Chinantec of Ojitlán

Ojitlán Chinantec (Chinanteco de San Lucas Ojitlán) is a major Chinantecan language of Mexico, spoken in four towns in San Lucas Ojitlán of northern Oaxaca, and in the Veracruz municipos of Minatitlán and Hidalgotitlán.

Ojitlán Chinantec
Native toMexico
RegionOaxaca, Veracruz
EthnicityChinantecs
Native speakers
38,000 (2000)[1]
Oto-Mangue
  • Western Oto-Mangue
    • Oto-Pame–Chinantecan
Language codes
ISO 639-3chj
Glottologojit1237
ELPNorthern Chinantec

Writing system

Several spellings of Chinantec of Ojitlán have been developed. The Institute National for Adult Education (INEA) and SIL International use different spellings.

In the spelling of INEA, the high tone is indicated using the acute accent of the letter of the vowel, the medium tone by the absence of a diacritic above or below it, the low tone using the underlined line, and the very low tone using the double underlined line. This spelling uses seven letters for the vowels: ‹ a, e, ɇ, i, ɨ, o, u ›.

Phonology

Vowels

There are only a few monomorphemic words that display contrastive vowel length, so this Chinantecan feature may be being lost from Ojitlán.

[2] Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
Close oral i ɯ u
nasal ĩ ɯ̃ (ũ)
Mid oral e ɤ o
nasal (ẽ) ɤ̃ õ
Open oral a
nasal ã

/i e o/ are freely realized as [ɪ ɛ ɔ]. /a/ is occasionally [æ].

/ɯ/ and /ɤ/ are difficult to distinguish, but there are a few minimal pairs.

Each vowel can be nasalized. /ẽ/ and /ũ/ are rare.

Consonants
[2] Labial Alveolar Retroflex Postalv.
/ Palatal		 Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t k ʔ
voiced ɡ ~ ɣ
Fricative s ʃ h
Affricate t͡s t͡ʃ
Trill r
Nasal voiced m n ŋ
voiceless m̥ n̥ ŋ̊
Lateral voiced l ɭ
voiceless ɭ̥
Glide voiced w j
voiceless w̥ j̊

/p/ is uncommon.

Some consonants are nearly in complementary distribution:

  • /ɡ/ only occurs before /i/, whereas /k/ rarely occurs before /i/. Post-pausa /ɡ/ may be realized as [ŋg] or [ɣ], whereas intervocalic /ɡ/ is nearly always [ɣ].
  • /tʃ/ occurs before front vowels and /a/, whereas /ts/ occurs before back vowels and /a/.

/r/ is occasionally a single-contract trill, and post-pausa may be [nr].

/l/ is apical alveolar.

/ŋ/ and /ŋ̊/ are [ɲ, ɲ̊] before /i/.

The voiceless sonorants are analyzed as /hC/ sequences in other Chinantecan languages, and in addition there is a series of /ʔC/ sequences /ʔm, ʔŋ, ʔw, ʔj/ in Ojitlán. The Ojitlán retroflex lateral corresponds to /ʔl/ in other Chinantec, and that is perhaps how it should be analized in Ojitlán as well.

Tones

Syllables may be unstressed or have normal stress. Normal stress involves increased length and amplitude of the vowel. What was historically ballistic stress is realized in Ojitlán as extra-high and extra-low tones (from ballistic high and ballistic falling, respectively), and tend to involve aspiration of the consonant, breathiness of the vowel and a sharp falling pitch but not the other correlates of Chinantecan ballistic syllables. There are also a number of phonemic (as opposed to just phonetic) contour tones, though the number had not been established as of Macaulay (1999).[2]

Ojitlán tones
ToneExampleTranslationPhonetic realization
Extra high a̋ʔcricket sharp falling contour
High óʔbroken slight rising-falling contour
Mid ɤ̄ʔmeasles slight falling contour
Low àmany slight rising-falling contour
Extra low ɯ̏ʔwhen sharp falling contour
Low rising kĩ́ʔo᷅ʔdoor
Mid rising he᷄ːŋã̄forest
High falling ʔnã᷇open
Mid falling tʃi᷆ːgood

References
  1. Ojitlán Chinantec at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Macaulay, Monica. (1999). Ojitlán Chinantec Phonology and Morphology. Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, 24(2), 71-84.
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