Mixe languages
 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references,butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations.(April 2011) |
| Mixe | |
|---|---|
| Oaxacan Mixean Ayuujk | |
| Ethnicity | Mixe people |
| Geographic distribution | Oaxaca,Mexico |
Native speakers | 140,000 (2020 census)[1] |
| Linguistic classification | Mixe–Zoque
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | oaxa1241 |
 The Mixe region within the state ofOaxacain southern Mexico | |
| People | Ayuujkjä'äy (Mixe) |
|---|---|
| Language | Ayöök (Mixe) |
TheMixe languagesare languages of the Mixean branch of theMixe–Zoqueanlanguage family indigenous to southernMexico.According to a 1995 classification, there are seven of them (including one that is extinct). The four that are spoken inOaxacaare commonly called Mixe while their two relatives spoken inVeracruzare commonly called "Popoluca",but sometimes also Mixe (these are"Oluta Popoluca"or" Olutec Mixe "and"Sayula Popoluca"or" Sayultec Mixe "). This article is about the Oaxaca Mixe languages, which their speakers callAyöök,Ayuujk,AyüükorAyuhk.[citation needed]
140,000 people reported their language to be "Mixe" in the 2020 census.[1]
Classification
[edit]Oaxaca Mixe languages are spoken in theSierra Mixeof easternOaxaca.These four languages are:North Highland Mixe,spoken aroundTotontepec(the most divergent);South Highland Mixe,spoken aroundSanta María Tlahuitoltepec,AyutlaandTamazulapan);Midland Mixe,spoken aroundJuquilaandZacatepec;andLowland Mixe,spoken inSan Juan Guichicovi(this language is also known as "Isthmus Mixe" ).
The following classification is from Wichmann (1995:9).
- Mixe (Oaxacan Mixean)
- North Highland Mixe(Totontepec)
- South Highland Mixe(Tlahuitoltepec)
- Core (Tlahuitoltepec, Ayutla, Tamazulapan)
- Fringe (Tepuxtepec, Tepantlali, Mixistlán)
- Midland Mixe
- North Midland Mixe (Jaltepec, Puxmetacan, Matamoros, Cotzocón)
- South Midland Mixe (Juquila, Cacalotepec)
- Lowland Mixe(Camotlán, San José El Paraíso / Coatlán, Mazatlán, Guichicovi)
Wichmann (2008) addsUlterior Mixeas an additional branch:
- Mixe
- Totontepec Mixe
- Ulterior Mixe
- Lowland – Midland Mixe – South Highland
- Tlahuitoltepec Mixe
- Lowland–Midland Mixe
- Midland Mixe
- Lowland Mixe
- Coatlán Mixe
- Isthmus Mixe(Guichicovi)
- Mazatlán Mixe
Phonology
[edit]Thephonologyof Mixe languages is remarkable due to their complex system of vowel duration contrasts in addition to glottalization. There is apalatalizedseries of all consonant phonemes (as in Russian, Polish or Irish) and possibly afortis/lenisdistinction in the plosive series, the recognition of which however is obscured by a tendency towards allophonic voicing of consonants in voiced environments.
Vowels
[edit]Syllable nuclei vary in length and phonation. Most descriptions report three contrastivevowel lengths.[2]The other types of phonation have been variously termedchecked vowels,creaky voicevowels andbreathy voicevowels.
The table below illustrates the vowel phonemes for Ayöök (Totentepec) Mixe:[1]
| Short | Long | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Central | Back | Front | Central | Back | |
| High | i/i/ | ï/ɨ/ | u/u/ | ii/iː/ | ïï/ɨ/ | uu/uː/ |
| Close-mid | e/e/ | ë/ə/ | o/o/ | ee/eː/ | ëë/əː/ | oo/oː/ |
| Open-mid | ä/æ/ | ää/æː/ | ||||
| Low(open) | a/a/ | aa/aː/ | ||||
Grammar
[edit]Verbs
[edit]Themorphosyntactic alignmentof Mixe isergativeand it also has anobviativesystem which serves to distinguish between verb participants in reference to itsdirect–inversesystem.[citation needed]The Mixeverbis complex and inflects for many categories and also shows a lot of derivationalmorphology.One of the parameters of verb inflection is whether a verb occurs in an independent or dependent clause; this distinction is marked by both differential affixation and stemablaut.[citation needed]Unlike Sayultec Mixe[3](spoken in the neighboring state of Veracruz), Mixe languages of Oaxaca only mark one argument on the verb:[citation needed]either the object or the subject of the verb depending on whether the verb is in the direct or inverse form. Mixe shows a wide variety of possibilities fornoun incorporation.
Nouns
[edit]The Mixe noun does not normally inflect, except that human nouns inflect for plural.[citation needed]Noun compounding is a very productive process, and the profuse derivational morphology allows for creation of new nouns both from verbs and from other nouns. To indicate the plural an enclitic, ëch, is added to the noun.[4]
Syntax
[edit]Mixe languages have SOV constituent order, prepositions and genitives precede the noun. But relative clauses follow the noun.[citation needed]
Sample
[edit]This sample is from Lowland Mixe:[5]
pwes
[pwes
Well
hadu'n
haduʔn
there
idaa
ʔidaː
this
yɨyoop
ʲ-ʔɨjoːb
3P-poor
jɨyäj
hɨjaʔaj
person
idaa
ʔidaː
this
aldeano
ʔaldeano
ranch hand
mɨɨt
mɨːd
with
ytöxyijk
ʲ-toʔoʃʲɨʰk
3P.POSS-woman
ytɨkoy
ʲtɨɡoˑjʲ
3P-CAUS/PAS-lose-DEP
yɨ
jɨ
the
mɨkü
mɨkuʔu]
devil
"Well that's how this poor person, this ranch hand with his wife, made the devil lose"
Radio
[edit]Mixe-language programming is carried by theCDI's radio stationXEGLO,based inGuelatao de Juárez, Oaxaca.
See also
[edit]Sources
[edit]- ^ab"Diferentes lenguas indígenas".cuentame.inegi.org.mx.Retrieved2022-07-02.
- ^Ladefoged; Maddieson (1996).The sounds of the world's languages.Blackwell. p. 320.ISBN978-0631198154.
- ^Kroeger 2005: 286
- ^Jany, 2013 p.538
- ^Dieterman, 1995 pg. 110
Bibliography
[edit]- Dieterman, Julia Irene, 1995, Participant reference in Isthmus Mixe Narrative Discourse, MA. Thesis in linguistics presented to the Faculty of the Graduate school of the University of Texas at Arlington.
- Hoogshagen, Searle & Hilda Halloran Hoogshagen, 1993, Diccionario Mixe de Coatlán, Serie de Vocabularios Indigénas "Mariano Silva y Aceves" Num. 32. SIL, Mexico, D.F.
- Kroeger, Paul R. 2005.Analyzing grammar: an introduction.Cambridge University Press.
- Schoenhals, Alvin & Louise Schoenhals, 1965, Vocabulario Mixe de Totontepec, Serie de Vocabularios Indigénas "Mariano Silva y Aceves" Num. 14. SIL, Mexico, D.F.
- Wichmann, Søren, 1995, The Relationship Among the Mixe–Zoquean Languages of Mexico. University of Utah Press. Salt Lake City.ISBN0-87480-487-6
- JANY, C. (2013). Defining Nominal Comp as a P WORD-FORMATION PROCESS IN CHUXNABÁN MIXE.International Journal of American Linguistics,79(4), 533–553.