Yanesha language
| Amuesha | |
|---|---|
| Yaneshac̈h/Yanešač̣ | |
| Pronunciation | [janeʃaˀt͡ʂʰ] |
| Native to | Peru |
| Ethnicity | Yanesha' |
|
Native speakers
|
9,800 (2000) |
|
Arawakan
|
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | yane1238 |
Yanesha' (Yaneshac̈h/Yanešač̣; literally 'we the people'), also called Amuesha or Amoesha is a language spoken by the Amuesha people of Peru in central and eastern Pasco Region.
Due to the influence and domination of the Inca Empire, Yanesha' has many loanwords from Quechua, including some core vocabulary. Yanesha' may also have been influenced by Quechua's vowel system so that, today, it has a three-vowel system rather than a four-vowel one that is typical of related Arawakan languages.
Yanesha' has 22 consonants and 9 vowel phonemes. The consonants have a certain degree of allophonic variation while that of the vowels is more considerable.
Yanesha', similar to languages like Russian, Irish, and Marshallese, makes contrasts between certain pairs of palatalized and plain consonants:
The remaining two palatalized consonants, /lʲ/ and /tʲ/, don’t offer a one-to-one contrast with plain consonants; the former because it is the only lateral consonant and so contrasts with no other phoneme on the basis of just palatalization; /tʲ/, while contrasting with /t/, also contrasts with /ts/, /tʃ/, and /tʂ/. The bilabial palatalized consonants have a more perceptible palatal offglide than the alveolar ones. Word-finally, this offglide is voiceless for /pʲ/ and /lʲ/ while being absent for /mʲ/.
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