Classification of Mixtec languages

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Regions and districts of Oaxaca

The internal classification of Mixtec is controversial. Many varieties are mutually unintelligible and by that criterion separate languages. In the 16th century, Spanish authorities recognized half a dozen lenguas comprising the Mixtec lengua. (See #Classical Mixtec.) It is not clear to what extent these were distinct languages at the time. Regardless, the colonial disintegration of the Mixtec nation and resulting isolation of local communities led to the rapid diversification of local dialects into distinct languages. Below are some attempts at Mixtec classification by various scholars.

Geographic divisions

Josserand (1983:106) lists 5 major geographic (not linguistic) divisions of Mixtec, which together cover a total of about 25,000 square kilometers. Enclaves of Amuzgo, Trique, Cuicatec, Ixcatec, and Chocho speakers are scattered nearby.

  1. Puebla Mixtec
  2. Guerrero Mixtec
  3. Mixteca Baja
  4. Mixteca Alta
  5. Mixteca de la Costa

Colonial divisions

De los Reyes, in his Arte de Lengua Mixteca (1593), spoke of half a dozen lenguas in the Mixtec lengua. To these, his contemporaries added the dialects of Guerrero:[1]

Josserand found that native mundane writing of the colonial era corresponded well to de los Reyes; based on phonological and orthographic consistencies, she divides the dialects into five groups, as follows:

  • the Baja area around Huajuapan (though there were multiple varieties in Baja, more than de los Reyes recognized)
  • the Oaxaca Valley around Cuilapan, closely related to the next
  • the northeastern Alta around the Valley of Nochixtlan, including Yanhuitlan & Coixtlahuaca
  • the eastern Alta around the Valleys of Teposcolula & Tamasulapa
  • the western Alta around the Valley of Tlaxiaco, Achiutla, and Chalcatongo

Holland (1959)

The following classification is given by William R. Holland (1959), as cited in Josserand (1983:134-135). This preliminary classification is a glottochronological study of the dialects of 22 Mixtec and 4 Cuicatec towns.

  • Zone 1: Ixtayutla, Mechoacán, Jamiltepec, Huazolotitlán, Pinotepa Nacional
  • Zone 2: Ixtayutla, Mechoacán, Jamiltepec, Pinotepa de Don Luis, Pinotepa Nacional, Atoyac, Tlacamama[2]
  • Zone 3: Santo Tomás Ocotepec, Santa Lucía Monte Verde, San Miguel el Grande, San Esteban Atatlahuca
  • Zone 4: San Rafael Guerrero
  • Zone 5: Juxtlahuaca
  • Zone 6: Santa María Peñoles, Huitepec
  • Zone 7: Peñoles
  • Zone 8: Jocoticpac / Jocotipac
  • Zone 9: Cuyamecalco
  • Zone 10: San Juan Coatzospan
  • Zone 11: Chigmecatitlán, Santa Catarina Tlaltempan

Holland (1959) also gives 3 areal groupings for these zones.

  • Costa: Zones 1, 2
  • Alta: Zones 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
  • Baja: Zones 8, 9, 10, 11

However, Josserand (1983) states that these groupings are based on flawed methodologies, including a faulty conception of the geographical layout of the Mixteca. Many towns that Holland listed as Baja are in fact Alta, and vice versa.

Arana (1960)

The following classification is given by Evangelina Arana-Osnaya (1960:257), as cited in Josserand (1983:137).

  • Group 1: Chigmecatitlán, Tlaltempan
  • Group 2: Cuyamecalco, San Juan Coatzospan
  • Group 3a: Huitepec, Peñoles, Santa María Peñoles, San Juan Tamazola
  • Group 3b: Cuilapan; probably also Xoxocotla and other towns - where Mixtec is now no longer spoken
  • Group 4a: San Miguel el Grande, San Esteban Atatlahuca, Santo Tomás Ocotepec, Jocoticpac; San Rafael in Guerrero
  • Group 4b: Mechoacán, Jamiltepec, Pinotepa de Don Luis, Ixtayutla, Huazolotitlán, Tlacamama, Pinotepa Nacional, Atoyac

Mak & Longacre (1960)

Cornelia Mak and Robert Longacre (1960) is the first reconstruction of Proto-Mixtec, which is the ancestor of Mixtec proper as opposed to Mixtecan. Below is a classification inferred from Mak & Longacre (1960) by Josserand (1983:142). 9 groups and a total of 28 towns are given.

