| Jalapa Mazatec | |
|---|---|
| Ndaxjò | |
| Native to | Oaxaca,Mexico |
| Region | San Felipe Jalapa de Díaz |
Native speakers | (18,000 cited 2000)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | maj |
| Glottolog | jala1237 |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Jalapa Mazatec is aMazatecan language. An estimate from 1990 suggested it was spoken by 15,000 people, one-third of whom are monolingual, in 13 villages in the vicinity of the town ofSan Felipe Jalapa de Díaz in the Tuxtepec District of theMexican state ofOaxaca. A 2016 study, published in 2019, estimated the Mazatec dialects to have 220,000 speakers.[2] Egland (1978) found 73% intelligibility withHuautla, theprestige variety of Mazatec.[1] Literacy in Jalapa is taught alongside Spanish in local schools.
Jalapa Mazatec syllables are maximallyCCGV. However, vowels distinguish severalphonations, and like all Mazatec languages, Jalapa hastone.
Jalapa consonants distinguish (prenasalized) voiced,tenuis, andaspiratedplosives, as well as voiceless, voiced, andglottalizedsonorants.
There is also aflap,/ɾ/, which only occurs in one morpheme, theclitic =/ɾa/ "probably". In addition, the consonants/p/,/pʰ/,/l/ are found in Spanishloan words.
The labial velars/ʍww̰/ become bilabial[ɸββ̰] beforefront vowels:[ɸǣ] "it is finished" vs.[ʍā] "John", etc. In the same position, the stop/kʷʰ/ is realized as a heterorganic velar-bilabial affricate [kɸ].[3]
Phonetically aspirated fricatives do not occur before creaky vowels, while aspirated stops do. Therefore, Silverman et al. (1994) treats them as fricative-/h/ clusters.
Silverman (1994:126) remarks that voiced stops are prenasalized in intervocalic position, but later on the same page states that they are prenasalized in initial position. With voiced plosives, the nasalization is two-thirds the duration of the consonant. It is not clear if they ever appear without prenasalization.
Voiceless nasals are voiced for the last quarter of their duration.
Glottalized sonorants are variable in their production. The may occur as a glottal stop followed by a modally voiced sonorant,[ʔm],[ʔj], etc.; an initially creaky voiced sonorant switching to modal voice by the end; a fully creaky consonant; or the creak may extend into the following vowel.
Jalapa Mazatec distinguishes five vowel qualities, discounting phonation:/i/,/æ/,/a/,/o/,/u/. Phonations aremodal voice,breathy voice, andcreaky voice; all phonations may also occur with the fivenasal vowels:
| Modal voice | i | æ | a | o | u |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breathy voice | i̤ | æ̤ | a̤ | o̤ | ṳ |
| Creaky voice | ḭ | æ̰ | a̰ | o̰ | ṵ |
| Modal nasal | ĩ | æ̃ | ã | õ | ũ |
| Breathy nasal | ĩ̤ | æ̤̃ | ã̤ | õ̤ | ṳ̃ |
| Creaky nasal | ḭ̃ | æ̰̃ | ã̰ | õ̰ | ṵ̃ |
Breathy vowels may have strong breathy voicing throughout their length. However, typically they are voiceless for the first 40% and then have modal voice, so that for example/mæ̤˧˩/ may be pronounced[mæ̤̃˧˩] or[mæ̥̃æ̃˧˩]. Similarly, creaky vowels tend to confine their creakiness to the first part of the vowel, often with glottal closure before modal voice:/sḭ˥/ as[sḭi˥] or[sḭʔi˥].
Jalapa is unique among the Mazatec languages in distinguishing breathy vowels. These arose through the contraction of Proto-Mazatecan disyllables of the form CVhV, where C was voiced and the two vowels were the same. When the two syllables carried different tones, these contracted into a contour. For example, proto-Mazatec*ntʲa˩hu˩ "stone" became/ndʲo̤˩/ (through a presumed intermediate*ndʲo˩ho˩);*ntʃe˨he˦ "thief" became/ndʒæ̤˩˧/; and*ntu˩hwi˩˧ "your soap" became/ndɨ̤ː˩˧/. Similar contractions occurred with CVʔV disyllables to produce creaky vowels, but creaky vowels already existed in the proto-language.
Jalapa also has a phonemic distinction of unclear nature that has been suggested to be "ballisticity". However, it lacks the characteristics of ballistic syllables in other Otomanguean languages. The only consistent distinction Silvermanet al. (1994) were able to measure was one ofvowel length, with vowels of the alleged ballistic syllables being two-thirds the length of the vowels of the productiveopen class of nouns, with a slight increase in pitch. They may reflect the original short vowels of proto-Mazatec, as opposed to the vowels of morphologically complex monosyllabic nouns of modern Jalapa Mazatec. If so, Jalapa would have a three-way length distinction, as doubly long vowels are also found in morphologically complex situations. Note that this distinction isnot marked in this article apart from this one table:
| "ballistic" (short?) | trans. | "controlled" (half long?) | trans. |
|---|---|---|---|
| sū | "warm" | sūˑ | "blue" |
| nīˑntū | "slippery" | nīˑntūˑ | "needle" |
| tsǣ | "guava" | tsǣˑ | "full" |
| hų̄ | "y'all" | hų̄ˑ | "six" |
Jalapa roots distinguish three tones, low˩, mid˧, and high˥. In morphologically complex situations, combinations of these may form short (or perhaps mid-length) vowels withcontour tones:˩˧,˧˥,˥˧,˧˩,˥˩,˩˥˩ have been recorded.
The simple tones are contrasted in/ʃá/(/ʃa˥/) "work",/ʃā/(/ʃa˧/) "puma",/ʃà/(/ʃa˩/) "mould".
In much of the literature, these are written with the numerals 1 (low), 2 (mid), and 3 (high).
Jalapa utilizeswhistled speech, where each simple or contour tone is given a whistle pulse.
Aspirated consonants do not occur before breathy vowels, and glottalized consonants only occur before modally voiced vowels. Nasal consonants only occur before nasal vowels. Voiced plosives areprenasalized in intervocalic position.
Consonant clusters include NC, where N is a nasal and C is a voiceless plosive or affricate, and SC, where S is a sibilant and C is a tenuis plosive or affricate.
Jalapa Mazatecroot words are primarily monosyllabic, and the intricate inflectional system is largely subsyllablic (Silverman 1994).