Many authors have attempted to transcribe the phonemic inventory of Yeyi, with varying levels of consistency. Broadly, all sources recognize that the phonology is characterized by an extensive consonant inventory combined with a small vowel inventory (albeit a
tonal one, though this feature is not analyzed as consistently as the other axioms). The most descriptive study surrounding this categorization, Seidel (2008), is used for the tables listed below. Prior sources had not included the additional categorization of
prenasalized consonants.
Vowels Vowel length is also distinctive. • are phonetically realized as . • can also be heard as in word-final position. can also be heard as in prefixes. • can be heard as nasalized when preceding nasal consonants. A nasal can also be heard, but only in stem-internal position. • can tend to be centralized as following fricatives and sibilants.
Consonants • Most of the consonants may also be labialized , however; their phonemic status is uncertain and may also exist as a result of a historically or synchronically underlying or diphthongized . • The glottal stop only occurrs between vowels. • Palatalized-velar stop consonants may often be heard as palatal stop consonants . • The labial approximant can range from an approximant to a fricative . • The alveolar rhotic can be heard as a tap or a trill, but can also be heard as retroflex . • The alveolar lateral can also be heard as a retroflex . • Prenasal palatalized-velar stops may often be heard as prenasal palatal stops .
Clicks Yeyi, influenced by the
Juu languages, is one of several Bantu languages along the Okavango with clicks. It has the largest known inventory of
clicks of any Bantu language, with dental, alveolar, palatal, and lateral articulations. Lateral clicks only rarely occur. Yeyi may have up to four click types,
dental ,
alveolar ,
palatal , and
lateral . However, the actual number of clicks is disputed, as researchers disagree on how many series of manner and phonation the language contrasts. The following series of manner and phonation, shown here as the alveolar series, are recognized by different authors: The contrast between ejective and glottalized nasal clicks is unusual, but also occurs in
Gǀwi. Sommer & Voßen (1992) consider the uvular ejective series uncertain due to infrequency. Fulop
et al. (2002) studied the clicks of a limited vocabulary sample with 13 Yeyi speakers who were not from the core speaking area. There are in addition
prenasalized clicks such as and , but Fulop
et al. analyze these as
consonant clusters, not single sounds. In addition, a reported uvular affricated click appears to actually be velar, with the affrication a variant of aspiration, and so has been included under . There is similar velar affrication with the dental ejective click among some speakers. The ejective clicks are apparently uvular. Miller (2011), in a comparative study with other languages, interprets the uvular clicks as lingual-pulmonic and lingual–glottalic . Unfortunately, the speakers interviewed were not from the core Yeyi-speaking area, and they often disagreed on which clicks to use. Although the six dental clicks (
etc.) were nearly universal, only one of the lateral clicks was (the voiced click ). The alveolar clicks (
etc.) were universal apart from the ejective, which was only attested from one speaker, but two of the palatal clicks were only used by half the speakers, at least in the sample vocabulary. The missing palatal and lateral clicks were substituted with alveolar or sometimes dental clicks (palatals only), and the missing ejective alveolar was substituted with a glottalized alveolar. Both of these patterns are consistent with studies of
click loss, though it is possible that these speakers maintain these clicks in other words. 23 of the 24 possible permutations were attested in the sample vocabulary by at least one speaker, the exception being the ejective lateral click . This research needs to be repeated in an area where the language is still vibrant. Seidel (2008) says that Yeyi has three click types, dental , alveolar , and, in two words only, lateral . There are three basic series, tenuis, aspirated, and voiced, any of which may be prenasalized. A Yeyi Talking Dictionary was produced by the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. ==References==