Yakkha language


Yakkha is a language spoken in parts of Nepal, Darjeeling district and Sikkim. The Yakkha-speaking villages are located to the East of the Arun river, in the southern part of the Sankhuwasabha district and in the northern part of the Dhankuta district of Nepal. About 14,000 people still speak the language, out of 17,003 ethnic Yakkha in Nepal. Genealogically, Yakkha belongs to the Eastern Kiranti languages and is in one subgroup with several Limbu languages, e.g. Belhare, Athpare, Chintang and Chulung. Ethnically however, the Yakkha people perceive themselves as distinct from the other Kiranti groups such as Limbu.

Geographical distribution

Mugali is spoken between Mugakhola and Sinuwakhola on the eastern banks of the Arun River in Dhankuta District, Province No. 1, Nepal, in the villages of Muga, Pakhribas, and Phalate.
Phangduwali is spoken above the Mugakhola headwaters in Pakhribas VDC, Dhankuta District, Province No. 1, Nepal.
Lumba-Yakkha is spoken in Arkhaule Jitpur and Marek Katahare VDC's, northern Dhankuta District, Province No. 1, Nepal.

Phonology

Vowels

Yakkha has the five vowels. There are no centralized vowels as in other Kiranti languages. Variation between short and long vowels is possible, but this is not a phonemic contrast, because no minimal pairs can be found. Diphthongs such as can be found in some words such as uimalaŋ "steep descent", or the interjection hoiʔ "Enough!".

Consonants

The consonants are shown in the table below. The voiced consonants in brackets have doubtful status. They are not phonemes, because no minimal pairs can be established. But they are also not motivated by a phonological rule. Furthermore, the voiced consonants occur only in a few words, and some of them are Nepali loans. Examples with initial voiced consonants are gogoba, ghak "all", jeppa "really", ɖaŋgak "stick".
Notes:
"aka"my

Morphology

Yakkha has rich nominal and verbal morphology. Nouns inflect for case and number. Verbs inflect for person, number, negation, several categories in the domain of tense, aspect and mood. In transitive verbs, both actor and undergoer are coreferenced on the verb. The category of inclusive/exclusive is found in the verbal morphology and in the possessive pronouns and prefixes.

Pronouns

Yakkha pronouns distinguish between singular, dual and plural number, and the possessive pronouns additionally distinguish between the inclusion and the exclusion of the addressee. The third person only has singular and nonsingular forms. The possessive pronouns have developed from the personal pronouns and the genitive marker -ka. The possessive prefixes obviously are grammaticalised possessive pronouns. They can be used instead of the possessive pronouns, e.g. one could say akka paŋ or a-paŋ, both meaning "my house". Sounds represented by /N/ in the table are underspecified nasals.

Interrogatives and indefinite reference

Yakkha has the following interrogative pronouns and other interrogatives: isa "who", i/ina "what", iya "what", hetna "which", imin "how", ijaŋ "why", hetne "where", hetniŋ "when".
If a certain item is asked for, ina will be used, but if an event is in question, the root i occurs without further morphology, e.g. i leksa? "What happened?". Reduplication of the pronouns may result in indefinite reference, e.g. hetniŋ hetniŋ "some time".

Case system

Yakkha distinguishes the unmarked absolutive case, the ergative -ŋa, the genitive -ka/-ga, the locative -pe/-be, the ablative case -bhaŋ and the comitative case -nuŋ, and the instrumental case -ŋa.