Chinook Jargon

Pronoun

yaka

1. he, she, it, him, her
2. his, her, its

See also

• klaska

Japanese

Romanization

yaka

1. rōmaji reading of やか

Turkish

Etymology

From Old Turkic [script needed] ‎(yaka), from Proto-Turkic *jaka ‎(“collar; edge”) (compare Hungarian borrowing nyak), which, according to the controversial Altaic hypothesis, is possibly derived from Proto-Altaic *ni̯ăke ‎(“neck, vertebra”).

Noun

yaka ‎(definite accusative yakayı, plural yakalar)

1. collar

   gömleğimin yakası‎ ― the collar of my shirt

2. side

   Avrupa Yakası‎ ― European Side

Declension

References

• Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003) Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill: “*ni̯ăke”

Wauja

Noun

yaka

1. spectacled (White or common) caiman, caimans, Caiman crocodilus.

   Yaka WEke. Ah, kawikaapapai ka jouhan! ... Yakakuma jano han!

   [He was a] gigantic caiman. Ah, [he] was terrifying indeed, that one! ....[The] Caiman Spirit, he was!

   Iye ejekujata ipitsi, ayakatapai umapai. EjekuJAtapai tonejunaun. Ipitsi ja umapai: ayakatawi.

   Kamani iya yaka okaho?

   Itsa ejekuJAtapai, ententsapai kupato. Ipitsi inyaun wi, kata inyaun, kata enojanaun, iya ayakata, umakonapai yiu whun, iya ententsapai papisulu."

   [Mayanu:] When someone goes to await [someone] — that's what ayakatapai means. [When men] wait [patiently] a long time for women. That's what we call ayakatapai.

   [Anthropologist asks why the word mentions the caiman.]

   [Kaomo:] That's how [caimans] wait, motionless — they're on the lookout for fish. So [you say the] same thing about those people, those men, who go to await their lovers, [who stand alert and motionless], waiting for [the] women [to come out of their houses].

Derived terms

• ayakata ‎(“awaits a lover”)
• Yakaojokuma ‎(“Great Caiman Spirit”)

References

• Species identification from E. Ireland field notes, confirmed with Piitsa, Muri, and other elders (all experienced hunters) in 1982 using José Cândido de Melo Carvalho's Atlas da Fauna Brasileira, Edições Melhoramentos, São Paulo, 1981.
• "Yaka WEke" (transcript, pp. 18-19), and "Aminya yikiyantawi!" (p. 31) uttered by Arutatumpa, storyteller and elder, and members of his audience, as he recounted the traditional tale, the "Caiman Spirit" (Yakaojokuma). Recorded in Piyulaga village in the presence of assembled elders and others, November 1989. Recorded in BBC film, "The Storyteller."
• "Iye ejekujata" (transcript p. 84), uttered by Mayano and his father Kaomo, upon listening to a recording of Arutatumpa's performance of the Yakaojokuma story.