Tepehuán language

Tepehuán
Tepehuán
O'otham
Native to	Mexico
Region	Chihuahua, Durango
Ethnicity	Tepehuán
Native speakers	55,000 (2020 census)
Language family	Uto-Aztecan Southern Uto-Aztecan Tepiman Tepehuán; ; ;
Dialects	Tepecano;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously:; ntp – Northern Tepehuán; stp – Southeastern Tepehuán; tla – Southwestern Tepehuán; tep – 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]

Southern Tepehuán

Southern Tepehuán is spoken by about 45,000 people,^[1] about equally divided into:

Southeastern Tepehuán in Mezquital Municipio in the state of Durango.
Southwestern Tepehuán in southwestern Durango.

Southern Tepehuán coexists with the Mexicanero language; there is some intermarriage between the two ethnic groups, and a number of speakers are trilingual in Mexicanero, Tepehuán and Spanish.

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.^[3]

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
Plosive	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.^[4]

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
Plosive	voiced	b	d			ɡ	ʔ
Affricate	voiceless			t͡ʃ
Affricate	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:

Gʌrooga aapipʌsmaacʌdʌ

tʌvaagɨʌrʌ daja, aatʌmʌ

ipʌlidɨ ɨʌoodami

gʌšiia duutuadagɨ.

Vai otoma aʌna

istuigaco gatʌaanʌda

agai aapi ʌʌgɨ tami

oidigɨ daama.

Vaidʌ ʌpʌduuna

pʌštumaasɨ aapɨ ipʌlidi

tami oidigi daama

poduucai isduucai

ʌpʌvueeyi tʌvaagiʌrʌ.

Gʌrsoiñañi tʌtai viaaca

aatʌmʌ cuaadagai

tʌšɨ ʌʌšɨ tʌgito sivɨ

vʌʌtarʌ.

Gʌroigʌldañɨ

gʌrsoimaascamiga

tʌsmaacʌdʌ ivueeyi

poduucai tʌsduucai

oigʌldi aatʌmʌ ʌgai

ismaacʌdʌ šoimaasi

gʌrvuiididi.

Maiti dagito

išʌDiaavora gʌraagiadan

taadacagi isiduñia

aatʌmʌ soimaasi.

Cʌʌ maatʌ aatʌmʌ

isaapi ʌrʌgʌʌ

baitʌc ʌaacamitʌvaagiʌrʌ

dai oidi daama

tomastuigaco,

dai aapi vaamioma viaa

guvucadagaɨ

tomastuigaco istomali

ʌmo ʌmai daɨ

isaliʌšɨ gʌaagai

ɨsvʌʌšɨ oodami gʌsiaa

duutuadagɨ

tomastuigaco.

Our father, which art

in heaven, hallowed be

thy name. Thy kingdom

come. Thy will be done

on earth as it is in

heaven. Give us this

day our daily bread.

And forgive us our

debts, as we forgive

our debtors. And lead

us not into temptation, :but deliver us from

evil. For thine is the

kingdom and the power

and the glory for ever

and ever. Amen.

Southeastern Tepehuan:

Utogga atemo tubaggue :dama Santu sicamoe

uggue ututugaraga

duviana uguiere api

odduna gutuguito

daraga tami dubar

dama tubggue.

Udguaddaga ud macane

schibi ud joigadane

ud seca doada raga

addu cate abemo

joigudu jut jaddune

maitague daguito soy

macire ud niuca

dacane api odduna.

Amen, Jesus.

Our father, which art

in heaven, hallowed be :thy name. Thy kingdom

come. Thy will be done :on earth as it is in

heaven. Give us this

day our daily bread.

And forgive us our

debts, as we forgive

our debtors. And lead

us not into temptation, :but deliver us from

evil. For thine is the :kingdom and the power

and the glory for ever :and ever. Amen.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Lenguas indígenas y hablantes de 3 años y más, 2020 INEGI. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020.
^ "Catálogo de las Lenguas Indígenas Nacionales".
^ 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.