Mitla Zapotec

Mitla Zapotec, or Didxsaj, is an Oto-Manguean language of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Guelavia Zapotec is reported to be 75% intelligible, but the reverse is apparently not the case.

Mitla Zapotec has the following consonants:

• Fortis: p, t, k, k^w, s, ʃ, m:, n:, l:
• Lenis: b, d, g, g^w, z, ʒ, m, n, l
• Neutral: ɾ [flap r], r [trill r], f, x, ʔ, h, w, y.

/f/ is rare in native words.

• Mitla Zapotec has six vowels: /a, æ, e, i, o, u/. The vowel /æ/ is written ⟨ä⟩ in the practical orthography.

Vowels contrast in phonation, with a difference between modal phonation, breathy phonation, and creaky phonation. For example

• gihts [gi̤ts] 'paper'
• be'ts [bḛts] 'louse'

Mitla Zapotec has little noun morphology. Pluralization is indicated by a plural proclitic /re=/, as in the following example

Alienably possessed nouns have a prefix ʃ- (spelled ⟨x⟩ in the popular orthography), as in the following examples (cited first in practical orthography, then in IPA).

Briggs analyses Mitla Zapotec as having six aspects, each of which has an ablative ('go and V') and non-ablative variant. They are

1. continuative, e.g., ka' 'to take' ka-ká'-ni 'he continually takes'
2. habitual, e.g., wi 'to see' r-wi-ni 'he habitually sees'
3. completive, e.g., sloh 'to begin' gu-sloh-ni 'he began'
4. potential, e.g., sæu 'to close' gu-su-ni-ni 'he is going to close it'
5. unfulfilled, e.g., llux 'to finish' nu-llûx-ni 'he didn't finish'
6. incomplete, e.g., re 'to invite' zu-re-ni 'he will invite'

The following example shows the aspectual inflection of three verbs in Mitla Zapotec.

Person marking is shown with a set of post-verbal clitics, which are used for both subjects and objects

The following examples show examples of verbs with aspect and person marking

The most basic word order is VSO. However, SVO also occurs, especially with a topicalized subject.

• "Mitla Zapotec (zaw)". Summer Institute of Linguistics in Mexico. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
• Briggs, Elinor. 1961. Mitla Zapotec grammar. Mexico City: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano and Centro de Investigaciones Antropológicas de México.
• Stubblefield, Morris and Carol Stubblefield. 1991. Diccionario Zapoteco de Mitla. Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, Mexico.
• Stubblefield, Morris & Carol Stubblefield, compilers. 1994. Mitla Zapotec texts. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

• OLAC resources in and about the Mitla Zapotec language