Sochiapam Chinantec

Sochiapam
Native toMexico
RegionOaxaca
Ethnicity6,300 Chinantecs (no date)[1]
Native speakers
(3,600 cited 2000)[2]
Oto-Mangue
  • Western Oto-Mangue
Language codes
ISO 639-3cso
Glottologsoch1239
ELPWestern Chinantec

Sochiapam (/soʊˈtʃiːəpæm/ soh-CHEE-ə-pam) is a Chinantec language of Mexico. It is most similar to Tlacoatzintepec Chinantec, with which it has 66% intelligibility (intelligibility in the reverse direction is 75%, presumably due to greater familiarity in that direction).[2]

Sochiapam has seven tones: high, mid, low, high falling, mid falling, mid rising, low rising.[3] [verification needed]

Like other Chinantec and Mazatec languages, Sochiapam Chinantec is noted for having whistled speech (produced only by men, but understood by all). More unusually, it has also been reported to have a rare marked absolutive case system.[citation needed]

Phonology

The following are sounds of Sochiapan Chinantec:[4]

Consonants
Labial Interdental Alveolar Retroflex Velar Laryngeal
Nasal m n ŋ
Stop voiceless p t k ʔ
voiced (ɡ)
Affricate ts
Fricative voiceless (ɸ) θ s h
voiced β ð ʐ
Liquid lateral l
rhotic (ɾ)
1. Parenthesised sounds are loans, allophones, or free variants
2. /p, t, k/ tends to be slightly aspirated
3. Alveolar and velar consonants are palatalised before the semivowel /j/
Vowels
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
High i ɨ u
Mid e ɘ o
Low a
Tones

References

  1. ^ Sochiapam Chinantec at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009) Closed access icon
  2. ^ a b Sochiapam at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  3. ^ Sochiapan Chinantec (SIL-Mexico)
  4. ^ Foris, David. (1973). Sochiapan Chinantec Syllable Structure. International Journal of American Linguistics, 39(4), 232-235.
  • Foris, David Paul. 2000. A grammar of Sochiapam Chinantec. Studies in Chinantec languages 6. Dallas: SIL International and UT Arlington.