Mochoʼ (known as Motozintleco in older sources) is a

Mayan language Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

spoken by the Mochoʼ people of

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. A source stated that it was known as QatokʼPalosaari, N. E. (2011). ''Topics in mochoʼ phonology and morphology'' (Doctoral dissertation). The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT. (from ''Qa''-our and ''Tookʼ''-language: our language), although this name has not received wide acceptance among the native speakers and the language, which is known as Mochoʼ by both the Mochoʼ people and the Mexican government. Mochoʼ has a dialect called Tuzantec (Muchuʼ) spoken in Tuzantan, Chiapas. Alongside Jakaltek, Qʼanjobʼal, Chuj and Tojol-Abʼal, the Mochoʼ language is part of the Qʼanjobalan group from the western branch of Mayan languages. With about 124 speakers as of 2020, Mochoʼ is considered an endangered language. The Tuzantec dialect is moribund, with less than 5 speakers as of 2011. Educational programs in Mochoʼ are helping to preserve the language among youth and the process of teaching and learning the language in indigenous schools.

Distribution

The two dialects of Mochoʼ are spoken in two different villages: the Tuzantec dialect in Tuzantán (a town near Huixtla, Chiapas), and the Mochoʼ dialect in

Motozintla Motozintla (Motozintla de Mendoza) is a city and municipality in the Mexican state of Chiapas in southern Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, ...

. Historically, the two groups descend from a single population living in the region of Belisario Dominguez about 500 years ago. According to local legend, the split and migration was caused by a plague of bats. Speakers have also been reported in the nearby towns of Tolimán, Buenos Aires, and Campana. Palosaari (2011) describes the Motozintlec dialect.

Phonology

Unlike most Mayan languages, Mochoʼ is tonal. Stress is regular and at the last syllable. *Short vowels have level or rising pitch. In Mochoʼ, Proto-Mayan *j and *h have merged to /j/ in Motozintleco, while Tuzanteco preserves this distinction. Pronunciation rules change compared to modern

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, as ñ becomes an "ng" sound like in sing, and

glottalization Glottalization is the complete or partial closure of the glottis during the articulation of another sound. Glottalization of vowels and other sonorants is most often realized as creaky voice (partial closure). Glottalization of obstruent cons ...

becomes important for many consonants.

Written norm

The official Writing Norm of the Mochoʼ Language (In Mochoʼ: ''Naʼobal chu tsʼiba we tookʼ Mochoʼ'', Spanish: ''Norma de escritura de la lengua mochoʼ'') was published in 2011 by the Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas, it is mainly used for indigenous education. It established official alphabet, grammar rules and other linguistic aspects.

Alphabet

According to the established in the written norm, the Mochoʼ alphabet consists of 30 letters, 25 consonants and 5 vowels that represent all the phonemes of the language. The official name of the Mochoʼ alphabet is ''Tsʼibtookʼ Mochoʼ''.

References

External links