Southern Popoloca language
Popolocan language of Puebla, Mexico
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Southern Popoloca is an indigenous language of Puebla state, Mexico. There are two principal varieties, sometimes counted as distinct languages:
- San Juan Atzingo Popoloca (a.k.a. Atzingo, San Juan)
- Metzontla Popoloca (a.k.a. Los Reyes Metzontla Popoloca) which are about 75% mutually intelligible.
Phonology
Consonants
- Consonants preceding /h/ are then heard as aspirated [Cʰ]; when preceding /ʔ/, they are heard as ejectives [Cʼ].
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alv. | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | voiced | m | n | |||||
| voiceless | m̥ | n̥ | ||||||
| Plosive/Affricate | voiceless | p | t͡s | t | t͡ʂ | t͡ʃ | k | ʔ |
| aspirated | t͡sʰ | tʰ | t͡ʂʰ | t͡ʃʰ | kʰ | |||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮd͡ʒ | ᵑɡ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | (f) | s | ʃ ~ ʂ | x | |||
| prenasal | ⁿz | ᵑɣ | ||||||
| Rhotic | voiced | r | ||||||
| prenasal | ⁿr | |||||||
| Lateral | l | |||||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||||
Marginal affricates include /k͡f, s͡t/.
- /ʃ/ is heard as retroflex [ʂ] when before vowels /a, ã, u, ũ/.
- /f/ is heard only from loanwords.
- /j/ may be realized as a nasal [ɲ] when in the position of nasal vowels.
- Stop consonants when preceding /ʔ/ are heard as ejectives [Cʼ].
Vowels
- /o, õ/ when heard in diphthongs, and after consonants /t, k, ʔ, t͡ʃ, t͡ʂ, ʂ, n̥/ is heard as [u, ũ].
- Nasalization is indicated by ⟨n⟩ after the vowel.[2]
Tones
Mezontla Popoloca has 3 tonemes.[3]
