Tepehuán language
Uto-Aztecan language spoken in Mexico
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tepehuán (Tepehuano) is the name of three closely related languages of the Piman branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family, all spoken in northern Mexico. The language is called O'otham by its speakers.
| Tepehuán | |
|---|---|
| O'otham | |
| Native to | Mexico |
| Region | Chihuahua, Durango |
| Ethnicity | Tepehuán |
Native speakers | 55,000 (2020 census)[1] |
| Dialects | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:ntp – Northern Tepehuánstp – Southeastern Tepehuántla – Southwestern Tepehuántep – Tepecano |
| Glottolog | tepe1281 |
 Northern Tepehuán is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
 Southwestern Tepehuán is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Internal classification
- Tepehuán
- Northern Tepehuán
- Southern Tepehuán
- Southeastern Tepehuán
- Southwestern Tepehuán
Northern Tepehuán
Northern Tepehuán is spoken by about 10,000 people (2020 census)[1] in several settlements in Guadalupe y Calvo and Guachochi, Chihuahua, as well as in the north of Durango.[2] communities like Santiago Papasquiaro—including El Jaguey, Colonia José Ramón Valdez (1616 historical revolt area), El Huisache (Leyva-Tafoya family ranch), and Jose Maria Morelos settlements.
The Ódami—self-named "People of This Land" in their ancient tongue—resided in these Sierra Madre strongholds as Nahuatl-labeled "mountain people" (tepetl 'mountain' + huani 'inhabitant') by Mexica/Tepanec, marking them as frontier traders, allies, or rivals beyond the Aztec Triple Alliance (Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, Tlacopan). In 1616, Northern Ódami led a major revolt (1616–1620) against Spanish Jesuits and settlers, killing over 200 Spaniards and 10 missionaries in coordinated attacks on Atotonilco and Santiago Papasquiaro under leaders like Quautlatas and Francisco Gogoxito, before Spanish suppression amid massive losses (~4,000 Ódami warriors).[3][4][5]
Media
Morphology
Tepehuán is an agglutinative language, in which words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemes strung together.
Phonology
Northern Tepehuan
The following is representative of the Northern dialect of Tepehuan.[6]
Vowels
Consonants
Nasal consonants /n, ɲ/ become [ŋ] when preceding a velar consonant.
Southern Tepehuan
The following is representative of the Southeastern dialect of Tepehuan.[7]
Vowels
Consonants
/v/ is sometimes realized as [f] in word-final position. /l/ appears only in loanwords from Spanish.
Sample Tepehuan Text
Northern Tepehuan:
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Southeastern Tepehuan:
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Further reading
- Gil Burgoin, Carlos Ivanhoe (2021). "Northern Tepehuan". Illustrations of the IPA. Journal of the International Phonetic Association: 1–17. doi:10.1017/S002510032100013X, with supplementary sound recordings.
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