Zapotec languages

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Zapotec
Diidzaj, Diza, Ditsa, . . .
Spoken in: Mexico (Oaxaca, Puebla, Guerrero); USA
Total speakers: ca 500,000
Language family: Oto-Manguean
 Zapotecan
  Zapotec 
Official status
Official language in: none
Regulated by: Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: various; see List of Zapotec languages.
ISO 639-3: –
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Zapotec language(s) describes a group of closely-related indigenous Mesoamerican languages spoken by the Zapotec people from Mexico's southwestern-central highlands region. Present-day numbers of native speakers are estimated at over half a million, with the majority inhabiting the state of Oaxaca. Zapotec-speaking communities are also found in the neighbouring states of Puebla, and Guerrero. Emigration has also resulted in a number of native Zapotec-speakers residing in the United States, particularly in the state of California.

Contents

[edit] Classification

See also: List of Zapotec languages

Zapotec and the related language Chatino together form the Zapotecan subgroup of the Oto-Manguean language family.

There is no one Zapotec language: in fact there are probably over 60 varieties of Zapotec. Given that the dialectal divergence observed between Zapotec-speaking communities is an extensive one (many variants of Zapotec are mutually unintelligible with one other), it is also recognised as forming a "dialect continuum".

Zapotec languages and dialects fall into four broad divisions: Zapoteco de la Sierra Norte (Northern Zapotec), Valley Zapotec, Zapoteco de la Sierra Sur [Southern Zapotec], and Isthmus Zapotec. Northern Zapotec languages are spoken in the mountainous region of Oaxaca, in the Northern Sierra Madre mountain ranges; Southern Zapotec languages and are spoken in the mountainous region of Oaxaca, in the Southern Sierra Madre mountain ranges; Valley Zapotec languages are spoken in the Valley of Oaxaca, and Isthmus Zapotec languages are spoken in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

[edit] Phonetics and Phonology

Phonologically, characteristics common to many Zapotec languages include: six or seven vowels; a plethora of fricatives; tone systems (present in all Zapotec variants); and a fortis / lenis distinction in consonants.

[edit] Fortis / Lenis

In Zapotec languages, fortis typically corresponds to voicelessness in stops and fricatives and long in sonorants. Lenis corresponds to voiced in stops and fricatives and short in sonorants. The valence alternations shown in the Grammar section below show fortis consonants at the beginning of many transitive verbs and corresponding lenis consonants at the beginning of many intransitive verbs.

[edit] Tone

Zapotec languages differ in the number of contrasting tones they have. One example is Texmelucan Zapotec, which has four contrasting tones: three contour tones and one level tone, as shown in the figure.

[edit] Phonation

In a number of Zapotec languages there are phonation type differences in vowels. San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec, for example, has phonation contrasts between modal, breathy, creaky, and checked vowels (Munro and Lopez, et al. 1999).

[edit] Grammar

Zapotec languages form part of the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area, an area of linguistic convergence developed throughout millennia of interaction between the peoples of Mesoamerica.

Zapotec languages vary considerably. Some characteristics of Zapotec grammar common to the language family (though not necessarily present in all members) are: an extensive 3rd person pronoun system based on noun classes such as divinity, babies, animals, objects (inanimate), etc; a distinction in the first person plural ("we") as to inclusive (including the hearer(s)) and exclusive (not including the hearer(s)); a frequent underspecificity of singular/plural distinctions.

[edit] Word order

Zapotec languages are VSO, as in the following example from San Dionisio Ocotepec Zapotec (Broadwell 2001):

Ù-dììny Juáàny bè'cw.
completive-hit Juan dog

'Juan hit the dog.'

Though the most basic order has the verb at the beginning of the sentence, all Zapotec languages have a number of preverbal positions for topical, focal, negative, and/or interrogative elements. The following example from Quiegolani Zapotec (Black 2001) shows a focused element and an adverb before the verb:

Laad ʂ-unaa Dolf ʤe z-u nga.
FOCUS POSS-wife Rodolfo already PROG-stand there

‘Rodolfo’s wife was already standing there.’


