Yakama English…holding on to its heritage


Language is important in the Yakima Valley. For many, preserving Ichishkíin is vital. But did you know that there is a dialect of English used in the Yakima Valley that has features that are unique, due to Ichishkíin influence? Read on to discover how Yakama English is a special dialect. This page is all about Yakama English. To learn more about the Heritage language, Ichishkíin, see “Learn More about Ichishkíin/Sahaptin" in the sidebar at right.


photo: Alicia Beckford Wassink

“Sounding Yakama”


Yakama English is not Ichishkíin, but has been strongly influenced by it. One of the main ways that a language can leave its mark on another is through transfer:


transfer, n. The influence of a speaker's first language upon a subsequently-learnt language, a target language. This influence extends to incorporation of features of the language system, like the substitution of a sound from the first language for a sound in the language being learnt.



English that “Sounds Yakama”


Over time, transfer features become “stabilized and perpetuated as part of the English variety used…” (Wolfram & Schilling, 2006, p. 166).


In this case, Ichishkíin sounds are used in English, yielding an accent that retains the "flavor" of the heritage language.



Vowels

Sociophoneticians ("sociophonetics" is a specialty within linguistics) take measurements of recorded speech to capture the physical, acoustic qualities of vowels and consonants. At right are images called “vowel polygons.” They display measurements that help us see the dimensions of the vowel systems of the Yakama English dialect compared with the dimensions of the heritage language and those of the mainstream Washington dialect. It is apparent that the shapes of the Yakama English and mainstream Washington vowel polygons are different. The Yakama English polygon, although it has more vowel categories, has similarities to that of Ichishkíin. (We may note differences, too. We noted earlier the sound of the vowel in the word boot. You can see that the Yakama English vowel is quite different from /uu/ in the heritage language). Here are some other key features of Yakama English:


Please note: For image clarity, the polygons do not show the diphthongal vowels (oy) as in boy, coin and /au/ as in bout, cloud.


UH-centralization is a difference we can hear in the “uh” sound in the word Columbia produced by a Yakama speaker. The position of the vowel is a little higher and more central in the system. This word sounds a little more like col-IHM-bia.



EY-monophthongization occurs in Yakama English in vowels that are diphthongized in other Englishes, like in the word away in this excerpt.



Consonants


TH-stopping is a common feature in which the TH as in those, them and these are pronounced like does, dem and dese. This sound occurs because the TH sound does not occur in Ichishkíin and another sound close to one in the heritage system is substituted (Beavert & Hargus 2009, p. xii). Click to hear there spoken by one male speaker.



R-cluster simplification occurs when the consonant that comes after r at the end of a word is not pronounced. Click below to hear the word work.



Where did we get our recordings?


The data for this project come from original recordings made in the tribal community between 2012 and 2019 by everyday people, with their consent. After recording, the speakers could choose to keep a copy of their recordings. Recordings were also returned to the Tribal Council for use by the community. No archival recordings were used in the research.


Further readings:

Wassink, A. B., & Hargus, S. (2020). Heritage Language Features and the Yakama English Dialect. Publication of the American Dialect Society 105 (1). 11–38. Duke University Press.

Wolfram, W. & Schilling, N. (2014) American English Wiley-Blackwell.

Beavert, V. & Hargus, S. (2009) Ichishkíin Sínwit University of Washington Press.


Interested in learning more about the Yakama Nation?

Visit their official website at yakama.com