Southern Popoloca language

Southern Popoloca
Native to	Mexico
Region	Puebla
Native speakers	(7,000 cited 1991–1993) [1]
Language family	Oto-Manguean Popolocan Chocho–Popoloca Popoloca Southern Popoloca
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: poe  – San Juan Atzingo pbe  – Metzontla
Glottolog	sanj1285   San Juan Atzingo mezo1235   Mezontla

Southern Popoloca is an indigenous language of Puebla state, Mexico. There are two principal varieties, sometimes counted as distinct languages:

• San Juan Atzingo Popoloca (a.k.a. Atzingo, San Juan)
• Metzontla Popoloca (a.k.a. Los Reyes Metzontla Popoloca) which are about 75% mutually intelligible.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants in the San Juan Atzingo dialect ^[2]

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar		Post-alv./ Palatal	Retroflex	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	voiced	m	n
	voiceless	m̥	n̥
Plosive		p	t				k	ʔ
Affricate			t͡s		t͡ʃ	t͡ʂ
Fricative		f	ð	s	ʃ	ʂ		h
Rhotic			r
Lateral			l
Approximant		w			j

• Consonants preceding /h/ are then heard as aspirated [Cʰ]; when preceding /ʔ/, they are heard as ejectives [Cʼ].

Consonants in the Mezontla dialect ^[3]

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Post-alv./ Palatal	Retroflex	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	voiced	m	n
	voiceless	m̥	n̥
Plosive	voiceless	p	t			k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d			ɡ
	aspirated		tʰ			kʰ
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd			ᵑɡ
Affricate	voiceless		t͡s	t͡ʃ	t͡ʂ
	aspirated		t͡sʰ	t͡ʃʰ	t͡ʂʰ
	prenasal			ᶮd͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless	( f )	s	ʃ ~ ʂ		x
	prenasal		ⁿz			ᵑɣ
Rhotic	voiced		r
	prenasal		ⁿr
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		j

Marginal affricate sounds include /k͡f, s͡t/.

• /ʃ/ is heard as retroflex [ʂ] when before vowels /a, ã, u, ũ/.
• /f/ is heard only from loanwords.
• /j/ may be realized as a nasal [ɲ] when in the position of nasal vowels.
• Stop consonants when preceding /ʔ/, are then heard as ejectives [Cʼ].

Vowels

Vowels in the San Juan Atzingo dialect ^[2]

	Oral			Nasal
	Front	Central	Back	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		o ~ u	ĩ		õ ~ ũ
Mid	e			ẽ
Open		a			ã

• /o, õ/ when heard in diphthongs, and after consonants /t, k, ʔ, t͡ʃ, t͡ʂ, ʂ, n̥/ is heard as [u, ũ]. ^[2]

Vowels in the Mezontla dialect ^[3]

	Oral			Nasal
	Front	Central	Back	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u	ĩ		ũ
Mid	e			ẽ
Open		a			ã

References

1. San Juan Atzingo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Metzontla at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Kalstrom-Dolson, Marjorie; Krumholz, Jeanne Austin; Ewan, Doris Bartholomew (1995). Diccionario popoloca de San Juan Atzingo, Puebla. In Austin Krumholz, Jeanne and Kalstrom Dolson, Marjorie and Hernández Ayuso, Miguel: Tucson: Summer Institute of Linguistics. pp. 283–390.
3. Veerman-Leichsenring, Annette W. (1991). Gramática del Popoloca de Metzontla. Amsterdam: Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden.