Yahi dialect

Yahi was a dialect of the extinct Yana language that was spoken in the upper Sacramento Valley area, roughly in the area between Mill Creek and Deer Creek. It is one of the southern dialects of Yana, which is a language isolate, though with possible connections to Hokan. Yana is known as having been the language of Ishi, the last surviving Yana Indian, who worked with anthropologists to make a record of the language and culture.

Yahi
Native to	USA
Region	California
Ethnicity	Yahi people, a subgroup of the Yana
Extinct	1916, with the death of Ishi
Language family	Hokan? Yana Southern Yana Yahi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	yahi1243
Distribution of Yahi and Nozi peoples

History

The last documented speaker of Yahi was a man called Ishi who caused a scientific stir when he made contact with the outside world in 1911, long after the Yahi had been assumed to be extinct. Together with the language, he died in 1916.^[1]

Vocabulary

Yahi distinguishes male and female forms with male forms, frequently marked with the suffix -na, generally longer than female forms. Some examples are:^[2]

Male Form	Female Form	Meaning
diwai-ja	diwai-tch	see me!
t'en'na	t'et	grizzly bear
yana	yah	person

Examples

Some language samples from Kroeber, T^[3]

Yahi	English
ähä	yes
k'u'i	no
kuwi	shaman
mudjaúpa	chief
sake mahale	menstruating woman
saltu	white person
siwini	yellow pine
wataurisi	bastard

Pronouns

Yahi	English
ai'numa	you (formal)

auna - fire

Numerals

Some numerals from Sapir et al.,^[4]

Numeral	Yahi
1	baigu
2	uxmic'igu
3	bulmic'igu
4	daumigu
5	xaaʒan
6	baiwawi
7
8
9
10	xaaʒanwilsamc'gu
20
40
60
80

Example Phrases

Yahi	English
achi djeyauna?	what is his name?
ine me yahi?	are you an Indian?
wo-wi	my house

See also

• Yana traditional narratives

References

1. Parkvall, Mikael (2008). Limits of language: almost everything you didn't know you didn't know about language and languages. Wilsonville, Or: Battlebridge Publications. ISBN 978-1-59028-198-7.
2. Kroeber, Theodora; Gannett, Lewis (1961). Ishi in two worlds: a biography of the last wild Indian in North America. Berkeley Los Angeles: University of California press. ISBN 978-0-520-00675-1.
3. Kroeber, T. Ishi in two worlds Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984
4. Sapir, E., Swadesh. M., Haas, M. Yana Dictionary University of California Press, 1960

External links

• Ethnologue entry on the Yahi language