Totontepec Mixe

Totontepec Mixe
Totontepec Mixe
North Highland Mixe
Native to	Mexico
Region	Northeastern Oaxaca
Native speakers	5,500 (2000)
Language family	Mixe–Zoque Mixean Mixe Totontepec Mixe; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mto
Glottolog	toto1305
ELP	Totontepec Mixe

Totontepec Mixe, called North Highland Mixe in Wichmann (1995), is a Mixe language spoken in Mexico, in the town of Totontepec Villa de Morelos, Oaxaca.

Phonology

Mixe has phonology is remarkable due to its complex system of vowel duration contrasts in addition to glottalization. There is a palatalized series of all consonant phonemes (as in Russian, or Irish) and possibly a fortis/lenis distinction in the plosive series, the recognition of which however is obscured by a tendency towards allophonic voicing of consonants in voiced environments.

Consonants

	Bilabial		Dental		Alveolar		Retroflex		Palatal	Velar		Glottal
	plain	pal.	plain	pal.	plain	pal.	plain	pal.	Palatal	plain	pal.	plain	pal.
Plosive	p /p/	py /pʲ/	t /t̪/	ty /t̪ʲ/						k /k/	ky /kʲ/
Affricate					ts /ts/	tsy /tsʲ/
Fricative	w /β/	wy /βʲ/			s /s/		x /ʂ/	xy /ʂʲ/				j /h/	jy /hʲ/
Nasal	m /m/	my /mʲ/			n /n/	ny /nʲ/
Rhotic					r /r/
Lateral					l /l/
Approximant	(w)	(wʲ)							y /j/

/β, βʲ/ are heard as glides [w, wʲ] in other dialects.

Palatalized sounds /tsʲ, nʲ/ can also have allophones as [tʃ, ɲ] in free variation.

Sounds /p, t̪, k/ are heard as [β, d̪, ɡ] in intervocalic positions. [1]

Vowels

Syllable nuclei vary in length and phonation. Most descriptions report three contrastive vowel lengths.^[2] The other types of phonation have been variously termed checked vowels, creaky voice vowels and breathy voice vowels.

The table below illustrates the vowel phonemes for Ayöök, orthographic symbols on the left. [2]

		Short			Long			Overlong
		Front	Central	Back	Front	Central	Back	Front	Central	Back
Close (high)	Modal	i /i/	ï /ɨ/	u /u/	ii /iː/	ïï /ɨ/	uu /uː/
Close (high)	Glottalized	i’ /ḭ/	ï’ /ɨ̰/	u’ /ṵ/	ii’ /ḭː/	ïï’ /ɨ̰ː/	uu’ /ṵː/	i’i	ï’ï	u’u
Close-mid	Modal	e /e/	ë /ə/	o /o/	ee /eː/	ëë /əː/	oo /oː/
Close-mid	Glottalized	e’ /ḛ/	ë’ /ə̰/	o’ /o̰/	ee’ /ḛː/	ëë’ /ə̰ː/	oo’ /o̰ː/	e’e	ë’ë	o’o
Open-mid	Modal	ä /æ/			ää /æː/
Open-mid	Glottalized	ä’ /æ̰/			ää’ /æ̰ː/			ä’ä
Open (low)	Modal		a /a/			aa /aː/
Open (low)	Glottalized		a’ /a̰/			aa’ /a̰ː/			a’a

Notes

^ Totontepec Mixe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Ladefoged; Maddieson (1996). The sounds of the world's languages. Blackwell. p. 320. ISBN 978-0631198154.

References

Schoenhals, Alvin & Louise Schoenhals, 1965, Vocabulario Mixe de Totontepec, Serie de Vocabularios Indigénas "Mariano Silva y Aceves" Num. 14. SIL, Mexico, D.F. Available online
Wichman, Søren, 1995, The Relationship among the Mixe–Zoquean Languages of Mexico. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

External links

Totontepec Mixe web page

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[e18-1] Totontepec Mixe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] Ladefoged; Maddieson (1996). The sounds of the world's languages. Blackwell. p. 320. ISBN 978-0631198154.

[1]

[2]