Yat'a [SDY]
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Registered by
[Deactivated User] on 2 February 2023
Language type
Not specified
Place & SpeakersYat'a is spoken by a population of around 9,000 in Hinishiyá Hiyach'wí (The Kerguelen Islands).
Species
Human/humanoid
About Yat'a
Yat'a is a lingustic isolate spoken by around 9000 people on the Kerguelen Islands, a group of sub-Antarctic islands in the Southern Indian Ocean. They are called Hinishiyá Hiyach'wí in the Yat'a language itself. The Yat'an are the world's most isolated people group.
Sample of Yat'a[view] Shäsh yasan wyet kavi hach'än shwemenyen öq fxarasay väshangfip'án.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[view all texts]
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[view all texts]
Language family relationships
[view] About IsolatesThis is a family for isolate languages.
Phonology
| Consonants | Bilabial | Labio- dental | Alveolar | Post- Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Labio- velar | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | Other | |||||||||||
| Nasal | m mʷ [m̩]1 | n [n̩]2 | ɲ [ɲ̩]3 | ŋ ŋʷ [ŋ̩]4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Plosive | p pʼ | t tʼ | k kʼ [kʼʷ]5 [kʷ]6 | q qʼ | [ʔ] | |||||||||||||||||
| Fricative | [ɸ]7 | [β]8 | f | v | s | ʃ | ʐ | [ç]9 | [χ]10 | h | ||||||||||||
| Affricate | t͡s t͡sʼ | t͡ʃ t͡ʃʼ | k͡x k͡xʼ | t͡ɬ t͡ɬʼ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Lateral approximant | l | ʎ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Lateral fricative | ɬ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||||||||||||||||||
- allophone of /m/
- allophone of /n/
- allophone of /ɲ/
- allophone of /ŋ/
- preceding /o, u/, allophone of /kʼ/
- preceding /o, u/, allophone of /k/
- word finally, allophone of /f/
- word finally, allophone of /v/
- before /i, e/, allophone of /h/
- also of ejective affricative, allophone of /k͡x/
| Vowels | Front | Central | Back | |||
| Close | i | ɯ | u | |||
| Close-mid | e | o | ||||
| Mid | ə | |||||
| Open-mid | ɜ | |||||
| Open | a | |||||
Orthography
Below is the orthography for Yat'a. This includes all graphemes as defined in the language's phonology settings - excluding the non-distinct graphemes/polygraphs.
 Yat'aOrthography [edit] | ||||||||||
| Aa a /a/ | Ää ä /ə/ | Ch ch che /t͡ʃ/ | Ee e /e/ | Hh ha /h/, [ç]1 | Ff fi /f/, [ɸ]2 | Ii i /i/ | Üü ü /ɯ/ | Kk ka /k/, [kʷ]3 | Ll la /l/ | Mm ma /m/, [m̩] |
| Nn ne /n/, [n̩] | Ng ng nga /ŋ/, [ŋ̩] | Oo o /o/ | Pp pe /p/ | Qq qo /q/ | Rr re /ʐ/ | Ss sa /s/ | Hl hl hle /ɬ/ | Sh sh she /ʃ/ | Tt te /t/ | Tl tl tle /t͡ɬ/ |
| Ts ts tse /t͡s/ | Uu u /u/ | Öö ö /ɜ/ | Vv ve /v/, [β]4 | Ww ewé /w/ | Mw mw mwa /mʷ/ | Ngw ngw ngwa /ŋʷ/ | Xx xe /k͡x/, [χ]5 | Yy eyé /j/ | Ly ly lye /ʎ/ | Ny ny nya /ɲ/, [ɲ̩] |
| ✔ Shown in correct order [change] | ||||||||||
- before /i, e/
- word finally
- preceding /o, u/
- word finally
- also of ejective affricative
