LANGUAGES OF MIDDLE AMERICA
Today there are 7O +
Indigenous languages in Middle America, spoken by 16,000,000
souls (about half of these are
in Guatemala, and half in Mexico)
So less than 10% of
Mexico's 100,000,000 population,
and more than 50% of
Guatemala's 14,000,000 population speak
indigenous languages
3O of these 70+ Indigenous
languages are Mayan languages.
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 (hear speech)
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 soon constructed grammars and dictionaries.
This was to:
(1) facilitate the religious conversion and instruction of the
Indians, and
(2) 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.
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.
Others have produced grammars
and dictionaries of Indigenous languages, and one of the most
notable is Robert Laughlin,
who in the latter half of the 20th century published an
extraordinarily detailed
dictionary of San Lorenzo
Zinacantán Tzotzil, followed by publication
of his colonial Tzotzil dictionary of
Santo Domingo Zinacantán.
There are 3 major linguistic
stocks in Meso-America
OTO-MANGUEAN
-
no relatives to north or south
Mixtecan family spoken in Valley and adjoining
mountains of Oaxaca west of Zapotecan
Zapotecan family spoken in Valley and adjoining
mountains of Oaxaca
Chinantecan
family - northern mountains of Oaxaca
Otopamean - North of Valley of Mexico and on up.
Popolocans - Northern Oaxaca (includes Mazatec)
(Manguean – Chiapanec (Chiapas-extinct), Mangue (Costa Rica- extinct))
Amuzgoan -
(near border in Oaxaca and Guerrero)
Huave - (possibly
not Oto-Manguean)
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 (a film on Lacandons)
Western Mayan
- e.g. Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Chol, Chontal,
Chorti, Tojolabal, Chuj,
(a film on Tzeltals and 2 films on Tzotzils)
Eastern Mayan
- e.g. Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam (a film on Quichés,
2 films
on Mams)
Huastecan - Huastec - isolated -
in N. Veracruz and E. San Luis Potosi-- probably
split
off Mayan about l000 to l800 BC. [cf. Chicomuceltec]
UTO-AZTECAN - close relatives to North (Shoshone,
Ute, Paiute, Pima
Papago,
Hopi), no relatives to south.
Yaquian - includes Tarahumara, Yaqui, and Mayo (a film on Mayos)
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 many fewer speakers than the above three, are:
Zoquean - Zoque, Sierra Popoluca, Texistepec Popoluca
TOTONACAN - Tepehua and
Totonac (2 films on the Totonacs)
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.
and finally:
Xinca – is a Lencan
language, now extinct, located in Guatemala (with many relatives in South
America and a few in Central America)
TYPOLOGICAL FEATURES OF MIDDLE AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES
l. voiced fricatives
relatively in relatively fewer Mesoamerican languages (e.g. [v], [z] )
2. voiced stops and voiced
affricates in relatively few of the languages (i.e. b, d, g,
dz, dj )
*l. Nasalized vowels
- present in many Otomanguean langages (and only in O-M
languages) Zapotecan
lack 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).
Tones are also in Yucatec and a few other Mayan
Languages
(but less important in these languages).
*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 several Mayan
languages, Tarascan, and Totonacan
*3. Absence of plural marker on noun (widespread feature) -
Facultative expression
*4. Inclusive vs. exclusive (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", 'boa constrictor'
is "deer-snake",
'gold/silver' is "excrement of sun/moon",
LEXICAL BORROWINGS
M-Z into other languages (due to the Olmec civilization) - toto 'paper',
koya 'rabbit' , pom
'incense', tzima 'calabash, gourd', kakawa 'cacao'
Mayan into other languages (due to Maya civilization) - chenek' 'bean', pokok 'toad',
muy 'chicle tree',
pop 'reed mat/petate',
k'utz 'buzzard', k'ay 'to sell', petak 'prickly pear',
xoch' 'screech owl', til 'tapir'
Aztec into other languages
(from Toltec and Tenochtitlan civilizations) - tequetl 'work'
(cf. tequio), teopantli 'church', tepoztli 'iron', matzahtli
'pineapple', miztontli 'cat',
chiquihuitl 'basket', cacaxtli
'carrying frame/basket', (tlal)cacahuatli
'peanuts',
chocolatl 'hot
chocolate'
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:
Huastec call
themselves Teenek
Lacandon call themselves Hach Winik (“true
people”)
Tzeltal call
themselves Batz’il Winik (“genuine
people”)
Tzotzil call themselves Batz’i Winik (“genuine people”)
Aztecs call themselves Na'wa / Mase'wal
Huichol call themselves Wixaritari
Tarahumara call themselves Rarámuri (“runners
on foot”)
Mazatecs call themselves Yama (“indigenous
person” / Yoma (“poor person”)
Zapotecs call themselves Be’ena za’a (“cloud
people”)
Huave call themselves
Tequistlatecs call themselves Slijuala Xanuk'
Seri call themselves Konk’aak (“the people”)
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'