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3/1/15
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Mul$dialectal orthography and the wri$ng of vowels in Mixe
Rodrigo Romero Méndez [email protected]
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
PresentaAon
Mixe communiAes face some challenges: • They want a unified wriAng system for all of the dialects. • But, many people want to write their own dialect slightly
different from other communiAes. • No one wants to change the way they already write…
– some else should do it.
This talk is an academic exercise showing how a mulAdialectal orthography could be achieved.
• The ideal soluAon becomes too deep. • An alternaAve soluAon is presented.
Cultural unity Self idenAficaAon
Main Mixe communiAes
More conservaAve
More innovaAve
Dialectal chain
Brief history of the Mixe orthography
• [Epi-‐Olmec wriAng system. Not really Mixe, probaply proto-‐zoque.]
Justeson & Kaufman 1993
Jama ‘day’
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Brief history of the Mixe orthography
• [Epi-‐Olmec wriAng system. Not really Mixe, probaply proto-‐zoque]
• Colonial Period: Quintana’s Instrvccion Chiris-ana, Confessonario, etc (1729a, 1729b, 1733). – There are other documents in the communiAes, such as Coatlán, Juquila...
– It is necessary to recover them before they get destroyed by the community or just due to bad condiAons.
– The wriAng system did not have conAnuity.
Brief history of the Mixe orthography
• [Epi-‐Olmec wriAng system. Not really Mixe, probaply proto-‐zoque]
• Colonial Period: Quintana’s Instrvccion Chiris-ana, Confessonario, etc.
• Summer InsAtute of LinguisAcs – Not a unified orthography. – Correspondence between lehers and allophones – Based on the Spanish orthography.
Brief history of the Mixe orthography
• [Epi-‐Olmec wriAng system. Not really Mixe, probaply proto-‐zoque]
• Colonial Period: Quintana’s Instrvccion Chiris-ana, Confessonario, etc.
• Summer InsAtute of LinguisAcs • Secretaría de Educación Pública (Department/Ministry of EducaAon) – Not have a unified wriAng system. – The lehers change from publicaAon to publicaAon. – They are based on Spanish
Brief history of the Mixe orthography
• [Epi-‐Olmec wriAng system. Not really Mixe, probaply proto-‐zoque]
• Colonial Period: Quintana’s Instrvccion Chiris-ana, Confessonario, etc.
• Summer InsAtute of LinguisAcs • Secretaría de Educación Pública (Department/Ministry of EducaAon)
• Current Mixe orthography
Mixe orthograpy
• The Mixe orthography was created in the 1980’s – collaboraAve effort between community members and linguists
(cf. Valiñas, 1991). • One explicit goal of that process was to create a single
wriAng system for all Oaxaca mixe languages. • It is a widespread orthography as it is used almost officially
in some communiAes, • it appears in recent publicaAons (Díaz, 2008; Zavala, 2013a,
b; Romero-‐Méndez, 2013; inter alia), • It is taught to schoolteachers. • it is taught in some high schools and in two colleges
throughout the Mixe territory. • Bible translaAon (at least Quetzaltepec Mixe).
Mixe Orthography
• It uses the laAn alphabet. • It is intended to have a high correspondence between phonemes and graphemes (Reyes, 2005; Romero, 2013).
• It works very well for wriAng consonants. • Only phonemes are wrihen, – Voicing, leniAon, and palatalizaAon are not represented.
• There are many issues that have to be resolved in order to have a complete orthographic system.
• but it works fairly well… – except for vowels!
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Vowels in the Mixe orthography
• When the Mixe orthography was developed, they did not know enough about mixe sound systems.
• Except for Totontepec Mixe, not a single phonology had been made. [although cf. Hoogshagen 1959]
• But they did not take into account Totontepec Mixe. – Those descripAons were wrihen using phonotagmemics, and
were in English (Crawford 1963). • They only had access to the surface forms for a few mixe
languages, but they wanted to have a unified orthography for all Mixe languages.
• The way they decided to do it was using the same set of symbols for all dialects... each community decided how to adapt it to their language.
i ɨ u e o
a
Guichicovi Mixe i u e ɘ o a ɐ
Alotepec Mixe
i u e ɘ o ɛ a ɐ
Zacatepec Mixe i ɨ u e o a ʌ
Ayutla Mixe
i ɨ u e ɜ o ɛ ɐ ɔ
Totontepec Mixe
i y ɨ u e ø o æ a ʌ
Mixistlán Mixe
Due to the influence of the palatal glide as part of the coda
a) /n-‐koʂ-‐jp/ ‘he finishes it’ 1A-‐punch-‐NEU;INDEP;TR
[nɡeʃ]
b) /n-‐mʌʦ-‐j/ ‘I grab it’ 1A-‐grab-‐NEU;DEP [n̥maʧ]
How do Mixe language got all those vowels?