The preverbal position for interrogatives is shown in the following example, from San Dionisio Ocotepec Zapotec (Broadwell 2001). This is an example of wh-movement:

Túú ù-dììny bè'cw?
who completive-hit dog

'Who hit the dog?'

Zapotec languages also show the phenomenon known as pied-piping with inversion.

[edit] Valence alternations

Zapotec languages do not have a passive, but generally show morphological relationships between pairs of verbs which differ in valence. In one typical pattern, an intransitive stative verb begins with a lenis consonant while the corresponding transitive active verb begins with the corresponding fortis consonant. Consider the following examples from Mitla Zapotec (Stubblefield and Stubblefield 1991):

Intransitive verb Transitive verb
[zæb] ‘to sink (intr.)’ [sæb] ‘to sink (trans.)’
[dejb] ‘to be wrapped’ [tejb] ‘to wrap’
[nijt] ‘to be lost’ [nnijt] ‘to lose’
[lib] ‘to be tied’ [llib] ‘to tie’

[edit] Other verb inflection

Verbs in Zapotec languages inflect with prefixes to show grammatical aspect.

The following example from San Dionisio Zapotec (Broadwell 2001) shows the use of the completive aspect:

Ù-dììny Juáàny bè'cw.
completive-hit Juan dog

'Juan hit the dog.'

San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec (Munro and Lopez, et al. 1999) has seven aspect markers: habitual, perfective, irrealis, progressive, definite, subjunctive, and neutral.

[edit] Terminology

Many linguists working on Zapotec languages use different terminology for describing what appear to be related or similar phenomenon, such as grammatical aspect markers. The following table shows some correspondences:

perfective (San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec (SLQZ), Munro and Lopez, et al. 1999) completive (San Dionisio Zapotec, Broadwell 2001)
irrealis (SLQZ) futuro (Santa Ana del Valle Zapotec (SAVZ), Rojas Torres)
neutral (SLQZ) estativo (SAVZ)

[edit] Abbreviations

The following abbreviations are used in glossing the examples above.

POSS possessed
PROG progressive aspect

[edit] Documentation and scholarship

Franciscan and/or Dominican friars published a vocabulary and grammar of Zapotec in the 16th century [Córdova 1578a, 1578b]. In the past century there have been ongoing efforts to produce Zapotec alphabets and to write in Zapotec. The Isthmus Zapotec alphabet in use today was founded in the 1950s, drawing from works going back as far as the 1920s. Until recently the Zapotec language were only sparsely studied and documented but in recent years Zapotec language has begun to receive serious attention by descriptive linguists (see bibliography).

[edit] Use

The viability of Zapotec languages also varies tremendously. Loxicha Zapotec, for example, has over 70,000 speakers. San Felipe Tejalapan Zapotec might have ten, all elderly. San Agustin Mixtepec Zapotec reportedly has just one remaining speaker. Historically, government teachers discouraged the use of the language, which has contributed to its diminution in many places. Other areas however, such as the Isthmus, proudly maintain their mother tongue.

Zapotec-language programming is carried by the CDI's radio stations XEGLO, based in Guelatao de Juárez, Oaxaca, and XEQIN-AM, based in San Quintín, Baja California.


[edit] References

  • Black, Cheryl A. 2000. Quiegolani Zapotec Syntax: A Principles and Parameters Account. SIL International and University of Texas at Arlington.
  • Broadwell, George A. 2001. Optimal order and pied-piping in San Dionicio Zapotec. in Peter Sells, ed. Formal and Empirical Issues in Optimality Theoretic Syntax, pp. 197-123. Stanford: CSLI Publications.
  • Munro, Pamela, and Felipe H. Lopez, with Olivia V. Méndez [Martínez], Rodrigo Garcia, and Michael R. Galant. 1999. Di'csyonaary X:tèe'n Dìi'zh Sah Sann Lu'uc (San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec Dictionary / Diccionario Zapoteco de San Lucas Quiaviní). Los Angeles: (UCLA) Chicano Studies Research Center Publications.
  • Stubblefield, Morris and Carol Stubblefield. 1991. Diccionario Zapoteco de Mitla. Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, Mexico.


