Native to United States Ethnicity Tiwa | Region New Mexico ISO 639-3 tix | |
Native speakers 1,600, mostly older adults (2007) Language family Tanoan
Tiwa
Southern Tiwa | ||
The Southern Tiwa language is a Tanoan language spoken at Sandia Pueblo and Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico and Ysleta del Sur in Texas.
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Genealogical relations
Southern Tiwa belongs to the Tiwa sub-grouping of the Kiowa–Tanoan language family. It is closely related to the more northernly Picurís (spoken at Picuris Pueblo) and Taos (spoken at Taos Pueblo). Trager stated that Southern Tiwa speakers were able to understand Taos and Picurís, although Taos and Picurís speakers could not understand Southern Tiwa very easily. Harrington (1910) observed that an Isleta person (Southern Tiwa) communicated in "Mexican jargon" with Taos speakers as Taos and Southern Tiwa were not mutually intelligible.
Language variation
Southern Tiwa had three dialectal variants
- Sandía
- Isleta
- Ysleta del Sur (Tigua)
Trager reported that Sandía and Isleta were very similar and mutually intelligible.
In August 2015, it was announced that the Tiwa language would be taught to children at Isleta Elementary School in Pueblo of Isleta, as a part of the school's transfer from federal to tribal control.