Classification of Mixtec languages

Last updated
The distribution of various Mixtec languages and their classification per Glottolog Detailed Mixtec map.svg
The distribution of various Mixtec languages and their classification per Glottolog
Regions and districts of Oaxaca Oaxaca regions and districts.svg
Regions and districts of Oaxaca

The internal classification of Mixtec is controversial. Many varieties are mutually unintelligible and by that criterion separate languages. In the 16th century, Spanish authorities recognized half a dozen lenguas comprising the Mixtec lengua. (See #Classical Mixtec.) It is not clear to what extent these were distinct languages at the time. Regardless, the colonial disintegration of the Mixtec nation and resulting isolation of local communities led to the rapid diversification of local dialects into distinct languages. Below are some attempts at Mixtec classification by various scholars.

Contents

Geographic divisions

Josserand (1983:106) lists 5 major geographic (not linguistic) divisions of Mixtec, which together cover a total of about 25,000 square kilometers. Enclaves of Amuzgo, Trique, Cuicatec, Ixcatec, and Chocho speakers are scattered nearby.

  1. Puebla Mixtec
  2. Guerrero Mixtec
  3. Mixteca Baja
  4. Mixteca Alta
  5. Mixteca de la Costa

Colonial divisions

De los Reyes, in his Arte de Lengua Mixteca (1593), spoke of half a dozen lenguas in the Mixtec lengua. To these, his contemporaries added the dialects of Guerrero: [1]

Josserand found that native mundane writing of the colonial era corresponded well to de los Reyes; based on phonological and orthographic consistencies, she divides the dialects into five groups, as follows:

Holland (1959)

The following classification is given by William R. Holland (1959), as cited in Josserand (1983:134-135). This preliminary classification is a glottochronological study of the dialects of 22 Mixtec and 4 Cuicatec towns.

Holland (1959) also gives 3 areal groupings for these zones.

However, Josserand (1983) states that these groupings are based on flawed methodologies, including a faulty conception of the geographical layout of the Mixteca. Many towns that Holland listed as Baja are in fact Alta, and vice versa.

Arana (1960)

The following classification is given by Evangelina Arana-Osnaya (1960:257), as cited in Josserand (1983:137).

Mak & Longacre (1960)

Cornelia Mak and Robert Longacre (1960) is the first reconstruction of Proto-Mixtec, which is the ancestor of Mixtec proper as opposed to Mixtecan. Below is a classification inferred from Mak & Longacre (1960) by Josserand (1983:142). 9 groups and a total of 28 towns are given.

Spores (1967)

The following classification, based on "archaeological, ethnohistorical and modern information in his delimitation of interaction spheres within the Mixteca", [5] is given by Richard Spores in The Mixtec Kings and Their People (1967), as cited in Josserand (1983:128). A total of 18 dialects are given.

Bradley (1968, 1970)

The following classification is given by C. Henry Bradley (1970), as cited in Josserand (1983:132). A total of 11 languages are given. His classification was most likely based on SIL International's mutual intelligibility surveys.

However, Bradley (1968) had given a different classification which included only 7 languages.

Egland & Bartholomew (1983)

Egland & Bartholomew find 29 groups at a 70% mutual-intelligibility level. The towns they tested are the following, grouped at 60% intelligibility; a question mark indicates that intelligibility testing had not been done with non-neighboring varieties.

Ethnologue

The classification of Ethnologue is largely based on Egland & Bartholomew. There is no sub-classification, only a list of 52 varieties, [6] though these are reported to have a great range of intelligibility, from essentially none [7] [8] to 90% or higher. [9] [10]

See also

Notes and references

  1. Jiménez-Moreno (1962), as cited in Josserand (1983:125), and Terraciano (2004).
  2. Zones 1 and 2 are not mutually exclusive, but are rather two nuclei of an extended dialect chain running along the coast.
  3. Josserand (1983) believes this town is in fact San Mateo Sindihui in Nochixtlán District, but was misnamed in Mak & Longacre (1960).
  4. Josserand (1983) believes this town is in fact San Francisco Yucucundo near Huitepec in Zaachila District, but was misnamed in Mak & Longacre (1960).
  5. Josserand, J. Kathryn (1983). Mixtec dialect history. OCLC   896426442.
  6. Mixtec in Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2022). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (25th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
  7. Mixtec, Amoltepec at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  8. Mixtec, Ayutla at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  9. Mixtec, Metlatónoc at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  10. Mixtec, Alcozauca at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oaxaca</span> State of the United Mexican States

Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the Federative Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 570 municipalities, of which 418 are governed by the system of usos y costumbres with recognized local forms of self-governance. Its capital city is Oaxaca de Juárez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixtec</span> Ethnic group

The Mixtecs, or Mixtecos, are indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerrero. The Mixtec Culture was the main Mixtec civilization, which lasted from around 1500 BC until being conquered by the Spanish in 1523.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oto-Manguean languages</span> Language family of Mexico and, previously, Central America

The Oto-Manguean or Otomanguean languages are a large family comprising several subfamilies of indigenous languages of the Americas. All of the Oto-Manguean languages that are now spoken are indigenous to Mexico, but the Manguean branch of the family, which is now extinct, was spoken as far south as Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Oto-Manguean is widely viewed as a proven language family. However, this status has been recently challenged.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixtec language</span> Oto-Manguean language group of Mexico

