Yurok vowels: Short ee, o, ue, er, and long eee, oo, uue, err

A vowel is a sound in which air flows relatively freely through the mouth (in contrast with consonants, in which air is more tightly constrained by the tongue, lips, etc.). Yurok has 11 basic vowel sounds, a few of which vary in pronunciation depending on context, dialect, or speaker. The 11 vowels include six short vowels and five long vowels, where long vowels are held twice as long as short vowels. Each short vowel other than e has a long counterpart:

SHORT a e ee o ue er
LONG aa — eee oo uue err

The descriptions given here are mainly intended for language learners. Names of Yurok speakers are abbreviated: AF = Aileen Figueroa, JJ = Jimmie James, GM = Glenn Moore Sr., VM = Violet Moore, FS = Florence Shaughnessy, AT = Archie Thompson, GT = Georgiana Trull, JVP = Jessie Van Pelt.

Short ee and long eee

Linguistic description: ee is high front [i]; eee is long [iː]

Yurok short ee is similar to the vowel in English heat, keep, and mean. Long eee has the same vowel quality, held twice as long.

EE
ch'eeshah 'dog' (VM):
keepuen 'winter' (FS):
neekwech 'grizzly bear' (JJ):
EEE
cheeegery 'huckleberry' (JVP):
cheeeshep' 'flower' (AF):
reeek'ew 'shore, river bar' (AF):

Sometimes, especially in unstressed syllables, short ee has a reduced pronunciation. When ee has a reduced pronunciation, it may sound like the vowel in English hit. But if you listen carefully to several speakers, you will probably hear that it is ee. In the examples below, reduced pronunciations are heard in the final syllable of a word if the preceding syllable is stressed and the word ends in a consonant. In this context reduced pronunciations are occasionally used by all Yurok speakers.

cherwerseek'
'seven'		ch'uech'eesh
'(small) bird'		 holeehl
'hazel sticks'		meweehl
'elk'		 pueleek ('we-roy)
'downriver (water)'		puueweesh
'sack, bag, purse'
UNREDUCED EE
VM:
GT:
FS:
GT:
AF:
JVP:
REDUCED EE
JVP:
AF:
JJ:
AF:
GM:
FS:

Short o and long oo

Linguistic description: o is central back [ɔ]; oo is long [ɔː]

Yurok short o is similar to the vowel in caught, law, and talk as spoken by some (but not all) English speakers. (Click here to hear English caught with this vowel.) Long oo has the same vowel quality, held twice as long.

O
chahkwoh
'pants' (JVP):
chohpos
'fly (insect)' (AF):
tektoh
'log' (GT):
'yoch
'boat' (JJ):
OO
hoogech
'star' (AF):
koo'op'es
'stand up!' (GT):
myootek'
'I push it' (FS):
woomehl
'acorns' (VM):

Sometimes short o has a reduced pronunciation, approaching the vowel in English hut (in technical terms, a pronunciation with less lip rounding.) Some Yurok speakers use this pronunciation more than others; it is more common in unstressed syllables, as in the examples below. But even in such cases, if you listen carefully to several speakers, you will probably hear that the vowel is o.

heyomues 'skunk'keromoh 'car'lochom' 'toad'wa'elox 'intestines'
UNREDUCED O
AT:
GT:
AF:
JVP:
REDUCED O
JJ:
JVP:
AT:
FS:

Short ue and long uue

Linguistic description: ue is high back [u]; uue is long [uː]

Yurok short ue is similar to the vowel in English hoot, moon, and pool. Long uue has the same vowel quality, held twice as long.

UE
keepuen 'winter' (FS):
kuechkuech 'worm' (GT):
muesmues 'cow' (AT):
UUE
luuehl 'iris, twine' (GT):
puuek 'deer' (VM):
skuuewetek' 'I like the taste of it' (FS):

Sometimes, especially in unstressed syllables, short ue has a reduced pronunciation. When ue has a reduced pronunciation, it may sound like the vowel in English hood or put.

Short er and long err

Linguistic description: er is mid central rhotic [ɚ]; err is long [ɚː]

Yurok short er is identical to the American English vowel in her, bird, and word. Long err has the same vowel quality, held twice as long. As shown by the words below, there is a tendency for the er and err vowel qualities to spread throughout a word.

ER
herkw'erh 'rabbit' (AF):
k'-erp'ern' 'your nose' (VM):
tergers 'rat' (JJ):
ERR
kerrmeek' 'nine' (VM):
serrhlerperk' 'I did it' (FS):
serrpern' 'it's light (weight)' (VM):