Tepehuán language

Not to be confused with Tepehua languages.

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]
Language family	Uto-Aztecan Southern Uto-Aztecan Tepiman Tepehuán
Dialects	Tepecano
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: ntp – Northern Tepehuán stp – Southeastern Tepehuán tla – Southwestern Tepehuán tep – Tepecano
Glottolog	tepe1281
ELP	Southern Tepehuán Northern Tepehuán
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

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]

Southern Tepehuán

Southern Tepehuán is spoken by about 45,000 people,^[1] about equally divided into:

• Southeastern Tepehuán in Mezquital Municipio in the state of Durango.
• Southwestern Tepehuán in southwestern Durango.

Southern Tepehuán coexists with the Mexicanero language; there is some intermarriage between the two ethnic groups, and a number of speakers are trilingual in Mexicanero, Tepehuán and Spanish.

Media

Tepehuán-language programming is carried by the CDI's radio stations XEJMN-AM, broadcasting from Jesús María, Nayarit, and XETAR, based in Guachochi, Chihuahua.

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.^[3]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Mid			o
Open		a

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		tʲ	k
	voiced	b	d		dʲ	ɡ
Affricate				t͡ʃ
Fricative		v	s	ʃ		x
Nasal		m	n		ɲ
Rhotic			r
Approximant			l

Nasal consonants /n, ɲ/ become [ŋ] when preceding a velar consonant.

Southern Tepehuan

The following is representative of the Southeastern dialect of Tepehuan.^[4]

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	ɯ	u
Mid		ʌ	o
Open		ɑ

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t			k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d			ɡ
Affricate	voiceless			t͡ʃ
	voiced			d͡ʒ		ɣ͡ʎ
Fricative		v	s	ʃ			h
Nasal		m	n		ɲ
Rhotic			ɾ
Approximant			(l)		j

/v/ is sometimes realized as [f] in word-final position. /l/ appears only in loanwords from Spanish.

Sample Tepehuan Text

Northern Tepehuan:

Gʌrooga aapipʌsmaacʌdʌ tʌvaagɨʌrʌ daja, aatʌmʌ ipʌlidɨ ɨʌoodami gʌšiia duutuadagɨ. Vai otoma aʌna istuigaco gatʌaanʌda agai aapi ʌʌgɨ tami oidigɨ daama. Vaidʌ ʌpʌduuna pʌštumaasɨ aapɨ ipʌlidi tami oidigi daama poduucai isduucai ʌpʌvueeyi tʌvaagiʌrʌ. Gʌrsoiñañi tʌtai viaaca aatʌmʌ cuaadagai tʌšɨ ʌʌšɨ tʌgito sivɨ vʌʌtarʌ. Gʌroigʌldañɨ gʌrsoimaascamiga tʌsmaacʌdʌ ivueeyi poduucai tʌsduucai oigʌldi aatʌmʌ ʌgai ismaacʌdʌ šoimaasi gʌrvuiididi. Maiti dagito išʌDiaavora gʌraagiadan taadacagi isiduñia aatʌmʌ soimaasi. Cʌʌ maatʌ aatʌmʌ isaapi ʌrʌgʌʌ baitʌc ʌaacamitʌvaagiʌrʌ dai oidi daama tomastuigaco, dai aapi vaamioma viaa guvucadagaɨ tomastuigaco istomali ʌmo ʌmai daɨ isaliʌšɨ gʌaagai ɨsvʌʌšɨ oodami gʌsiaa duutuadagɨ tomastuigaco.

Our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, :but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Southeastern Tepehuan:

Utogga atemo tubaggue :dama Santu sicamoe uggue ututugaraga duviana uguiere api odduna gutuguito daraga tami dubar dama tubggue. Udguaddaga ud macane schibi ud joigadane ud seca doada raga addu cate abemo joigudu jut jaddune maitague daguito soy macire ud niuca dacane api odduna. Amen, Jesus.

Our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be :thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done :on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, :but deliver us from evil. For thine is the :kingdom and the power and the glory for ever :and ever. