ṭ’	c̣’		k’
voiceless fricative			s		ṣ		x		h
nasal	m	n
glottalised nasal	m’	n’
resonant		l				y		w
glottalised resonant		l’				y’		w’

Yawelmani Yokuts Vowels (Linguistic Symbols)

	front	mid	back
high	i		u
mid	e		o
low		a

Notes

There are both long and short quantities of the vowels. In the practical orthography, long vowels are indicated by doubling the letter: aa, ee, ii, oo, uu.
The practical orthography does not mark the affricate retroflex consonants. They may have merged with the regular retroflex consonants.

Last Update: March 21, 2010