Vidic languages

Ishanine language

Ishanine
Yų́kaa'áy
Pronunciation	IPA: [jṹkʰàːʔáj]
Native to	United States, Mexico
Region	Ishanine Nation
Ethnicity	Ishanine
Native speakers	c. 420,690 (2019)
Language family	Language isolate
Language codes
ISO 639-1	yu
ISO 639-2	yuq (B) yuq (T)
ISO 639-3	–

Ishanine (/ˈɪʃəniːn, ˈaɪʃə-, -naɪn/), also known by its endonym of Yų́kaa'áy ([jṹkʰàːʔáj] lit. 'language of the ones like us'), is an indigenous language isolate predominantly spoken by the Ishanine people in the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico.

Etymology

The name Ishanine comes from the Navajo term tłʼiish áníní, which means rattlesnake.

History

Pre-colonial era

There were no written records of the Ishanine language before the Spanish arrived, but researchers generally agree that it was spoken over a much wider range before the Spaniards came.

Spanish era

Ishanine took a lot of loanwords from Spanish while they were under their rule, and to an extent it still does. The language did decline in the south, where the people adopted Spanish as their main language of communication.

American era

The current era.

Phonology

The phonology of Ishanine resembles that of other languages in the region.

Consonants

Ishanine has 39 consonant:

Consonant phonemes

		Labial	Alveolar			Retro- flex	Palatal		Velar	Glottal
			plain	sibilant	lateral		plain	nasalised
Sonorant		m	n		l		j	j̃ ⟨ñ⟩	w
Stop	plain	p ⟨b⟩	t ⟨d⟩	t͡s ⟨dz⟩	t͡ɬ ⟨dl⟩		t͡ʃ ⟨j⟩		k ⟨g⟩	ʔ ⟨'⟩
	aspirated	pʰ ⟨p⟩	tʰ ⟨t⟩	t͡sʰ ⟨ts⟩	t͡ɬʰ ⟨tl⟩		t͡ʃʰ ⟨ch⟩		kʰ ⟨k⟩
	ejective	p’	t’	t͡s’ ⟨ts’⟩	t͡ɬ’ ⟨tl’⟩		t͡ʃ’ ⟨ch’⟩		k’
	prenasalised	ᵐb ⟨mb⟩	ⁿd ⟨nd⟩						ᵑɡ ⟨ng⟩
Fricative	Fortis	f	θ ⟨th⟩	s		ʂ ⟨ṣ⟩	ʃ ⟨sh⟩		x ⟨kh⟩	h
	Lenis		ð ⟨dh⟩	z		ʐ ⟨ẓ⟩	ʒ ⟨zh⟩

Vowels

Ishanine has 5 vowels:

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid		ə ⟨e⟩	o
Open		a

the schwa sound

• The pronunciation of /ə/ differs depending on its position
  • When stressed it is [ʌ]
    • Before a lateral this rounds to [ɔ]
  • Before velar and glottal consonants it becomes [ɑ]
  • Around palatals it becomes [e]