Zaniza Zapotec

Zaniza Zapotec (Zapoteco de Santa María Zaniza) is an Oto-Manguean language of western Oaxaca, Mexico. It is one of several Zapotec languages called Papabuco. It has only 10% intelligibility with Texmelucan Zapotec, its closest important relative. (Speakers of the nearly extinct Elotepec Zapotec have 70% understanding of Zaniza, but it is not known if the reverse is true,^[2] so this may be a question of familiarity.)

Zaniza Zapotec
(Santa María Zaniza) Western Sola de Vega Zapotec Papabuco
Native to	Mexico
Region	Oaxaca
Native speakers	(770 cited 1990 census)[1]
Language family	Oto-Manguean Zapotecan Zapotec Papabuco Zaniza Zapotec
Language codes
ISO 639-3	zpw
Glottolog	zani1235
ELP	Zaniza Zapotec

The language is spoken in Santa María Zaniza, Oaxaca.^[3] As of 2003, the language had about 400 fluent speakers.^[4] It is also spoken in Santiago Textitlán.^[1]

Phonology

Zaniza Zapotec Consonants^[5]

		Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
						plain	lab.	plain	lab.
Nasal		m	n		ɲ
Plosive/ Affricate	fortis	p	t		ʧ	k	kʷ
	lenis	b	d		ʤ	g	gʷ
Fricative	fortis	f	s	ʂ	ʃ			h	hʷ
	lenis		z	ʐ	ʒ
Rhotic			ɾ
Lateral			l		ʎ
Glide		w			j

Zaniza Zapotec has five vowels /i, e, a, o, u/, phonemic vowel nasalization, and a distinction between modal and laryngealized vowels.^[5]

Tone

Zaniza Zapotec words contrast low, mid, and high tones on stressed syllables. Unstressed syllables, apart from a few pronominal enclitics, do not bear contrastive tone.