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PROSODY, GRAMMAR,
AND DISCOURSE
IN
CENTRAL ALASKAN YUP'IK
MARIANNE MITHUN, EDITOR
DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,
SANTA BARBARA, CA 93106
1996
Papers inLinguistics
Linguistics Department
University of California, Santa Barbara
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Proceedings from the third $15.00
Workshop on American Indigenous Languages
Simon Corston Marianne Mithun
Nilson Gabas Jr. Cory Redmond
Nicholas Kibre Carl Rubino
Hiroaki Kitano Tracy Sellman
Steven Lasswell Jill Snyder
1. Introduction
Marianne Mithun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4
2. Phoneticcorrelates of stress in Yup'ik
Nilson Gabas, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 17
3. Yup'ik demonstratives: Universalityand uniqueness
Cory Redmond. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 37
4. Adiscourse-basedanalysis oftense in Central AlaskanYup'ik
Jill Snyder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5. Thealternation ofverbal moodin Yup'ik Eskimonarrative
Steven I...asswell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6. Yup'ik evidentials: The narrative functionsof gguq and -llini-
Tracy Sellman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
7. Ergativityin Yup'ik Eskimofrom a discourseperspective
Hiroaki Kitano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
8. Theintroduction ofnewinformationand preferred argument structure in narrative
Carl Rubino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
9. Texts
a. Paluqtaq Issaluq-llu: The Beaver and the Porcupine
George Charles " 155
b. Atqa: My Name
Elizabeth Charles Ali . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 166
c. Tulukarnk: The Raven
Elizabeth Charles Ali " 170
d. Levaaq: The New Motor
Elizabeth Charles Ali " 184
e. Atsartaq: The Pear Story
Elizabeth Charles Ali . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 193
f. Ircinrrat: The Little People
Elizabeth Charles Ali . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 208
Central Alaskan Yup'ik (CAY) is a language of the Eskimo-Aleut family, spoken by
around 10,000people in southwestern Alaska. It is stillbeing learned by children, but fewer
are acquiring it every year. The dialect under discussion here is part of what is termed
General Central Alaskan Yup'ik, comprising the speech of the Yukon, the Kuskokwim, the
upper Kuskokwim, Nelson Island, Bristol Bay, the Nushagak River, and Lake lliamna
(Jacobson 1984:28-37). Other Central Alaskan Yup'ik dialects are those of Norton Sound
(Unaliq), Hooper Bay-Chevak, and Nunivak Island. Central Yup'ik is most closely related
to Siberian Yupik (Sirenikski, Central Siberian Yupik, Naukanski) and Alutiiq (also called
Sugpiak, Suk, or Pacific Gulf Yupik). The Yupik languages are related as a group to
Inupiaq-Inuit a dialect chain that stretches from Alaska across northern Canada to
Greenland. These languages, which comprise the Eskimoan branch ofthe family, are in turn
related to Aleut, spoken on the Aleutian and the Pribilof Islands.
Fine descriptions of Yup'ik can be found in Jacobson 1984, 1995, and Miyaoka
forthcoming. An overview is provided here to orient readers to the general structure of the
language.
The Yup'ik material in this volume is cited in the practical orthography developed
at the Alaskan Native Language Center in Fairbanks, principally by Osahito Miyaoka, Irene
Reed, Paschal Mean, and Michael Krauss between 1967and 1972. It is now widely used in
Yup'ik communities and in reference works, including Reed, Miyaoka, Jacobson, Mean, &
Krauss 1977,Jacobson 1984,and Jacobson 1995. The inventory of symbols can be seen in
the charts in (1) and (2) from Jacobson (1984:5).
LABIALIZED
FRONT BACK FRONT BACK
LABIAL APICAL VELAR VELAR VELAR VELAR
STOPS P t c k q
VOICED FRICATIVES V I sly g r ug ur
11 ss gg rr w urr
VOICELESS FRICATIVES W
VOICED NASALS m n n~
, ,
m n ng
VOICELESS NASALS
4
FRONT BACK
1 U
Among the consonants are series of plain stops, voiced fricatives, voiceless fricatives,
voiced nasals, and voiceless nasals. Points of articulation are labial, alveolar (or palatal),
velar, labio-velar, uvular (back velar) and labio-uvular. Double symbols represent voiceless
fricatives. An acute accent indicates voicelessness on nasals. Phonetic values of the symbols
are in (3).
