Tepehuán language
| Tepehuán | |
|---|---|
| O'otham | |
| Native to | Mexico |
| Region | Chihuahua, Durango |
| Ethnicity | Tepehuán |
Native speakers | 55,000 (2020 census)[1] |
| Dialects | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:ntp – Northern Tepehuánstp – Southeastern Tepehuántla – Southwestern Tepehuántep – Tepecano |
| Glottolog | tepe1281 |
 Northern Tepehuán is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
 Southwestern Tepehuán is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Tepehuán (Tepehuano) is the name of three closely related languages of the Piman branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family, all spoken in northern Mexico. The language is called O'otham by its speakers.
Internal classification
- Tepehuán
- Northern Tepehuán
- Southern Tepehuán
- Southeastern Tepehuán
- Southwestern Tepehuán
Northern Tepehuán
Northern Tepehuán is spoken by about 10,000 people (2020 census)[1] in several settlements in Guadalupe y Calvo and Guachochi, Chihuahua, as well as in the north of Durango.[2]communities like Santiago Papasquiaro—including El Jaguey, Colonia José Ramón Valdez (1616 historical revolt area), El Huisache (Leyva-Tafoya family ranch), and Jose Maria Morelos settlements.
The Ódami—self-named "People of This Land" in their ancient tongue—resided in these Sierra Madre strongholds as Nahuatl-labeled "mountain people" (tepetl 'mountain' + huani 'inhabitant') by Mexica/Tepanec, marking them as frontier traders, allies, or rivals beyond the Aztec Triple Alliance (Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, Tlacopan). In 1616, Northern Ódami led a major revolt (1616–1620) against Spanish Jesuits and settlers, killing over 200 Spaniards and 10 missionaries in coordinated attacks on Atotonilco and Santiago Papasquiaro under leaders like Quautlatas and Francisco Gogoxito, before Spanish suppression amid massive losses (~4,000 Ódami warriors). [3][4][5]
Media
Tepehuán-language programming is carried by the CDI's radio stations XEJMN-AM, broadcasting from Jesús María, Nayarit, and XETAR, based in Guachochi, Chihuahua.
Morphology
Tepehuán is an agglutinative language, in which words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemes strung together.
Phonology
Northern Tepehuan
The following is representative of the Northern dialect of Tepehuan.[6]
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid | o | ||
| Open | a |
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | tʲ | k | |
| voiced | b | d | dʲ | ɡ | ||
| Affricate | t͡ʃ | |||||
| Fricative | v | s | ʃ | x | ||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | |||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
| Approximant | l | |||||
Nasal consonants /n, ɲ/ become [ŋ] when preceding a velar consonant.
Southern Tepehuan
The following is representative of the Southeastern dialect of Tepehuan.[7]
Vowels
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɯ | u |
| Mid | ʌ | o | |
| Open | ɑ | ||
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | ʔ | ||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||||
| Affricate | voiceless | t͡ʃ | |||||
| voiced | d͡ʒ | ɣ͡ʎ | |||||
| Fricative | v | s | ʃ | h | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||||
| Rhotic | ɾ | ||||||
| Approximant | (l) | j | |||||
/v/ is sometimes realized as [f] in word-final position. /l/ appears only in loanwords from Spanish.
Sample Tepehuan Text
Northern Tepehuan:
|
|
Southeastern Tepehuan:
|
|
Further reading
- Gil Burgoin, Carlos Ivanhoe (2021). "Northern Tepehuan". Illustrations of the IPA. Journal of the International Phonetic Association: 1–17. doi:10.1017/S002510032100013X, with supplementary sound recordings.
References
- ^ a b Lenguas indígenas y hablantes de 3 años y más, 2020 Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine INEGI. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020.
- ^ "Catálogo de las Lenguas Indígenas Nacionales".
- ^ Gradie, Charlotte M. (2000). The Tepehuan Revolt of 1616: Militarism, Evangelism, and Colonialism in Seventeenth-Century Nueva Vizcaya. University of Utah Press. pp. 25–30. ISBN 978-0-87480-622-9.
- ^ Gradie, Charlotte M. (2000). The Tepehuan Revolt of 1616: Militarism, Evangelism, and Colonialism in Seventeenth-Century Nueva Vizcaya. University of Utah Press. pp. 47–150. ISBN 978-0-87480-622-9.
- ^ Riley, Matthew (2008). "The Tepehuan Revolt of 1616". New Mexico Historical Review. 83 (3): 289–312.
- ^ Bascom, Burton (1982). Northern Tepehuan. Studies in Uto-Aztecan grammar 3: Uto-Aztecan grammatical sketches: Summer Institute of Linguistics. pp. 267–393.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ Willett, Thomas L. (1988). A Reference Grammar of Southeastern Tepehuan.
Northern Tepehuán (Ódami) Bible ReferencesPrimary Sources for Authentic Verses:Ethnos360 Northern Tepehuán New Testament (2020)Full NT translation dedicated November 2019 in Sierra Madre Occidental. Available: bible.com/versions/3339-NTP-Northern-Tepehuan-Bible Purchase/print: biblestudy.ethnos360.org/products/tepehuan-new-testament Charlotte M. Gradie, "The Tepehuan Revolt of 1616" (2000)University of Utah Press, ISBN 978-0-87480-622-9Pages 25-30: Ódami etymology/self-namesPages 47-150: 1616 revolt details (Santiago Papasquiaro attacks) INALI Census (2020)~10,000 Northern Tepehuán speakers (Guadalupe y Calvo, Guachochi, Santiago Papasquiaro)FamilySearch Durango RecordsLeyva-Tafoya: Francisco Javier Leyva (El Huisache) → Jose Alberto Tafoya LeyvaSepulveda: Jose Ynnocente Luciano → Rafaela → Juliana Tafolla