Sochiapam Chinantec

Sochiapam (/soʊˈtʃiːəpæm/ soh-CHEE-ə-pam) is a Chinantec language of Mexico. It is most similar to Tlacoatzintepec Chinantec, with which it has 66% intelligibility (intelligibility in the reverse direction is 75%, presumably due to greater familiarity in that direction).^[2]

Sochiapam
Native to	Mexico
Region	Oaxaca
Ethnicity	6,300 Chinantecs (no date)[1]
Native speakers	(3,600 cited 2000)[2]
Language family	Oto-Mangue Western Oto-Mangue Oto-Pame–Chinantecan Chinantec Sochiapam
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cso
Glottolog	soch1239
ELP	Western Chinantec

Sochiapam has seven tones: high, mid, low, high falling, mid falling, mid rising, low rising.^{[3] [verification needed]}

Like other Chinantec and Mazatec languages, Sochiapam Chinantec is noted for having whistled speech (produced only by men, but understood by all). More unusually, it has also been reported to have a rare marked absolutive case system.^{[citation needed]}

Phonology

The following are sounds of Sochiapan Chinantec:^[4]

Consonants

		Labial	Interdental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Velar	Laryngeal
Nasal		m		n		ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p		t		k	ʔ
	voiced					(ɡ)
Affricate				ts
Fricative	voiceless	(ɸ)	θ	s			h
	voiced	β	ð		ʐ
Liquid	lateral			l
	rhotic			(ɾ)

1. Parenthesised sounds are loans, allophones, or free variants

2. /p, t, k/ tends to be slightly aspirated

3. Alveolar and velar consonants are palatalised before the semivowel /j/

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
			unrounded	rounded
High	i		ɨ	u
Mid	e		ɘ	o
Low		a

Tones