Yeah, Ya, Yea, Yah

As I see it, the English language has got a problem. Ok, ok, it has many, but only one which I will be addressing today. It has two words, one which is an exclamation of joy or support, and the other is an informal way of saying yes. The first is pronounced Yā with a long A sound, and the second is pronounced Yǎ with a short A sound. The problem is that all of these spellings have been used for both usages. Half of these spellings are not even in the dictionary, and dictionaries are inconsistent with the rest. Dictionaries are only a reflection of the current accepted state of a language. We need to pick a spelling for each definition and stick with it. Of course, it will be impossible to enforce this, but here is my vote on how we should proceed. Oh! I guess there is one more that has to be mentioned. There is another which is pronounced Yā with the long A sound but is used as a formal yes, as in a vote.
Yea – [Yā ] This is only to be used as the formal vote. That is easy to remember because it is word jumble of aye.
Ya – [Yǎ] This is to be used for the informal yes – it just looks informal
Yeah – [Yā] Use this as an exclamation of joy, as in rooting for a team. Additional a’s can be added for emphasis.

Let me hear your vote.