LANGUAGES OF MIDDLE AMERICA
Today there are 7O + Indian
languages in Middle America, spoken by 6,5OO,OO
Souls (1990 census -
5,300,000) (2000 census – 6,044,547); 3O of these are Mayan.
These 70 + languages include,
in descending order of population: Blue are Mayan
1980 census [approx] 1990 census 2000
census
Quiche 500,000 650,000 850,000
Cakchiquel 400,000 500,000 650,000
Yucatec 350,000 713,520 800,291
Kekchi 300,000 400,000 550,000
Zapotec 300,000 401,760 437,873
Mixtec 300,000 386,000 421,796
Otomi 250,000 280,238 297,561
Mesoamerican languages are
grouped into families on a "genetic" basis, and determinations
of their genetic
relationships are based on
1) similarities in grammar
and phonology and
2) correspondence of sounds
in cognate words.
Dominican and Franciscan
priests constructed grammars and dictionaries in order to create religious
texts in native languages. This was to
facilitate the religious conversion and
instruction of the Indians, and
to assist the administration of the government.
First attempt to study
Mesoamerican indigenous languages in their own terms was early
in the 19OO's as a result of
efforts by Franz Boas. These efforts
created I.J.A.L.
(International Journal of American
Linguistics).
Since early in the 20th
century, another group with great impact on our understanding of
Indigenous languages has been
the S.I.L. (Summer Institute of Linguistics), beginning about 1935. By 1990 they had studied almost every known
Mesoamerican
Indian language. An organ of Wycliffe Bible Translators (a
Protestant organization),
the purpose of the SIL has
been to facilitate exposure of native populations to the Bible,
with grammars, dictionaries,
etc. being constructed in order to deliver culturally relevant
translations of religious
texts, and primarily the Bible, with the expectation that some of
those exposed will be
converted to Protestant Christianity.
There are 3 major linguistic
stocks in Meso-America
OTO-MANGUEAN - no relatives to north or south
Mixtecan, Zapotecan, and Chinantecan families, spoken
in Valley and adjoining
mountains of Oaxaca
Otopamean - North of Valley of Mexico and on up.
Popolocans - Northern Oaxaca
(Manguean
– Chiapanec (Chiapas-extinct), Mangue
(Costa Rica- extinct))
Amuzgoan -
(near border in Oaxaca and Guerrero)
Tlapanec (in
the state of Guerrero) (recently reclassified from Hokan to Oto-Manguean)
(reclassification: http://www.sil.org/mexico/tlapaneca/familia-tlapaneca.htm
)
MAYAN - no
close relatives to North, no close relatives to south (more distant
possibilities
include the Penutian languages of
California in the North,
and Uru-Chipaya and Araucanian (of Peru and
Chile) to the south)
Northern Mayan
- Yucatec, Lacandon, Mopan, Itza
Western Mayan
- e.g. Tzeltal, Tzotzil,
Chol, Chontal, Chorti, Tojolabal, Chuj,
Eastern Mayan -
e.g. Quiche, Cakchiquel,
Kekchi, Mam
Huastecan - Huastec -
isolated - in N. Veracruz and E. San Luis Potosi-- probably
split
off Mayan about lOOO to l8OO BC. [cf. Chicomuceltec]
AZTEC-TANOAN - close
relatives to North (Shoshone, Ute, Paiute, Pima
Papago,
Hopi), no relatives to south.
Yaquian - includes Tarahumara
Coran - Cora
and Huichol (7 c. divergence)
Aztecan - Nahuatl (including
Aztec) dialects: Isthmus, Highland, Puebla, Michoacan,
Pochutec, Pipil
(l3 centuries divergence between Nahuatl and Pochutec)
Pochutec is a very early immigrant to Oaxaca.
Two more language families,
important, but with many fewer speakers than the above three, are:
Zoquean
- Zoque, Sierra Popoluca, Texistepec
Popoluca
TOTONACAN - Totonac
and Tepehua
Macro-Penutian Stock.
