- Origin
- Name
- Characteristics of the Yaqui language
- Words in Yaqui and their meaning
- Words adapted from Spanish
- Words adapted from English
- Words adapted from Nahuatl
- Risk
- References
The Yaqui language is one of the indigenous languages of Mexico that has been approved as a national language thanks to a law published in 2003. Historically, it was used by Yaqui communities.
The word Yaqui, yes, is an adaptation to Spanish of the term hiaki, which is the correct word in their own language. Yaqui means people who speak loudly, although these indigenous communities often refer to their language as Hiaknooki, whose meaning in Spanish is the Yaqui language.
Yaquis group at the beginning of the 20th century. Source:, via Wikimedia Commons.
This dialect is part of the Cahítas, which were indigenous groups that settled in areas to the northwest of Mexico. These communities had a large number of different languages, but with the passage of time only the Kahite language (which was the main one) and the Yaqui remained.
Furthermore, the Yaqui language (and consequently the Cahita) is derived from the Utonahua dialects.
Today this language is still spoken although to a lesser extent; it is common in the Mexican state of Sonora. A census at the beginning of the 21st century determined that only about 5% of the inhabitants could speak Yaqui.
Origin
According to historians, the first settlements of Yaqui groups began to occur thousands of years ago thanks to the migrations that occurred from Asia through the Bering Strait. It was one of the communities that was further north of the territory that today is known as Mexico.
Their main language was Cahita, but each community was in charge of developing its own language and thanks to this dynamic, Jiak Nokpo was born, today known as Yaqui.
These indigenous groups had to face wars for many years, even during the conquest of the Spanish. At all times they were considered as an independent territory.
At present it is believed that there are more than 30,000 Yaquis in Mexico and almost 10,000 in some areas of the United States.
Name
Over time, references to Yaqui indigenous groups have changed. Hiaki is the way to say it in your own language. The term Yaqui is rather from recent times. It has been written in different ways: hiakim, kiaki or jiaqui.
In the etymological study of the word it is believed that it is the union of hia with baqui and that it means people who speak loudly or shout.
Characteristics of the Yaqui language
The alphabet of the Yaqui language has only 20 letters: five of them are vowels and the other 15 are consonants. All the syllables and articulations of the dialect are built thanks to them.
Both the vowels and the consonants of the Yaqui language can be presented in a single or double way; that is: Aa, Ee, Tt, etc.
Double consonants only occur when they are in the middle of a word. In the case of vowels, they can all be double and are basically the same as in Spanish (a, e, i, o, u).
The Yaqui incorporated into their language some terms or expressions of Castilian thanks mainly to the colonization of the Spanish.
It is a language that distinguishes between feminine and masculine terms. That is, there are exclusive words taking into account the gender.
The Yaqui language has been considered to be very complicated in pronunciation. Despite this, the number of people who speak it and try to preserve it is still high. As with two of the languages that are born from the Germanic languages (English and German), the Yaquis do not use accents when writing their words.
Words in Yaqui and their meaning
A very important event for the Yaqui language was the creation of a dictionary that allowed the words of this dialect to be translated into Spanish. The initiative came from four students from the University of Sonora: Crescencio Buitimea, Zarina Estrada, Aarón Grageda and Manuel Silva.
The first time the compilation of words from this language was made public was in 2016 in an attempt to preserve the language of this indigenous community.
It had the support of the Yaqui Tribe educational project, teachers, the language department of the University of Sonora and indigenous people who speak the language. Also, the Pocket Yaqui Dictionary. Jiak noki - Spanish / Spanish-jiak noki relied on previous dictionaries of indigenous languages.
Words adapted from Spanish
With the passage of time, and especially due to the influence of the Spanish conquest on the American continent, the Yaqui community began to adopt some words or pronunciations more typical of Spanish. Although the same happened with English and with the Nahuatl language.
In the specific case of Spanish, there are two cases to study about the Yaquis and their words. On the one hand, there are words that were adapted to the habitual phonemes of the natives, but there are also terms that are pronounced exactly the same.
For example, the Yaqui say Lios, lakkron, kabaanso, or alawasi to refer to God, a thief, a chickpea, or an alguacil. It is evident how the writing and the pronunciation have many similarities. This can happen in about 20 terms used by Yaquis.
The words that are the same in both languages are: alba, stain, tape (although in Yaqui it is written sinta since the c is not a consonant that is present in the alphabet of this indigenous group) and serum.
Words adapted from English
The same thing happens with English although to a lesser extent. The Yaqui included the term suichi in their language to refer to switches or push buttons. English speakers use the word switch to talk about this object.
Words adapted from Nahuatl
Another language that has greatly influenced Yaqui is Nahuatl. It is a language of great importance in Mexico since the 5th century after Christ.
From here words like taskari, tekipanoa or totoi are born to say tortilla, work and hen.
Risk
UNESCO is the body in charge of establishing the level of risk that the different languages in the world run of disappearing or being used by a group of inhabitants.
The Yaqui case has already been studied by the United Nations and is one of the more than 2,500 languages analyzed. UNESCO establishes six levels of risk and the Yaqui is in the first level of danger that speaks of its vulnerability.
In this sense, UNESCO establishes that the Yaqui language may only be used in very personal areas and therefore is at risk. For example, that communities only communicate in their homes in this way.
To prevent its extinction from happening (as has happened with more than 200 other languages since the 1950s), Yaqui communities must communicate more with this language and demand that its use be expanded.
According to the 2000 census, Yaqui is spoken by almost 12 thousand people.
References
- Cruz, Gerardo Lopez, and Jose Luis Moctezuma Zamarron. Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Studies. University of Sonora.
- Estrada Fernández, Zarina. Yaqui-Spanish Dictionary And Texts. Univ. Of Sonora, 2004.
- Guzmán Betancourt, Ignacio et al. Studies In Hispanic Linguistics And Philology In Honor Of José G. Moreno De Alba. National Autonomous University of Mexico, 2003.
- The Tradition Today. Ibero-American University, Department of Letters, 2001.
- Moctezuma Zamarrón, José Luis. Of Pascolas And Venados. XXI century, 2001.