[edit] Selected Bibliography

Dictionaries and Grammars

  • Bartholomew, Doris A. 1983. Grammatica Zapoteca, in Neil Nellis and Jane Goodner Nellis Diccionario Zapoteco de Juarez Instituto Lingüístico de Verano. Mexico.
  • Córdova, Fr. Juan de. 1886 [1578a]. Arte del idioma zapoteco. Morelia: Imprenta del Gobierno.
  • Butler, Inez M. 1980. Gramática zapoteca: Zapoteco de Yatzachi el Bajo. Gramáticas de Lenguas Indígenas de México, 4. Mexico: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.
  • Butler, Inez M., compiler. 1997. Diccionario Zapoteco de Yatzachi: Yatzachi el bajo, Yatzachi el alto, Oaxaca. Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas "Mariano Silva y Aceves", 37. Tucson, AZ: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.
  • Córdova, Fr. Juan de. 1987 [1578b]. Vocabulario en lengua çapoteca. México: Ediciones Toledo (INAH).
  • Junta Colombina de México. 1893. Vocabulario castellano - zapotec. Mexico City : Oficina Tipográfica de la Secretaría de Fomento.
  • Munro, Pamela, and Felipe H. Lopez, with Olivia V. Méndez [Martínez], Rodrigo Garcia, and Michael R. Galant. 1999. Di'csyonaary X:tèe'n Dìi'zh Sah Sann Lu'uc (San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec Dictionary / Diccionario Zapoteco de San Lucas Quiaviní). Los Angeles: (UCLA) Chicano Studies Research Center Publications.
  • Nellis, Neil and Jane Goodner Nellis. 1983. Diccionario Zapoteco de Juarez. Instituto Lingüístico de Verano. Mexico.
  • Pickett, Velma B. and others. 1959. Vocabulario zapoteco del Istmo : Castellanozapoteco, zapoteco-castellano. Serie de vocabularios indígenas "Mariano Silva y Aceves", 3. Mexico: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano. [2nd ed., revised and enlarged (1965); republished (1968, 1971)].
  • Pickett, Velma B., Cheryl A. Black and Vicente Marcial C. 1998. Gramática Popular del Zapoteco del Istmo. Instituto Lingu_ístico de Verano; Tucson, Arizona.
  • Stubblefield, Morris and Carol Stubblefield. 1991. Diccionario Zapoteco de Mitla. Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, Mexico.


Theses and Dissertations

  • Avelino, Heriberto. 2004. Topics in Yalálag Zapotec, with particular reference to its phonetic structures. UCLA Ph.D. dissertation.
  • Beam de Azcona, Rosemary G. 2004. A Coatlán-Loxicha Zapotec Grammar. Ph.D. dissertation. University of California, Berkeley.
  • Esposito, Christina M. 2002. Santa Ana del Valle Zapotec Phonation. M.A. thesis, UCLA.
  • Foreman, John. 2006. The Morphosyntax of Subjects in Macuiltianguis Zapotec. Ph.D. Dissertation, UCLA.
  • Galant, Michael R. 1998. Comparative Constructions in Spanish and San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec. Ph.D. Dissertation, UCLA.
  • Jensen de López, Kristine M. 2002. Baskets and Body-Parts. Ph.D. dissertation, Aarhus University.
  • Lee, Felicia A. 1999. Antisymmetry and the Syntax of San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec. Ph.D. dissertation, UCLA.
  • Lillehaugen, Brook Danielle. 2003. The Categorial Status of Body Part Prepositions in Valley Zapotec. M.A. thesis, UCLA. (online pdf: http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/grads/lillehaugen/Lillehaugen%202003.pdf)
  • Lillehaugen, Brook Danielle. 2006. Expressing Location in Tlacolula Valley Zapotec. Ph.d. dissertation, UCLA.
  • Méndez [Martínez], Olivia V. 2000. Code-Switching and the Matrix Language Model in San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec. M.A. thesis, UCLA.
  • Sonnenschein, Aaron Huey. 2004. A Descriptive Grammar of Zoogocho Zapotec on a Typological Basis. University of Southern California Ph.D. dissertation.


