Yahi language
- noun
- Linguists have worked to document and preserve the Yahi language for future generations.
Examples
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Few fluent speakers of the Yahi language remained by the early 20th century.
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The Yahi language is an important part of the group's cultural heritage.
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The Yahi language is nearly extinct.
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Many linguists study the Yahi language for its unique features.
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Linguists have worked to document and preserve the Yahi language for future generations.
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Few fluent speakers of the Yahi language remained by the early 20th century.
-
The Yahi language is an important part of the group's cultural heritage.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A Native American language once spoken by the Yahi people in northern California that is now extinct
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines a proper name 'Yahi' with the noun 'language' to mean the language spoken by the Yahi people, a directly compositional and predictable naming pattern. This type of name+language construction is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning even if the specific language is rare.
Etymology
Yahi language comes from the name of the Yahi people who lived in north-central California and spoke their own tongue, so it literally labels that group's speech. That's why Yahi language simply means the 'language' of the Yahi people.