Yavapai is an Upland Yuman language, spoken by Native Americans in western Arizona. There are 4 dialects: Kwevkepaya, Wipukpaya, Tolkepaya, and Yavepe. Linguistic studies of the Tolkepaya (Western), Wipukepa (Verde Valley), and Yavepe (Prescott) dialects have been published (Mithun 1999:578).

The rate of mutual comprehension between Yavapai and Havasupai-Hualapai is similar to that between Mohave and Maricopa (Biggs 1957).

Unlike in Havasupai and Hualapai, postaspirated stops cannot appear in word-initial position (Shaterian 1983:215).

External links

• Journal of American Indian Education

References

• Biggs, Bruce. 1957. Testing Intelligibility among Yuman Languages. In International Journal of American Linguistics. Vol. 23, No. 2. (Apr., 1957), pp. 57-62. University of Chicago Press.
• Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge University Press.
• Shaterian, Alan William. 1983. Phonology and Dictionary of Yavapai. University of California, Berkeley.