Books

  • Black, Cheryl A. 2000. Quiegolani Zapotec Syntax: A Principles and Parameters Account. SIL International and University of Texas at Arlington.
  • de Feria, Fray Pedo. 1567. Doctrina Christiana en lengua castellana y zapoteca.
  • Liga Bíblica, La [Jones, Ted, et al.]. 1995. Xtiidx Dios Cun Ditsa (El Nuevo Testamento en el zapoteco de San Juan Guelavía y en español).
  • Munro, Pamela, Brook Danielle Lillehaugen and Felipe H. Lopez. In preparation. Cali Chiu? A Course in Valley Zapotec. ms.: UCLA / UNAM.


Additional Materials

  • Bickmore, Lee S. and George A. Broadwell. 1998. High tone docking in Sierra Juárez Zapotec. International Journal of American Linguistics, 64:37-67.
  • Broadwell, George A. 2001. Optimal order and pied-piping in San Dionicio Zapotec. in Peter Sells, ed. Formal and Empirical Issues in Optimality Theoretic Syntax, pp. 197-123. Stanford: CSLI Publications.
  • Broadwell, George A. 2005. The morphology of Zapotec pronominal clitics.in Rosemary Beam de Azcona and Mary Paster, eds. Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, Report 13: Conference on Otomanguean and Oaxacan Languages, pp. 15-35. University of California at Berkeley.
  • Broadwell, George A. 2005. Zapotecan languages. Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd edition. Elsevier.
  • Butler, Inez M. 1976. "Reflexive constructions of Yatzachi Zapotec." International Journal of American Linguistics 42: 331-37.
  • Jones, Ted E., and Ann D. Church. 1985. "Personal pronouns in Guelavía Zapotec". S.I.L.-Mexico Workpapers 7: 1-15.
  • Jones, Ted E., and Lyle M. Knudson. 1977. "Guelavía Zapotec Phonemes". Studies in Otomanguean Phonology, ed., William R. Merrifield, pp. 163-80. [Dallas/Arlington]: SIL / University of Texas, Arlington.
  • Lee, Felicia A. In press. "On the Absence of Quantificational Determiners in San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec." To appear in L. Matthewson, (ed.) Quantification: Universals and Variation. Elsevier.
  • Lee, Felicia A. n.d. "Modality and the Structure of Tense in Zapotec." In B. Bruening, (ed.), Proceedings of SCIL 8. Cambridge: MITWPL.
  • Lee, Felicia A. n.d. "Pseudo-quantification in Possessives." In C. Pye, (ed.), Proceedings of the Mid-America Linguistics Conference. Lawrence: The University of Kansas.
  • Lee, Felicia A. n.d. "Focus and Judgment Type in San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec." In M. Juge and J. Moxley, (eds.), Proceedings of BLS 23. Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistic Society.
  • Lee, Felicia A. n.d. "The Predicational Nature of Clefts: Evidence from Zapotec." In K. Singer, R. Eggert, and G. Anderson, (eds.), Proceedings of CLS 33. Chicago: The Chicago Linguistic Society.
  • Lee, Felicia A. n.d. "Three Question Markers in San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec." To appear in Anthropological Linguistics.
  • Lee, Felicia A. 1995. "Aspect, Negation, and Temporal Polarity in Zapotec." In B. Agbayani and S.-W. Tang, (eds.), Proceedings of WCCFL 15. Stanford: CSLI.
  • Lee, Felicia A. 1996. "Focus in the Future and the Thetic/Categorical Distinction." In V. Samiian, (ed.), Proceedings of WECOL 96. Fresno: California State University, Fresno.
  • Lee, Felicia A. 1997. "Evidence for Tense in a 'Tenseless' Language." In P. Tamagi, M. Hirotani, and N. Hall, (eds.), Proceedings of NELS 29. Amherst: GLSA.
  • Lee, Felicia A. 2000. "VP Remnant Movement and VSO in Quiaviní Zapotec." In A. Carnie and E. Guilfoyle (editors), The Syntax of Verb Initial Languages, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Lee, Felicia A. 2000. "Relative Clauses Without Wh-Movement." In M. Kim and U. Strauss, (eds.), Proceedings of NELS 31. Amherst: GLSA.
