Ethnicity Mayo ISO 639-3 mfy | Native speakers 40,000 (2010 census) Glottolog mayo1264 | |
Native to Sonora, Sinaloa, and parts in Durango, Mexico Language family Uto-Aztecan
Cáhita
Mayo | ||
Mayo is an Uto-Aztecan language. It is spoken by about 40,000 people, the Mexican Mayo or Yoreme Indians, who live in the South of the Mexican state of Sonora and in the North of the neighboring state of Sinaloa. Under the "Law of Linguistic Rights," it is recognized as a "national language" along with 62 other indigenous languages and Spanish which all have the same validity in Mexico.
Contents
The Mayo language is partially intelligible with the Yaqui language, and the division between the two languages is more political, from the historic division between the Yaqui and the Mayo peoples, than linguistic.
Programming in both Mayo and Yaqui is carried by the CDI's radio station XEETCH, broadcasting from Etchojoa, Sonora.
Phonology
Consonants
Vowels
Morphology
Mayo is an agglutinative language, where words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemes strung together.