Isthmus Zapotec

Isthmus Zapotec
Juchitán Zapotec
Diidxazá
Pronunciation	[dìdʒàˈzà]
Region	Oaxaca, Mexico
Native speakers	(85,000 cited 1990 census)[1]
Language family	Oto-Manguean Zapotecan Zapotec Central Extended Ocotepec Isthmus Zapotec
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	zai
Glottolog	isth1244[2]

Isthmus Zapotec, also known as Juchitán Zapotec (native name diidxazá;^[3] Spanish: Zapoteco del Istmo), is a Zapotecan language spoken in Tehuantepec and Juchitán de Zaragoza, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Guevea de Humboldt Zapotec, a different language, is sometimes referred to as "Northern Isthmus Zapotec."^[4]

Sounds

The sounds of Isthmus Zapotec are:

Consonants

Plosives

Voiceless

p /pʰ/

t /tʰ/

c¹ /kʰ/

Voiced

b /b/

d /d/

g² /g/

Fricatives and Affricates

Voiced

z /z/

dx /dʑ/

x /ʑ/

Voiceless

s /s/

ch /tɕ/

xh /ɕ/ (except before another consonant when it is written as x)

Nasals

m /m/

n /n~ɴ/

ñ /ɴʲ/

Sonorants

Plain

r /ɾ/

l /l/

y /j/

Emphasized

r /r/

l /ɮ/

• ¹When a /k/ sound occurs before "e" or "i", it is spelled "qu".
• ²When a /g/ sound occurs before "e" or "i", it is spelled "gu". Also, the sound /gw/ is written "gü".
• ³This sound "bŕ" occurs very rarely for a bilabial trill. It occurs in words like "berenbŕ".

Vowels

Plain

a

e

i

o

u

Laryngealized

aa

ee

ii

oo

uu

Checked by a glottal stop

a'

e'

i'

o'

u'

Syllable structure

Isthmus Zapotec has only open syllables (that is, they must end in a vowel).

References

1. Isthmus Zapotec at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Isthmus Zapotec". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
3. Pickett et al. (2007)
4. Guevea de Humboldt Zapotec at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)

• Alfabeto Popular para La Escritura del Zapoteco del Istmo (in Spanish). 1956.
• Pickett, Velma B. (1988) [1959]. Vocabulario Zapoteco del Istmo (in Spanish).
• Marlett, Stephen A.; Pickett, Velma B. (1996). "El pronombre inaudible en el zapoteco del Istmo". In Fernández, Zarina Estrada; Esteva, Max Figueroa; Cruz, Gerardo López. III Encuentro de Lingüística en el Noroeste (in Spanish). Hermosillo, Sonora: Editorial Unison. pp. 119–150.
• Pickett, Velma B.; Black, Cheryl; Cerqueda, Vincente Marcial (2001) [1998]. Gramática Popular del Zapoteco del Istmo (in Spanish).
• Pickett, Velma B.; Villalobos Villalobos, María; Marlett, Stephen A. (2008). Stephen A. Marlett., ed. "Zapoteco del Istmo (Juchitán)." (PDF). Ilustraciones fonéticas de lenguas amerindias (in Spanish). Lima: SIL International y Universidad Ricardo Palma.
• Britton, A. Scott (2003). Zapotec-English/English-Zapotec (Isthmus) Concise Dictionary. ISBN 0-7818-1010-8.
• Pickett, Velma B. 1959. The grammatical hierarchy of Isthmus Zapotec. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan.
• Marlett, Stephen A. & Velma B. Pickett. 1996. El pronombre inaudible en el zapoteco del Istmo. In Zarina Estrada Fernández, Max Figueroa Esteva & Gerardo López Cruz (eds.) III Encuentro de Lingüística en el Noroeste, 119-150. Hermosillo, Sonora: Editorial Unison.
• Marlett, Stephen A. 1987. The syllable structure and aspect morphology of Isthmus Zapotec. International Journal of American Linguistics 53: 398-422.
• Sicoli, Mark A. 1999. A comparison of Spanish loanwords in two Zapotec languages: Contact-induced language change in Lachixío and Juchitán Zapotec. University of Pittsburgh, M.A. Thesis.
• De Korne, Haley. 2016. "A treasure" and "a legacy": Individual and communal (re)valuing of Isthmus Zapotec in multilingual Mexico. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics 31.1:21-42. Online access

External links

• SIL Mexico — Isthmus Zapotec
• Language resources in Isthmus Zapotec
• OLAC resources in and about the Isthmus Zapotec language
• ELAR archive of Documentation of Isthmus Zapotec