  • Lee, Felicia A. 2001. "WH and Focus Are Not the Same Projection." In K. Megerdoomian and L. Bar-El, (eds.), Proceedings of WCCFL 20. Somerville: Cascadilla Press.
  • Lee, Felicia A. 2001. "Anaphoric R-Expressions: Bound Names as Bound Variables." In M. Hirotani, (ed.), Proceedings of NELS 32. Amherst: GLSA.
  • Lee, Felicia A. 2002 "Anaphoric R-Expressions as Bound Variables." Proceedings of BLS 28.
  • Lee, Felicia A. 2003. "Anaphoric R-Expressions as Bound Variables." Syntax. 6, 1: 84-114. Blackwell Publishing.
  • Lee, Felicia A. 2005. "Clause-Fronting and Clause-Typing in San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec." In Andrew Carnie, Heidi Harley, Sheila Dooley Collberg (eds) Verb First, John Benjamins Publishers, Philadelphia/Amsterdam.
  • Lee, Felicia A. 2006. Remnant Raising and VSO Clausal Architecture: A Case Study from San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec. Springer.
  • Lillehaugen, Brook Danielle. 2003. "The Acquisition of Body Part Prepositions in Valley Zapotec Languages." Proceedings from the First Conference on Indigenous Languages of Latin America, (online proceedings http://www.ailla.utexas.org/site/cilla1_toc.html), University of Texas, Austin.
  • Lillehaugen, Brook Danielle. 2004. "The Syntactic and Semantic Development of Body Part Prepositions in Valley Zapotec Languages," pp. 69 – 92, Proceedings from the sixth Workshop on American Indigenous Languages, Santa Barbara Papers in Linguistics, vol. 14, Jeanie Castillo (ed.). (pdf online http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/grads/lillehaugen/Lillehaugen2003WAIL.pdf)
  • Lopez, Felipe H., and Pamela Munro. 1998. The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights translated into San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec. http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/ztu1.htm
  • Lopez, Felipe H., and Pamela Munro. 1999. "Zapotec Immigration: The San Lucas Quiaviní Experience". Aztlan. 24, 1: 129-149.
  • Munro, Pamela. 1996. "Making a Zapotec Dictionary". Dictionaries 17: 131-55.
  • Munro, Pamela. 2002. "Hierarchical Pronouns in Discourse: Third Person Pronouns in San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec Narratives". Southwest Journal of Linguistics 21: 37-66.
  • Munro, Pamela. 2003. "Preserving the Language of the Valley Zapotecs: The Orthography Question." Presented at Language and Immigration in France and the United States: Sociolinguistic Perspectives. University of Texas. Available online at http://www.utexas.edu/cola/france-ut/archives2003.html.
  • Nellis, Jane G. 1947. Sierra Zapotec forms of address, International Journal of American Linguistics 13: 231-32.
  • Operstein, Natalie. 2002. "Positional Verbs and Relational Nouns in Zaniza Zapotec," pp. 60 - 70. Proceedings from the fourth Workshop on American Indigenous Languages, Santa Barbara Papers in Linguistics, vol 11.
  • Rendón, Juan José. 1970. Notas fonológicas del Zapotec de Tlacochahuaya. Anales de Antropología, vol. 7. Mexico City: UNAM.
  • Rojas, Rosa Maria. to appear. "La predicación secundaria en el zapoteco de Santa Ana del Valle, Oax." por aparecer en Memorias del Primer Coloquio "Leonardo Manrique", México: INAH.
  • Rojas, Rosa Maria. 2001. "La formación de palabras desde el punto de vista del contenido en lenguas zapotecas: la modificación y el desarrollo" en Dimensión Antropológica, vol. 21, 2001.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapotec_languages"
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