Isthmus Zapotec

Isthmus Zapotec, also known as Juchitán Zapotec (native name diidxazá;^[3] Spanish: Zapoteco del Istmo), is a Zapotec language spoken in Tehuantepec and Juchitán de Zaragoza, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. According to the census of 1990 it has about 85,000 native speakers, however this number is rapidly decreasing, as speakers shift to Spanish.^[4]

Isthmus Zapotec
Juchitán Zapotec
diidxazá
Pronunciation	[dìdʒàˈzà]
Region	Oaxaca, Mexico
Native speakers	(85,000 cited 1990 census)[1]
Language family	Oto-Manguean Zapotecan Zapotec Central Extended Ocotepec Isthmus Zapotec
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	zai
Glottolog	isth1244
ELP	Isthmus Zapotec
Location of Isthums Zapotec (blue) on the Southern Coast[2]

Guevea de Humboldt Zapotec, a different language, is sometimes referred to as "Northern Isthmus Zapotec."^[5]

Since the Ley General de Derechos Lingüísticos de los Pueblos Indígenas was passed in 2003 Isthmus Zapotec, along with all other indigenous languages of Mexico, was officially recognised by the Mexican State.

Phonology

The consonants of Isthmus Zapotec are shown below. There are two types of consonants: strong and weak. Strong and weak consonants are called Fortis and Lenis. Fortis voiceless consonants that are represented by double letter for example: nn symbolizes the fortis of /n/. Fortis consonants are also longer than lenis consonants.^[6]

Consonants

The consonants for Isthmus Zapotec are as follows:

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩	ɲ ⟨ñ⟩
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩	tʃ ⟨ch⟩	k ⟨c⟩[a]
	voiced	b ⟨b⟩	d ⟨d⟩	dʒ ⟨dx⟩	g ⟨g⟩[b]
Fricative	voiceless		s ⟨s⟩	ʃ ⟨xh⟩[c]
	voiced		z ⟨z⟩	ʒ ⟨x⟩
Lateral			l ⟨l⟩
Rhotic	trill		r ⟨r̠⟩
	tap		ɾ ⟨r⟩
Glide				j ⟨y⟩	w ⟨hu⟩

1. When a /k/ sound occurs before "e" or "i", it is spelled ⟨qu⟩.
2. When a /g/ sound occurs before "e" or "i", it is spelled ⟨gu⟩. Also, the sound /gw/ is written ⟨gü⟩.
3. Except before another consonant when it is written as ⟨x⟩.

This sound "bŕ" occurs very rarely for a bilabial trill [ʙ]. It occurs in words like "berenbŕ".

A couple consonant sounds may also be geminated (ex.; /l/ ~ /lː/, /n/ ~ /nː/).

Vowels

Isthmus Zapotec has five vowels (a, e, i, o, u). These occur in the three phonation types of stressed syllables: modal, checked, and laryngealized.

Checked vowels sound as if they end in glottal stop; for example words such as in English "what, light take, put." The glottal stop is a vowel feature. Checked vowels can also be a slightly laryngealized during a glottal closure.

Laryngealized vowels are longer and pronounced with a creaky voice. Sometimes they are pronounced with a clear pronunciation of the vowel after a soft glottal stop. There are not breathy vowels in Zapotec.^[7]

		Front	Back
Close	modal	i	u
	checked	iʼ	uʼ
	laryngealized	ḭ	ṵ
Mid	modal	e	o
	checked	eʼ	oʼ
	laryngealized	ḛ	o̰
Open	modal	a
	checked	aʼ
	laryngealized	a̰

Morphology

The verb structure for the Isthmus Zapotec is as follows: ASPECT (THEME) (CAUSATIVE) ROOT VOWEL. The verbs of Isthmus Zapotec usually contain around seven aspects. Research conducted by Stephen A. Marlett and Velma B. Pickett suggests "that for some verbs the completive and potential aspect prefixes are added at an earlier stratum than for most verbs".^[8] In Isthmus Zapotec, the four main causative prefixes are added /k-/, /si-/, /z-/, and /Ø-/ and at times, two of them can be found in a verb. E.g. /si-k-/. The prefix /u-/ allows for the addition of the word "make" into the word "quiet" as in u-si-ganî, meaning "make quiet".^[8] The Isthmus Zapotec refer to themselves by using the first person inclusive pronoun.^[9]

Simple (monomorphemic) verb stem plus particle

Isthmus Zapotec	English
-eʔeda	come
neé	and or with
-eʔeda-neé	bring
b-eʔeda-neé-bé (nií)	he brought (it)
ru-uni-neé-bé (ní naʔa)	he does (it) with (me)

Simple verb stem plus noun stem

Isthmus Zapotec	English
-naaba	ask
diʔidžaʔ	word
-naaba-diʔidžaʔ	ask a question
gu-naaba-diʔidža (hnyoʔoúʔ)	ask your mother

