Mazahua language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mazahua Hñatho |
||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Mexico: Mexico (state), Michoacan | |
| Total speakers: | ca 350.000[1] | |
| Language family: | Oto-Manguean Oto-Pamean Otomian Mazahua |
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| Official status | ||
| Official language of: | none | |
| Regulated by: | Secretaría de Educación Pública | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | ||
| ISO 639-3: | either: mmc — Michoacan Mazahua maz — Central Mazahua |
|
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
The Mazahua language is an indigenous language of Mexico, spoken in central Mexico states by the ethnic group widely known as the Mazahua but who refer to themselves as Hñatho. Mazahua is a Mesoamerican language and shows many of the traits which define the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area. Along with some 62 other indigenous languages, it is recognised by a statutory law of Mexico[2] as an official language in the Mexican Federal District and the other administrative divisions in which it is spoken, and on an equal footing with Spanish.The largest concentration of Mazahua is found in the municipality of San Felipe Progreso, Mexico state, near Toluca.
The closest relatives of the Mazahua language are the Otomi, Matlatzinca and Ocuilteco/Tlahuica languages, which together with Mazahua form the Otomian subgroup of the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean linguistic family.
Mazahua is a tonal language and distinguishes high lown and falling tones on all syllables except the final syllable of a word on which the wordstress falls predictably.
[edit] Notes
- ^ According to the 1990 Mexican census Mazahua speakers numbered 127,826; the Ethnologue counts some 350,000 Mazahua but this number is thought to be exaggerated (Knapp 2002).
- ^ The Ley General de Derechos Lingüísticos de los Pueblos Indígenas ("General Law of the Linguistic Rights of Indigenous peoples"), decree published 13 March 2003
[edit] References
- Knapp Ring, Michael Herbert, Fonología del mazahua, Tesis de licenciatura, ENAH, México, 1996
- Michael Knapp, 2002 “Elementos de dialectología Mazahua" In "Del Cora Al Maya Yucateco: Estudios Linguisticos Sobre Algunas Lenguas Indigenas Mexicanas" Paulette Levy (Ed.), Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico
