The Mixe languages are languages of the Mixean branch of the Mixe–Zoquean language family indigenous to southern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. According to a 1995 classification, there are seven of them (including one that is extinct). The four that are spoken in

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of Mexico. It is ...

are commonly called Mixe while their two relatives spoken in

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

are commonly called " Popoluca", but sometimes also Mixe (these are "

Oluta Popoluca Oluta Popoluca also called Olutec is a moribund Mixe–Zoquean language of the Mixean branch spoken by a few elderly people in the town of Oluta in Southern Veracruz, Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the Unit ...

" or "Olutec Mixe" and " Sayula Popoluca" or "Sayultec Mixe"). This article is about the Oaxaca Mixe languages, which their speakers call ''Ayöök'', ''Ayuujk'', ''Ayüük'' or ''Ayuhk''. 140,000 people reported their language to be "Mixe" in the 2020 census.

Classification

Oaxaca Mixe languages are spoken in the Sierra Mixe of eastern

. These four languages are: North Highland Mixe, spoken around Totontepec (the most divergent); South Highland Mixe, spoken around Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, Ayutla and Tamazulapan); Midland Mixe, spoken around Juquila and Zacatepec; and Lowland Mixe, spoken in San Juan Guichicovi (this language is also known as "Isthmus Mixe"). The following classification is from Wichmann (1995:9). ;Mixe (Oaxacan Mixean) * North Highland Mixe (Totontepec) * South Highland Mixe (Tlahuitoltepec) ** Core (Tlahuitoltepec, Ayutla, Tamazulapan) ** Fringe (Tepuxtepec, Tepantlali, Mixistlán) * Midland Mixe ** North Midland Mixe (Jaltepec, Puxmetacan, Matamoros, Cotzocón) ** South Midland Mixe (Juquila, Cacalotepec) * Lowland Mixe (Camotlán, San José El Paraíso / Coatlán, Mazatlán, Guichicovi) Wichmann (2008) adds Ulterior Mixe as an additional branch: ;Mixe * Totontepec Mixe * Ulterior Mixe * Lowland – Midland Mixe – South Highland ** Tlahuitoltepec Mixe ** Lowland–Midland Mixe *** Midland Mixe **** Juquila Mixe **** North Central Mixe *** Lowland Mixe **** Coatlán Mixe **** Isthmus Mixe (Guichicovi) **** Mazatlán Mixe

Phonology

Mixe

phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

is complicated and little documented. There is a palatalized series of all consonant phonemes (as in Russian, Polish or Irish) and possibly a fortis/lenis distinction in the plosive series, the recognition of which however is obscured by a tendency towards allophonic voicing of consonants in voiced environments. Syllable nuclei are notoriously complex in Mixe, varying in length and phonation. Most descriptions report three contrastive

vowel length In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word, ...

s. There are multiple values of phonation, one being modal voicing. The other types of phonation have been variously termed checked vowels,

creaky voice In linguistics, creaky voice (sometimes called laryngealisation, pulse phonation, vocal fry, or glottal fry) refers to a low, scratchy sound that occupies the vocal range below the common vocal register. It is a special kind of phonation in which ...

vowels and

breathy voice Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like ...

vowels. Some Mixe variants are innovative and some, notably North Highland Mixe, have complicated umlaut systems raising vowel qualities in certain phonological environments.

Grammar

Verbs

The

morphosyntactic alignment In linguistics, morphosyntactic alignment is the grammatical relationship between arguments—specifically, between the two arguments (in English, subject and object) of transitive verbs like ''the dog chased the cat'', and the single argument ...

of Mixe is ergative and it also has an obviative system which serves to distinguish between verb participants in reference to its direct–inverse system. The Mixe

verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...

is complex and inflects for many categories and also shows a lot of derivational

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

. One of the parameters of verb inflection is whether a verb occurs in an independent or dependent clause; this distinction is marked by both differential affixation and stem

ablaut In linguistics, the Indo-European ablaut (, from German '' Ablaut'' ) is a system of apophony (regular vowel variations) in the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). An example of ablaut in English is the strong verb ''sing, sang, sung'' and its ...

. Unlike Sayultec Mixe (spoken in the neighboring state of Veracruz), Mixe languages of Oaxaca only mark one argument on the verb: either the object or the subject of the verb depending on whether the verb is in the direct or inverse form. Mixe shows a wide variety of possibilities for

noun incorporation In linguistics, incorporation is a phenomenon by which a grammatical category, such as a verb, forms a compound with its direct object (object incorporation) or adverbial modifier, while retaining its original syntactic function. The inclusion of ...

Nouns

The Mixe noun does not normally inflect, except that human nouns inflect for plural. Noun compounding is a very productive process, and the profuse derivational morphology allows for creation of new nouns both from verbs and from other nouns. To indicate the plural an enclitic, ëch, is added to the noun.

Syntax

Mixe languages have SOV constituent order, prepositions and genitives precede the noun. But relative clauses follow the noun.

Sample

This sample is from Lowland Mixe:Dieterman, 1995 pg. 110

Radio

Mixe-language programming is carried by the CDI's radio station

XEGLO XEGLO-AM/XHGJO-FM (''La Voz de la Sierra Juárez'' – "The Voice of the Sierra Juárez") is an indigenous community radio station that broadcasts in Zapotec, Mixe and Chinantec from Guelatao de Juárez in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It ...

, based in Guelatao de Juárez, Oaxaca.

Sources

Bibliography

* Dieterman, Julia Irene, 1995, Participant reference in Isthmus Mixe Narrative Discourse, MA. Thesis in linguistics presented to the Faculty of the Graduate school of the University of Texas at Arlington. * Hoogshagen, Searle & Hilda Halloran Hoogshagen, 1993, Diccionario Mixe de Coatlán, Serie de Vocabularios Indigénas "Mariano Silva y Aceves" Num. 32. SIL, Mexico, D.F. * Kroeger, Paul R. 2005.
Analyzing grammar: an introduction
'. Cambridge University Press. * Schoenhals, Alvin & Louise Schoenhals, 1965, Vocabulario Mixe de Totontepec, Serie de Vocabularios Indigénas "Mariano Silva y Aceves" Num. 14. SIL, Mexico, D.F. * Wichmann, Søren, 1995, The Relationship Among the Mixe–Zoquean Languages of Mexico. University of Utah Press. Salt Lake City. * JANY, C. (2013). Defining Nominal Comp as a P WORD-FORMATION PROCESS IN CHUXNABÁN MIXE. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'', ''79''(4), 533–553.

External links

Online resources for Mixe of Chuxnabán (Midlands) by Carmen Jany

{{Languages of Mexico Indigenous languages of Mexico Mesoamerican languages Mixe–Zoque languages Articles citing INALI