- Yana language
: "The article is about a Californian language. For the Chinese city, see
Yan'an ."Yana (also Yanan) is an extinct
language isolate formerly spoken in north-centralCalifornia between the Feather and Pit rivers in what is now Shasta and Tehama counties.The language perished in 1916 with the death of
Ishi , the last native speaker who spoke Yahi. Yana is fairly well-documented (mostly byEdward Sapir ) compared to other extinct American languages.The names "Yana" and "Yahi" are derived from the Yana words (in two dialects) meaning "people".
Regional variation
There are four known Yanan languages/
dialects .: 1. Northern Yana: 2. Central Yana: (a) Southern dialects:: 3. South Yana:: 4. Yahi
Genetic relations
Yana is often associated with the hypothetical
Hokan stock. Sapir suggested a grouping of Yana within a "Northern Hokan" sub-family withKaruk ,Chimariko ,Shastan ,Palaihnihan , andPomoan .Characteristics
*
polysynthetic
* distinct male and female speechee also
*
Yahi
*Ishi Bibliography
* Campbell, Lyle. (1997). "American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America". New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
* Goddard, Ives (Ed.). (1996). "Languages". Handbook of North American Indians (W. C. Sturtevant, General Ed.) (Vol. 17). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 0-16-048774-9.
* Mithun, Marianne. (1999). "The languages of Native North America". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
* Sapir, Edward. 1910. "Yana Texts". University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, vol. 1, no. 9. Berkeley: University Press. ( [http://www.archive.org/details/yanatexts00sapirich Online version] at theInternet Archive ).
* Sturtevant, William C. (Ed.). (1978-present). "Handbook of North American Indians" (Vol. 1-20). Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. (Vols. 1-3, 16, 18-20 not yet published).
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