Texistepec language
| Texistepec | |
|---|---|
| Wää 'oot | |
| Native to | Mexico |
| Region | Vera Cruz |
Native speakers | 100 (2007)[1] |
Mixe–Zoquean
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | poq |
| ELP | Texistepec |
Texistepec, commonly called ether Texistepec Popoluca or Texistepec Zoque, is a Mixe–Zoquean language of the Zoquean branch spoken by around 400 indigenous Popoluca people in and around the town of Texistepec in Southern Veracruz, Mexico.
Within the Mixe–Zoquean family, Texistepec Popoluca is most closely related to Sierra Popoluca.
Texistepec Popoluca has been documented primarily in work by Søren Wichmann, a Danish anthropological and historical linguist and Ehren Reilly, a former graduate student at Johns Hopkins University. Reilly's work was a part of the larger Project for the Documentation of the Languages of Mesoamerica, under the leadership of the University of Pittsburgh's Terrence Kaufman, and contributed to Kaufman's project of deciphering Epi-Olmec writing.
Less than 100 native speakers of Texistepec Popoluca remained when Søren Wichmann, Ehren Reilly, and Terrence Kaufman conducted their research between 1990 and 2002, and the language was moribund, with no new speakers acquiring the language natively, due to the prevalence of Spanish. Today, all remaining speakers, are elderly, if any survive at all. However, according to a publication from the Program of Revitalization, Strengthening, and Development of the Languages of the Indigenous Nationals, there was a recorded 238 speakers in Vercruz, Mexico INARI
Phonology
The phonemes /l/ and /r/ do not occur natively within the Texistepec language. These two phonemes are borrowed from Spanish phonology and have become integrated into Texistepec phonology (Reilly).
Consonants
Bilabials: stop- /p/, /b/ -nasal- /m/ Alveolar: stop- /t/, /d/ /dʲ/ -nasal- /n/ -lateral, trill- /l/, /r/ Palatal: nasal- /ɲ/ -affricates- /t͡s/ -fricatives-/s/ Velar: stop- /k/ -velar- /ɳ/ Glottal: stop- /ʔ/ -fricatives- /h/
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | /p/, /b/ | /t/, /d/ /dʲ/ | /k/ | /ʔ/ | |
| Nasal | /m/ | /n/ | /ɲ/ | /ɳ/ | |
| Lateral, Trill | /l/, /r/ | ||||
| Affricates | /t͡s/ | /t͡ʃ | |||
| Fricatives | /s/ | /ʃ/ | /h/ |
Vowels
Vowels ɨ, u, ɛ, ɔ, a
| Vowels | Front | Central | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | /ɨ/ | /u/ | |
| Mid-low | /ɛ/ | /ɔ/ | |
| Low | /a/ |
Morphology
Nasal and oral stops
| (17) | 'key' | 'candle' | 'bean' | 'go' | 'honey' |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UR: | Nj-jaːpɛʔ | Nj-daj | Nj-sɨk | Nj-dɨk | Nj-t͡ʃ_ːɲ |
| Metathesis | Njjaːpɛʔ | Ndjaj | Nsjɨk | Ndjɨk | Nj-t͡ʃ_ːɲ |
| Palatalization | Ndjaːpɛʔ | Ndjaj | Nʃjik | Ndjik | Nt͡ʃj_ːɲ |
| N-Spreading | ɲaːpɛʔ | ɲjaj | ʒjik | ɲjik | nd͡ʒj_ːɲ |
| Relinking | — | — | — | — | nd͡ʒjːŋ |
| j-Deletion | — | — | ʒik | ɲik | — |
| Peak Filter | — | — | — | — | nd͡ʒiːɲ |
| SR | ɲaːpɛʔ | ɲjaj | ʒik | ɲik | nd͡ʒiːɲ |
“This inventory distinguishes nasal stops /m/ and /n/ from oral stops /b/ and /d/, respectively…/d/ and /b/ occur in complementary distribution with /n/ and /m/, with the oral stops appearing in onsets and the nasals appearing in the codas” (Reilly 2002, 18).
Comparison of personal marker contrast between Texistepec Popoluca speakers and other Zoque languages:
| A | Proto-Zoque | Sierra Popoluca | Texistepec Popoluca | San Miguel Chimal | Chiapas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1ex | *än- | an- | n- | ‘än= | (ä) N- |
| 1in | *tän- | tan- | ta=n- | dän, tän | ndä- |
| 2 | *min- | iñ- | ny- | ‘äm= | (mi) N- |
| 3 | *äy- | i- | y- | ‘äy=/’ äy | y- |
| B | |||||
| 1ex | *ä- | a- | k= | dä= | ∅ |
| 1in | *tä- | ta- | ta | - | tä- |
| 2 | *mi- | mi- | k=y- | äm=, 3/2 mi=Ny- | |
| 3 | *∅- | ∅- | ∅- | ∅= | ∅- |
| Local | |||||
| 1/2 | *mi+än | mi+an > miñ | k=n- | mix=, mix+’än | N- |
| 2/1 | >*ä+in(ʔ) | a+iñ > an- | k=ny- | mix= | N- |
(Wichmann 2004, 209)
References
- ^ Texistepec at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
INARI (Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas). 2009. Programa de Revitalización, Fortalecimiento y Desarrollo de las Lenguas Indígenas Nacionales 2008-2012.
Reilly, Ehren. 2002. A Survey of Texistepec Popoluca Verbal Morphology. Unpublished undergraduate thesis. Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota.
Reilly, Ehren. 2004. Promiscuous Paradigms and the Morphologically Conditioned "Ergative Split" in Texistepec Popoluca (Zoquean). Proceedings of Berkeley Linguistics Society 30, Special Session on the Morphology of Native American Languages. February, 2004.
Reilly, Ehren M. (forthcoming). Choosing just the right amount of over-application in Texistepec Popoluca. In Leah Bateman and Adam Werle (eds.) UMOP 32: Papers in Optimality Theory III. Amherst, MA.: GLSA.
Wichmann, Søren. 1994. Underspecification in Texistepec Popoluca phonology. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 27.2: 267-285.
Wichmann, Søren. 2004. La gramaticalización de un paradigma de auxiliares en popoluca de Texistepec. 2:205-220.
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