(3) Consonant equivalents
p = [p] v = [v],[w] vv = [f] m = [m]
t = [t] I = [1] 11 = [I] n = [n]
c - [c] s = [z] ss = [s] ng = [IJ]
k = [k] = [y]
Y
,
q = [q] g = [-y] gg = [x] m = [lJI]
,
r = [B'] rr = [~] n = [IJ]
ug = [-yW] w = [XW] ng, = [lJ]
ur = [B'W] urr = [~W]
Fricatives are automatically devoiced adjacent to another voiceless obstruent: a stop or
voiceless fricative. Next to a stop, they are written with a single letter: kl = [kI], gt = [xt].
In clusters of voiceless fricatives, onlythe first is represented with a double letter: llr = [q].
Obstruents are automatically geminated before sequences of two vowels: levaaq = [lav·a·q]
'motor'. An apostrophe is used in the orthography to indicate other gemination, as inyup'ik
= [yup·ik], as well as certain other features. The letter v represents the voiced fricative [v]
adjacent to consonants or schwa (written e), but a glide [w]between prime vowels.
Three of the four vowels are considered prime: i, u, a. Since there are only three,
they cover a relatively broad phonetic range. The high vowels are lowered adjacent to
uvulars or the low vowel a. Thus i ranges between [i] and [e], and u between [u] and [0].
Sequences of vowels are written with double letters: ui, ia, ii, uu, aa. (Automatic vowel
lengthening due to regular prosodic processes is not represented in the orthography.) The
fourth vowel e is central, varying between [i] and [a]. Word-initially it isbarely pronounced,
often nearly disappearing; between voiceless consonants it is devoiced.
The texts have been transcribed in intonation units or prosodic phrases. Each line
represents a single intonation contour. As can be seen, Yup'ik intonation units tend to
contain fewer words than their English counterparts, undoubtedly due to the elaborate
morphology of the language. Yup'ik words, particularly verbs, often contain more
information than English words, often constituting a full clause in themselves. Punctuation
at the ends of lines signals a particular intonation contour: comma (,) for a partial fall in
pitch, period (.) for full fall in pitch, and dash (--) for an interrupted contour. Two dots (..)
are used for a brief pause, and three (...) for a longer pause.
Yup'ik is a polysynthetic, suffixinglanguage. Words fall into two main categories:
uninflectable words, like cali 'also', and inflectable words, which include all nouns and verbs.
Inflectable words consist of an initial root (termed by Eskimologists a 'base'), any number
of derivational suffixes ('postbases') and usually an inflectional suffix complex ('ending').
ROOT (DERIVATIONAL SUFFIXES) INFLECTIONAL SUFFIXES
BASE (POSTBASES) ENDING
Noun and verb roots are distinct, though large numbers of noun roots have verb root
counterparts (apiataq 'lunch', apiatar-'to lunch') and viceversa (iqvar-'to pick berries', iqvaq
'picked berry'). Full nouns and verbs are clearly differentiated by their endings. Yup'ik
contains large numbers ofboth derivational and inflectional suffIxes. Jacobson 1984listswell
over 450 derivational suffixes and 550 inflectional suffixes.
Yup'ik forms are given here in a four-line format so that the internal structure of
words can be seen. The first line represents the word as it was pronounced, the second
shows a division or parsing into meaningful parts, the third a literal gloss or translation of
each part, and the fourth a free translation.
(5) tulukaruk
tulukaruk
raven
'raven'
tulukarucilleq
tulukaruk-cilleq
raven-worthless
'worthless raven'
Inflectional suffixes (endings) on nouns indicate number, possession and case.
Three numbers are distinguished: singular, dual, and plural. Number suffixes can be
seen with the noun atsaq 'fruit', used for 'pear' in the Pear Story.
