Chatino language

Varieties

The Chatino languages are a group of three languages. Zenzontepec Chatino spoken in about 10 communities in the district of Sola de Vega, Tataltepec Chatino, spoken in Tataltepec the Valdez and a group of language called the Eastern Chatino language spoken in about 15-17 communities. Egland & Bartholomew (1983) conducted mutual intelligibility tests in which they concluded that four varieties of Chatino could be considered separate languages in regards to mutual intelligibility, with 80% intelligibility being needed for varieties to be considered part of the same language. (The same count resulted from a looser 70% criterion.) These were Tataltepec, Zacatepec, Panixtlahuaca, and the Highlands dialects, with Zenzontepec not tested but based on other studies believed to be completely unintelligible with the rest of Chatino. The Highlands dialects fall into three groups, largely foreshadowing the divisions in Ethnologue.

Campbell (2013), in a study based on shared innovations rather than mutual intelligibility, first divides Chatino into two groups—Zenzontepec and Coastal Chatino. He then divides Coastal Chatino into Tataltepec and Eastern Chatino. His Eastern Chatino contains all other varieties and he finds no evidence for subgrouping or further division based on shared innovations. This division mirrors the divisions reported by Boas (1913), based on speaker comments, that Chatino comprised three "dialects" with limited mutual intelligibility. Sullivant (2015) finds that Teojomulco is the most divergent variety.

Phonology and orthography

Yaitepec Chatino has the following phonemic consonants (Pride 1965):

There are five oral vowels, /i e a o u/, and four nasal vowels, /ĩ ẽ õ ũ/.

Rasch (2002) reports ten distinct tones for Yaitepec Chatino. The level tones are high /1/, mid /2/, low-mid /3/, and low /4/. There are also two rising tones (/21/ and /32/) and three falling tones (/12/, /23/, /34/) as well as a more limited falling tone /24/, found in a few lexical items and in a few Completive forms of verbs.

There are a variety of practical orthographies for Chatino, most influenced by Spanish orthography. In the examples below, ⟨x⟩ represents /ʃ/, ⟨ch⟩ = /tʃ/, and /k/ is spelled ⟨c⟩ before back vowels and ⟨qu⟩ before front vowels.

Transitive-Intransitive alternations

Chatino languages have some regular alternations between transitive and intransitive verbs. In general this change is shown by altering the first consonant of the root, as in the following examples from Tataltepec Chatino:

Causative alternations

There is also a morphological causative in Chatino, expressed by the causative prefix /x-/, /xa-/, /y/, or by the palatalization of the first consonant. The choice of prefix appears to be partially determined by the first consonant of the verb, though there are some irregular cases. The prefix /x/ occurs before some roots that start with one of the following consonants: /c, qu, ty/ or with the vowels /u,a/, e.g.

The prefix /xa/ is put before certain roots that begin with /t/, e.g.

Palatalization occurs in some roots that begin with /t/, e.g.

taa 'will give' tyaa 'will pay'

(Pride 1970: 95-96)

The alternations seen here are similar to the causative alternation seen in the related Zapotec languages.

Aspect

Aspect:

Pride (1965) reports eight aspects in Yaitepec Chatino.

potential 'The majority of the verbs have no potential prefix, and its absence indicates this aspect.'

habitual This is indicated by the prefixes /n-, nd-, l-/ and /n-/ with palatalization of the first consonant of the root, e.g.:

nsta 'puts it in' nsta chcubi loo mesa 'puts the box on the table'

ndu'ni cu'na 'graze' Ndu'ni ngu' cu'na quichi re 'The people of this town graze'
ntya 'sow' Ntya ngu' quichi re quiña' 'The people of this town sow chile.'

continuative Roots that take /n-/ or /nd-/ in the habitual have the same in the continuative plus palatalization; roots that have /n-/ plus palatalization in the habitual have /ndya-/, e.g. Nxtya chcubi loo mesa 'is putting the box on the table'

Ndyu'ni ngu' cu'na quichi re 'The people of this town are grazing.'

Ndyata ngu' quichi re quiña' 'The people of this town are sowing chile.'

completive This is indicated with the prefix /ngu-/, and verbs that start with /cu-, cui-, qui-/ change to /ngu-/ and /ngüi-/ in the completive:

sta 'will put it' Ngu-sta chcubi loo mesa 'Someone put the box on the table'

culu'u 'will teach it' Ngulu'u mstru ji'i 'The teacher taught it.'

imperative This aspect is indicated by palatalization in the first consonant of the potential form of the verb. If the potential is already a palatalized consonant, the imperative is the same, e.g.:

sati' 'will slacken' xati' ji'i 'let it loose!' xi'yu 'will cut' xi'yu ji'i 'cut it!'

perfective This aspect is indicated by the particle /cua/, which is written as a separate word in Pride (1965).

tyee 'will end' cua tyee ti 'is ended' cua ndya ngu' 'is gone'

passive potential /tya-/

Tyaala ton'ni'i 'The door will be opened.'

passive completive /ndya-/

Ndyaala ton'ni'i 'The door is open.'

Syntax

Chatino languages usually have VSO as their predominant order, as in the following example:

'The lazy dog gave a sweetbread to the coyote.'

Use and media

Chatino-language programming is carried by the CDI's radio station XEJAM, based in Santiago Jamiltepec, Oaxaca.

In 2012, the Natividad Medical Center of Salinas, California had trained medical interpreters bilingual in Chatino as well as in Spanish; in March 2014, Natividad Medical Foundation launched Indigenous Interpreting+, "a community and medical interpreting business specializing in indigenous languages from Mexico and Central and South America," including Chatino, Mixtec, Trique, and Zapotec.