  • Central Mixteca Alta: San Miguel el Grande, San Esteban Atatlahuca
  • Southern Mixteca Alta: Santiago Yosondúa, Santa Cruz Itundujia, San Mateo Santigui,[3] San Pedro (el) Alto, San Fernando Yucucundo[4]
  • Western Mixteca Alta: Santo Tomás Ocotepec
  • Lowland Mixteca (Mixteca de la Costa): Jicaltepec, Pinotepa de Don Luis, Mechoacán, Tlacamama, Atoyac
  • Mixteca Baja: San Juan Mixtepec, Juxtlahuaca
  • Guerrero: Metlatonoc
  • Puebla: Tonahuixtla, Xayacatlán, Chigmecatitlán
  • Eastern Mixteca Alta: Estetla, Tilantongo, Tidaa, San Juan Diuxi, Santiago Mitlatongo, Nuxaa, San Juan Tamazola
  • Northeastern Mixteca Alta: San Juan Coatzospan, Cuyamecalco

Spores (1967)

The following classification is given by Richard Spores in The Mixtec Kings and Their People (1967), as cited in Josserand (1983:128). A total of 18 dialects are given.

  • Apoala, Apasco, Sosola; eastern frontier with Chinantec, Cuicatec, and Zapotec
  • Coixtlahuaca, Huautla, Tequixixtepec
  • Tonalá, Chila, Petlalcingo, Mariscala, Acatlán; towns on the northern frontier with Nahuatl and Tlapanec
  • Huajuapan
  • Silacayoapan; ranchos on Guerrero border
  • Tecomaxtlahuaca, Juxtlahuaca
  • Tlaxiaco, and its ranchos of Cuquila, Ñumí, Mixtepec
  • Teposcolula, and its ranchos; Tayata, Achiutla, and about 8 other communities, all of which use the Teposcolula market
  • Tilantongo, and its ranchos; Mitlatongo
  • Chalcatongo, San Miguel el Grande
  • Yucuañe, and 9 or 10 surrounding communities
  • Teozacoalco, Peñoles
  • Putla
  • Zacatepec
  • Tututepec, Jamiltepec
  • Yolotepec
  • Yanhuitlán, Chicahua, Soyaltepec, Cántaros, Coyotepec, Nochixtlán, Tonaltepec
  • Tamazulapan, Tejutla, Teotongo, Chilapa de Díaz

Bradley (1968, 1970)

The following classification is given by C. Henry Bradley (1970), as cited in Josserand (1983:132). A total of 11 dialects are given. His classification was most likely based on SIL International's mutual intelligibility surveys.

However, Bradley (1968) had given a different classification which included only 7 dialects.

Egland & Bartholomew (1983)

Egland & Bartholomew find 29 groups at a 70% mutual-intelligibility level. The towns they tested are the following, grouped at 60% intelligibility; a question mark indicates that intelligibility testing had not been done with non-neighboring varieties.

Ethnologue

The classification of Ethnologue is largely based on Egland & Bartholomew. There is no sub-classification, only a list of 52 varieties, though these are reported to have a great range of intelligibility, from essentially none to 85%.

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Notes and references

  1. ↑ Jiménez-Moreno (1962), as cited in Josserand (1983:125), and Terraciano (2004).
  2. ↑ Zones 1 and 2 are not mutually exclusive, but are rather two nuclei of an extended dialect chain running along the coast.
  3. ↑ Josserand (1983) believes this town is in fact San Mateo Sindihui in Nochixtlán District, but was misnamed in Mak & Longacre (1960).
  4. ↑ Josserand (1983) believes this town is in fact San Francisco Yucucundo near Huitepec in Zaachila District, but was misnamed in Mak & Longacre (1960).
  • Egland, Steven, Doris Bartholomew, and Saúl Cruz Ramos. 1983. La inteligibilidad interdialectal en México: Resultados de algunos sondeos. México, D.F: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.: http://www-01.sil.org/mexico/sondeos/G038a-SondeosInteligibilidad.htm - Note: The 1983 date is only a reprint date. Actual publication date is 1978.
  • Josserand, Judy Kathryn. 1983. Mixtec Dialect History. Ph.D. Dissertation, Tulane University.

See also

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