Different effects of the palatalizaAon
The palatalizaAon has two different effects on the vowel systems:
• It does not allow vowels to lower.
• It causes fronAng of back vowels
Romero-‐Méndez, forthcoming AcousAc analysis of vowels in 26 Mixe dialects
Proto-‐Mixe-‐Zoque and Lowland Mixe
i
e
a
o
u ɨ
cf. Wichmann 1995
Lowering I
i
e
ɐ
o
u ɨ
æ a
Lowland Mixe and Midland Mixe.
When NOT followed by a palatal
When followed by a palatal
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Lowering II
i
e
a
o
u ɨ
ʌ
Midland Mixe and South Highland
When not followed by a palatal When followed by a palatal
Lowering III
i
e
a
o
u ɨ
ʌ
Core South Highlands.
When not followed by a palatal
When followed by a palatal
When followed by a palatal
u
Lowering IV
i
e
a
o ɨ
æ ɔ
North Highlands
When NOT followed by a palatal
Front Vowels
• Vowel lowering
• Vowel fronAng
FronAng I: Half way
i
e
a
o
u ɨ
ʌ
ɘ
ɨ̝ When followed by a palatal
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FronAng II: all the way
i
e
a
o
u ɨ
ʌ
When followed by a palatal
FronAng III: rounding
Yacochi, Mixistlán, Ocotepec, Tepuxtepec
i
e
a
o
u ɨ
ʌ
y
ø
When followed by a palatal
Central vowel
i
e
a
o
u ɨ
ʌ
ɘ
ɨ̝ When followed by a palatal
Non-‐front vowels
Non stressed vowels
i
e
a
o
u ɨ
ʌ
ɘ
Ayutla Mixe Coatlán Mixe
[i]
followed by palatal i followed by palatal ɨ followed by palatal u
Ayutla Mixe Coatlán Mixe
[e] not followed by palatal i followed by palatal o
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/o/ followed by a palatal
[o] Coatlán [ɜ] Ocotepec [e] Ayutla [ø] Mixistlán
WriAng vowels
i
e
a
o
u ɨ
«ö» Belmar 1902; Suslak 2005
«a», «u» Hoogshagen & Hoogshagen 1993 «û», «ô» Quintana 1729
«ï» SEP 2004; Guzmán 2012
«ü» SEP 2004 «ø» SEP 1983; SEP 1984
«ë» INEA 2005, Reyes 2005; Díaz, 2008; Zavala,2013a, b; Guzmán 2012; Romero 2013; inter alia.
«i» «u»
«e» «o»
«a»
Problems with the current orthography
RepresentaAon based on similariAes with /a/ «a» in Spanish:
Dialect A Dialect B
e æ
a
e
a
a
ʌ
Not followed by a palatal
Followed by a palatal
Followed by a palatal
Not followed by a palatal
«e» «e»
«a» «a» «ä»
«a» «ä»
Problems with current orthography
«ajkx» «äjkx»
Dialect A
Dialect B
ʔaʰkʂ ʔæʰkʂ
ʔaʰkʂ ʔʌʰkʂ
‘fish’ ‘chayote’ (vegetable)
‘chayote’ ‘fish’
< *a < *e
< *e < *a
Problems with the current orthography
RepresentaAon based on similariAes with /a/ in Spanish:
Dialect C
e æ
a
Not followed by a palatal
Followed by a palatal
«e»
«a»
«ä»
ɐ «?»
Recap
• All Mixe vowel systems can be understood as having a basic six-‐vowel system.
• Then two things might happen: – Lowering when not followed by a palatal. – FronAng when followed by a palatal.
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SoluAon I
• All Mixe vowel systems can be understood as having a basic six-‐vowel system.
• Then two things might happen: – Lowering when not followed by a palatal. – Frontred when followed by a palatal.
Let us write with a single leher these six vowels.
Let us write the changes with a diacriAc.
A leher for the six basic vowels
Front Non-‐front i ɨ u e o a
A leher for the six basic vowels
Front Non-‐front i ï ï ɨ ü u e ë ö o a ä
Add a diaeresis to the alternate form.
Problems
• The problem with this soluAon is that it becomes too deep.
• It is phonologically consistent, • but phoneAcally there is no relaAon between sounds and graphemes.
PhoneAcally Phonologically
[i] followed by palatal i i ɨ ï u ü
For Ayutla Mixe: Problems
• The other problem is that «ë» is already used for represenAng /ɨ/.
• Even though this is actually problemaAc, there is already a 30 years old tradiAon.
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SoluAon II
i
e
a
o
u ë
For the sixth vowel:
For the five vowels similar to Spanish:
When the change results in an exisAng vowel, do not write it.
SoluAon II
i
e
a
o
u ë
For the sixth vowel:
For the five vowels similar to Spanish:
ä When the change does not result in an exisAng vowel, write it with a dieresis.