HOKAN - represented
by minor enclaves in western Mexico that are only very distantly
related to one another as well as
distantly located from one another:
Seri - (in
the state of Sonora)
Tequistlatec (in the state of Oaxaca)
Additionally there is the
isolated and unique language:
Tarascan (or Purépecha) located within the state of
Michoacán, and if related
to any other language in the world, then
perhaps to an extinct language from
Peru or more likely southern coastal Ecuador.
TYPOLOGICAL FEATURES OF MIDDLE AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES
l. voiced fricatives
relatively rare (e.g. [v], [z] )
2. voiced stops and voiced
affricates relatively rare (i.e. b, d, g, j)
*l. Nasalized vowels
- present in many Otomanguean langages (and only in O-M
languages) Zapotec
lacks them, but Chatino and Mixtec have them.
*2. Tones are found in several Oto-Manguean languages
(including Zapotec,
Mixtec, Mazatec,
Chinantec,and Chatino)
as well as in Tlapanec (Hokan).
*3. Glottalized consonants
- Eastern languages for the most part,
but also
Tequistlatec
of the west coast, have glottalized consonants.
Languages with
glottalized consonants occupy peripheral areas
in northeast
Mexico, southeast, and Oaxaca.
GRAMMATICAL FEATURES
*1. Virtually all MA languages,
including Coahuilteco, have vigesimal
enumeration, in
that 2O is a basic unit and all higher
numerals are expressed as multiples of 2O plus a
remainder.
There is usually a special morpheme for 4OO and at the time
of the
Spanish Conquest most languages had special morphemes for
8OOO.
*2. numeral classifiers in Mayan languages,
Tarascan, and Totonacan
*3. Absence of plural marker on noun (widespread feature) -
Facultative expression
*4. Inclusive vs. exclusive pronouns (1st
pers. pron)
METAPHOR IN WORD FORMATION
In most Mayan languages and in many other languages of Middle
America (due to
semantic calques [or loan
translations] ), 'door' is "mouth of house", 'fruit' is
"eye of tree",
'bark' is "skin of tree",
LEXICAL BORROWINGS
M-Z into other languages (due to the Olmec civilization) -
koya 'rabbit' , pom 'incense', kakawa 'cacao' (some doubt here)
Mayan into other languages (due to Maya civilization) - chenek' 'bean', pokok 'toad',
muy 'chicle tree',
pop 'reed mat/petate',
k'ay 'to sell', petak
'prickly pear',
Aztec into other languages (from Toltec and Tenochtitlan civilizations) - tequetl
'work'
(cf. tequio), teopantli 'church', miztontli 'cat', chiquihuitl
'basket',
cacaxtli 'carrying
frame/basket', (tlal)cacahuatl 'peanuts', chocolatl 'hot chocolate',
xicalli 'gourd vessel'
The names that have been used by outsiders to label a people and/or a language are often not
the same as the names used by the people themselves. For example the:
Amuzgo call themselves Tzjon Non
Chatino call
themselves K'ty cha'tña
Chinantec call themselves [Tsa Ju Jmi]
Chol call themselves Winik
Huastec Wasteko
Chicomuceltec Chikomuselteko
Yucatec, Maya Yukatek
Mopan Mopan
Itza Itzaj
Lacandón Lakantun
Chontal Chontal
Chol Ch'ol
Chortí Ch'orti'
Tzotzil Tzotzil
Tzeltal Tzeltal
Chuj Chuj
Kanjobal Q'anjob'al
Acatec Akatek
Jacaltec Popti' (Jakaltek)
Mochó Mocho'
Mam Mam
Teco Teko
Ixil Ixil
Aguacatec Awakateko
Uspantec Uspanteko
Quiché K'iche'
Cakchiquel Kaqchikel
Tzutujil Tz'ujtujiil
Sacapultec Sakapulteko
Sipakapa Sipakapense
Pocomchí Poqomchi'
Pocomam Poqomam
Kekchí Q'eqchi'