The Mixtec languages belong to the Mixtecan group of the Oto-Manguean language family. Mixtec is spoken in Mexico and is closely related to Trique and Cuicatec. The varieties of Mixtec are spoken by over half a million people. Identifying how many Mixtec languages there are in this complex dialect continuum poses challenges at the level of linguistic theory. Depending on the criteria for distinguishing dialects from languages, there may be as few as a dozen or as many as fifty-three Mixtec languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatino language</span> Indigenous Mesoamerican languages of Mexico

Chatino is a group of indigenous Mesoamerican languages. These languages are a branch of the Zapotecan family within the Oto-Manguean language family. They are natively spoken by 45,000 Chatino people, whose communities are located in the southern portion of the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tlaxiaco</span> City in Oaxaca, Mexico

Tlaxiaco is a city, and its surrounding municipality of the same name, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is located in the Tlaxiaco District in the south of the Mixteca Region, with a population of about 17,450.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinotepa Nacional</span> Municipality and town in Oaxaca, Mexico

Pinotepa Nacional is a city and seat of the municipality of the same name, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is located in the Jamiltepec District in the west of the Costa Region. The name Pinotepa means "toward the crumbling hill" in Náhuatl.

San Juan Achiutla is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 49.76 km2. It is located in a mountain range, between the hills Negro to the East, Yucuquise to the Northwest, Cuate to the North and Totolote to the South. It is crossed by the river Los Sabinos and has a dam called Cahuayande. Its weather is temperate. It is in the Mixteca Alta, one of the three parties that make up the Mixteca region and in the Mixteca Alta is part of what was Achiutla, the significant Prehispanic place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Costa Region</span> Region in Oaxaca, Mexico

The Costa Region or Costa Chica lies on the Pacific coast of the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, south of the more mountainous Sierra Sur inland from the coast. It includes the districts of Jamiltepec, Juquila and Pochutla.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nochixtlán District</span> District in Oaxaca, Mexico

Nochixtlán District is located in the southeast of the Mixteca Region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. The main city is Asunción Nochixtlán.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous people of Oaxaca</span>

The Indigenous people of Oaxaca are descendants of the inhabitants of what is now the state of Oaxaca, Mexico who were present before the Spanish invasion. Several cultures flourished in the ancient region of Oaxaca from as far back as 2000 BC, of whom the Zapotecs and Mixtecs were perhaps the most advanced, with complex social organization and sophisticated arts.

Mixteca Alta Formative Project (2003–present) is an archaeological project directed by Andrew Balkansky that focuses on the Mixtec of Oaxaca, Mexico. The project, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Geographic Society, and the H. John Heinz III Fund, seeks to understand Mixtec origins and their transition to urbanism. Excavations are currently taking place at the ancient site of Tayata.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huamelulpan (archaeological site)</span> Archaeological site in Oaxaca, Mexico

Huamelulpan is an archaeological site of the Mixtec culture, located in the town of San Martín Huamelulpan at an elevation of 2,218 metres (7,277 ft), about 96 kilometres (60 mi) north-west of the city of Oaxaca, the capital of Oaxaca state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amuzgos</span>

The Amuzgos are an indigenous people of Mexico. They primarily live in a region along the Guerrero/Oaxaca border, chiefly in and around four municipalities: Xochistlahuaca, Tlacoachistlahuaca and Ometepec in Guerrero, and San Pedro Amuzgos in Oaxaca. Their languages are similar to those of the Mixtec, and their territories overlap. They once dominated a larger area, from La Montaña down to the Costa Chica of Guerrero and Oaxaca, but Mixtec expansion, rule and later Spanish colonization has pushed them into the more inaccessible mountain regions and away from the coast. The Amuzgos maintain much of their language and dress and are known for their textiles, handwoven on backstrap looms with very intricate two-dimensional designs. The Amuzgo area is very poor with an economy mostly dependent on subsistence agriculture and handcraft production.

Silacayoapan is one of the more extensive Mixtec languages. It is spoken by 150,000 people in Puebla and across the border in Guerrero, as well as by emigrants to the United States.

Atatláhuca–San Miguel Mixtec is a diverse Mixtec language of Oaxaca.

Mixtepec Mixtec is a Mixtec language that is spoken in the lower Mixteca region. Mixtec language is largely spoken in the area of San Juan Mixtepec, district of Juxtlahuaca, state of Oaxaca. However, the language is also spoken in other areas including Tlaxiaco, San Quintín Baja California, Santa María California, and Oregon. In 2004, it was reported that approximately 12,000 people spoke the Mixtepec Mixtec language. While most speakers of the language refer to it as 'sa'an ntavi' meaning 'language of the poor' or 'poor people's language,' others refer to it as 'sa'an save' which means 'rain language.' It is not closely related to other varieties of Mixtec.

Santiago, Oaxaca may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica</span>

Regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica are believed to have been extensive. There were various trade routes attested since prehistoric times. In this article, especially the routes starting in the Mexico Central Plateau, and going down to the Pacific coast will be considered. These contacts then went on as far as Central America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixtec Culture</span> Pre-Hispanic archaeological culture

The Mixtec culture was a pre-hispanic archaeological culture, corresponding to the ancestors of the Mixtec people; they called themselves ñuu Savi, which means "people or nation of the rain". It had its first manifestations in the Mesoamerican Middle Preclassic period and ended with the Spanish conquest in the first decades of the 16th century. The historical territory of this people is the area known as La Mixteca, a mountainous region located between the current Mexican states of Puebla, Oaxaca, and Guerrero.