In Isthmus Zapotec, the verb stems can be single morphemes or they can also be compounds of two morphemes.^[7] There are three compound stems, the first two are highlighted by the above two charts. In the first chart, -eʔeda translates to 'come' and nee translates to 'and or with' with morphemes added in the beginning and at the end of the word, altering its overall meaning. They are simple (monomorphemic) verb stem plus particle.^[7] In the second chart, -naabatranslates to 'ask' while diʔidžaʔ translates to 'word' which are simple verb stem plus noun stem. The third compound is a simple verb stem plus noun stem where -aaka and -unni are the verb stem. The verb stem -aaka translates to 'happen or come to pass' while -unni translates to 'do'. Any Spanish infinitive is theoretically a second component in the compound.^[7] Spanish words are also incorporated with Isthmus Zapotec morphemes such as r-aaka-retratar-beé meaning 'he gets his picture taken' where the Spanish word retratar has Isthmus Zapotec morphemes at the beginning and at the end. The charts below are the classes of morphemes in Isthmus Zapotec:

Classes of Morphemes in Isthmus Zapotec

Various Types of Aspect in Isthmus Zapotec^[7]

Isthmus Zapotec	Name Forms
{si-}	causative
{na-}	stative
{gu-}	potential
{wa-}	perfective
{zu-}	incompletive
{bi-}	completive; singular imperative
{ru-}	habitual
{nu-}	unreal
{ku-}	continuative
{na-}	movement
{tše-}	movement-intention, present
{ze-}	movement-intention, future
{ye-}	movement-intention, completive
{zé-}	movement-intention, incompletive
{la-}	plural imperative
{ké-}	negative
{kádi-}	negative
{-di}	negative
{-sii}	as soon as
{-šaʔataʔ}	too much
{-ru}	still, yet
{-gaa}	meanwhile
{-peʔ}	emphasizer
{-ka}	right away
{-ža}	reverser
{-saʔa}	reciprocal

Subjects in Isthmus Zapotec^[7]

Isthmus Zapotec	Name Forms
{-ka}	plural of subject
{-éʔ}	first person singular
{-luʔ}	second person singular
{-beé}	third person singular, humans
{-meé}	third person singular, animals
{-nií}	third person singular, inanimate
{-ʔ}	third person singular, known subject
{-nuú}	first person plural inclusive
{-duú}	first person plural exclusive
{-tuú}	second person plural

An example for the morpheme {-ka}, attaching it to an Isthmus Zapotec word will make the word plural. The Isthmus Zapotec word zigi (chin) when {-ka} is added as a prefix will become kazigi (chins). Zike (shoulder) will become kazike (shoulders) and diaga (ear) will become kadiaga (ears).

Word Interrogation in Isthmus Zapotec^[7]

Isthmus Zapotec	Name Forms
{-lá}	yes-or-no questions
{-yaʔ}	questions other than yes-or-no
{nyeʔe-}	yes-or-no questions; occurs only with -lá

Yes/no question particles In Isthmus Zapotec are not mandatory, however, the question particle [lá?] is required in these form of questions.^[10]

Tense-Aspect-Mood (TAM) Prefixes^[2]

Prefix	TAM
ri-, ru-	Habitual
bi-, gu-	Completive
ca-, cu-	Progressive
za-, zu-	Irrealis
ni-, nu-, ñ-	Potential
hua-	Perfect
na-	Stative

Demonstratives in Isthmus Zapotec ^[4]

ri'	proximal (objects near the speaker)
ca	mesioproximal (objects near the addressee)
rica'	mesiodistal (objects away but near from both speaker and addressee)
que	distal (objects far away from both speaker and addressee)

Pronominal System in Isthmus Zapotec^[10]

Categorization	Dependent Form	Independent Form
1st person singular	-a'	naa
2nd person singular	-lu'	lii
1st person plural inclusive	-nu	laa-nu
1st person plural exclusive	-du	laa-du
2nd person plural	-tu	laa-tu

Syllable structure

Isthmus Zapotec has mainly open syllables.

Poems

This poem Bidxi was written by Victor Terán and translated into English by David Shook^[11]

Original Isthmus Zapotec	Bridge Translation	English Translation
Bidxi	Toad	Frog
Cachesa, cachesa ti bidxi' ludoo ti bidxi' ruaangola ti bidxi' nambó' Latá', lataguuya' lataguuya oh, ti bidxi' luyaandi cachese ludoo.	Jumps, that it jumps a toad on the cord thick-lipped toad   pot-bellied toad   Come, come, come to see come, come, come to see a toad with bug-eyes that jumps in a straight line	Jump! Jump! Frog skip the rope Wide-mouth frog Pot-bellied frog Come, come and see Come and see – look Bug-eyed frog Jump skip the rope

Further reading

• Pickett, Velma Bernice (1960). "The Grammatical Hierarchy of Isthmus Zapotec". Language. 36 (1): 3–101. doi:10.2307/522248. ISSN 0097-8507. JSTOR 522248.
• Pickett, Velma B. and Villalobos, María Villalobos and Marlett, Stephen A. (2010). "Isthmus (Juchitán) Zapotec". Illustrations of the IPA. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 40 (3): 365–372. doi:10.1017/S0025100310000174{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link), with supplementary sound recordings.