ö
SoluAon II
i
e
a
o
u ë
For the sixth vowel:
For the five vowels similar to Spanish:
ä When the change does not result in an exisAng vowel, write it with a dieresis.
ö
ë
SoluAon III i
e
a
o
u ë
ä à æ å
Concluding remarks
• In order to have a mulAdialect orthography, it is necessary to have phoneAc and phonological descripAons of many dialects.
• That is not enough. – It is also necessary to undersdand the phonological processes
that caused the historical change. • However, o�en Ames part of the speakers want a unified
orthography, – while other want to write their dialect in a slightly differently, – this gives them idenAty (cf. Suslak 2003).
• I want is to write Mixe in a way that is useful to wedest possible audience.
References • Belmar, Francisco. 1902. Estudio del Idioma Ayook. Oaxaca: Imprenta del Comercio. • Crawford, John Chapman. 1963. Totontepec Mixe phonotagmemics. Norman: SIL. • Díaz, J. G. 2008. Ii’pyxyukpët Ayuujk. México: CEA-‐UIIA • Heap, D. 2006. Dialect chains. In Encyclopedia of LinguisAcs. • Hoogshagen, Searle, and Hoogshagen, Hilda Halloran de. 1993. Diccionario mixe de Coatlán, Oaxaca. México:
InsAtuto LingüísAco de Verano. • Hoogshagen, Searle. 1959. Three ContrasAve Vowel Lengths in Mixe. ZeitschriL für Phone-k 12:111-‐115. • INEA. 2005. Ayuujk najktsonta’aky neky kyäjpxën, neky jyä’äyën. Ayuuk ää. Empiezo a leer y escribir en mi lengua.
Mixe. Paejxpajt ayuujk-‐amaxän. Vocabulario mixe-‐español. México: InsAtuto Nacional para la Educación de los Adultos.
• Katz, Leonard y Ram Frost. 1992. The reading process is different for different orthograpies: The orthographic depth hypothesis. En Frost y Katz (eds.) Orthography, phonology, morphology, and meaning, pp. 67-‐84. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
• Quintana, fray AugusAn de. 1729a. Doctrina Chris-ana, y Declaracion de los Principales Mysterios de Nvestra Santa Feê Chatholica, con vn Tratado de la Confesion Sacramental. Puebla, México: Viuda de Miguel de Ortega Bonilla.
• Quintana, fray AugusAn de. 1729b. Instrvccion Chrisiana, y guia de ignorantes para el cielo en lengva mixe. Puebla, México: Viuda de Miguel de Ortega Bonilla.
• Quintana, fray AugusAn de. 1733. Confessonario en lengua mixe. Con vna Construccion de las Oraciones de la Doctrina Chris-ana, y un Compendio de Voces Mixes, Para enseñarse â prononciar la dicha lengua. Publicado por el Comte de Charencey.
• Reyes Gómez, Juan Carlos. 2005. Aportes al proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje de la lectura y la escritura de la lengua ayuuk. Oaxaca, México: CEA-‐UIIA.
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References • Romero Méndez, Rodrigo. 2013. Historias mixes de Ayutla. Te’nte’n ja’ mëjjä’ätyëjk myatyä’äkt. Así
contaron los abuelos. México: UNAM. • Romero Méndez, Rodrigo. Forthcoming. La evolución de los -mbres vocálicos en lenguas mixes. Los
efectos de la palatalización. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. • SEP. 1983. Lecto-‐escritura en lengua mixe. Libro del maestro. Mixe, Ayutla, Zona Alta, Oaxaca.
México. • SEP. 1984. N’ayuuk nekZ. Mi libro Mixe, primer grado, Alotepec, Oaxaca. • SEP. 2004. N’a n’ïyük. Lengua mixe, zona media. Oaxaca. • SEP. N’ayuuk lipötsy. Mi primer libro-‐Primer grado, Guichicovi. • Suslak, Daniel. 2003. The story of ö: Orthography and cultural poliAcs in the Mixe Highlands.
Pragma-cs 13 (4): 551-‐563. • Suslak, Daniel. 2005. The future of Totontepecano Mixe: youth and language in the Mixe highlands.
Tesis de doctorado, University of Chicago. • Valiñas, Leopoldo. 1991. Apuntes para una dialectología del mixe. Anales de Antroplogía 28:
437-‐456. • Wichmann, Søren. 1995. The rela-onship among the Mixe-‐Zoquean languages of Mexico. Salt Lake
City: University of Utah Press. • Zavala, L. (comp.). 2013a. Nëwempët matya’aky. Aguilar (trad.). México: Ediciones del Hermitaño. • Zavala, L. (comp.). 2013b. Nëwempït matyä’äky. Comix (trad.). México: Ediciones del Hermitaño.
Tyoskujuyë’p