Masatek languages ( En Ngixo, Ha shuta enima, Mazatec, Mazatecan ) is a group closely associated with indigenous languages spoken by about 200,000 people and known in the highlands as Sierra Masateca, which are located in northern Oaxaca in southern Mexico , as well as in adjacent territories of the states of Puebla and Veracruz .
| Masatec languages | |
|---|---|
| Taxon | Group |
| Area | Mexico |
| Number of carriers | about 200,000 people |
| Classification | |
| Category | Languages of North America |
Oto Manga family
| |
| Composition | |
| 8 languages | |
| Language group codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | - |
| ISO 639-5 | maa - tecoatl |
A group of Masatec languages is often described as one Masatec language, but because there are several varieties of the language, among them mutual understanding is low, they are better described as a group of languages. The group of languages belongs to the Popolokan subgroup of the Oto-Manga family of languages. According to the Linguistic Rights Act, they are recognized as “national languages” along with other indigenous languages of Mexico and Spanish.
Masatec languages are energetic in many small towns of the Masatec area, and in almost all cities, they are spoken by almost all residents, although the language is beginning to lose its status as a local language in front of Spanish in some large communities such as Waoutla de Jimenez and Jalapa de Diaz .
Like other Ot-Mangan languages, Masatek languages are tonal, tones play an important role in recognizing lexical units of grammatical categories. In a central tone, the Mazatek language uses wheezing in most Mazatek communities and allows all speakers to communicate by whistling.
Content
Languages
The following are the languages named after the villages in which they are spoken:
- Chiquiuitlan (2500 people in San Juan Chiquiutlan. Different from other varieties.)
- Central
- Whoutlansky (50,000 people. The prestigious dialect of the Masatec language spoken in Whoutla de Jimenez.)
- Ayautlansky (3,500 people in San Bartolome Ayautlah. Very similar to the dialect of Outlaw.)
- Masatlansky (13,000 people in Mazatlans and nearby villages. Somewhat similar to the Wautlans dialect.)
- Tekoatl (34,000 people in San Jeronimo Tekoatl, San Lucas Sokiapan, Santa Cruz Akatepec, San Antonio Elohochitlan and many other villages. It is somewhat similar to the dialect of Outlaw.)
- Iskatlansky (11.000 people in San Pedro-Iskatlan, Chichikasapa, Nuevo Iskatlan. Somewhat similar to the dialect of Outlaw.)
- Jalapansky (16,000 people in San Felipe-Jalapa de Diaz. Somewhat similar to the Outlander dialect.)
- Soyaltepek (23,000 people in Santa Maria Hakaltepec and San Miguel Soyaltepek. It is somewhat similar to the Outlander dialect.)
Phonology
Vowels
| Front row | Back row | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mouth. | nose. | creak. | wheezing. | mouth. | nose. | creak. | wheezing. | |
| Top lift | [ i ] | [ĩ] | [ḭ] | [i̤] | [ u ] | [ũ] | [ṵ] | [ṳ] |
| Mid-upper rise | [ o ] | [õ] | [o̰] | [o̤] | ||||
| Lower rise | [ æ ] | [æ̃] | [æ̰] | [æ̤] | [ ɑ ] | [ɑ̃] | [ɑ̰] | [ɑ̤] |
| Front row | Back row | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mouth. | nose. | interrupted ʔ | interrupted h | mouth. | nose. | interrupted ʔ | interrupted h | |
| Top lift | [ i ] | [ĩ] | [ḭ] | [i̤] | [ u ] | [ũ] | [ṵ] | [ṳ] |
| Mid-upper rise | [ e ] | [ẽ] | [ḛ] | [e̤] | [ o ] | [õ] | [o̰] | [o̤] |
| Lower rise | [ æ ] | [æ̃] | [æ̰] | [æ̤] | [ ɑ ] | [ɑ̃] | [ɑ̰] | [ɑ̤] |
Consonants
| Lips. | Tooth. | Postalveolar. | Velar. | Gulp. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plav. | ||||||
| sighs. | (pʰ) | tʰ | kʰ | |||
| simple | (p) | t | k | ʔ | ||
| prenasalization. | m b | n d | ŋ ɡ | |||
| Affre | ||||||
| sighs. | tsʰ | tʃʰ | ||||
| non-visitors. | ts | tʃ | ||||
| prenasalization. | n d͡z | n d͡ʒ | ||||
| The fricative. | ||||||
| deaf. | s | ʃ | h | |||
| Nose. | ||||||
| deaf. | m̥ | n̥ | ɲ̥ | |||
| simple | m | n | ɲ | |||
| capital. (creak.) | m̰ | n̰ | ɲ̰ | |||
| Approx. | ||||||
| deaf. | ȷ̊ | ʍ | ||||
| simple | (l) | j | w | |||
| nasaliz. | j̃ | w̰ | ||||
| One hit. | (ɾ) | |||||
Tones
The tone system between the varieties is markedly different. The jalapan dialect has 3 tones (high, medium, low) and 6 contour tones (high-medium, low-medium, medium-low, medium-high, low-high, high-low-high). The Chiquiuitlan version has a more complex tone system with four-level tones (high, medium high, medium low, low) and 13 different contour tones (high-low, medium-high-low, medium-low-low, high-high (longer than normal high) medium-high-high, medium-low-high, low-high, high-high-low, medium-high-high-low, medium-low-high-low, low-high-low, low-medium-high-low, low-medium-high).
The Masatec language of Wautla de Jimenez has its own distinctive tones on each syllable, and the same seems to be happening in the Chiquiuitan dialect. In Masatek, tones differ only on a certain syllable. But in the Wautlan Masatek language there is no tonal sandhi , while in the Soyaltepek and Chiquiuitlan versions there are complex rules of the sandha.
Links
- Lengua mazateca
- Masatec languages at Ethnologue
- Masatec Alphabet and pronunciation in Omniglot
- Masatec alphabet (Spanish)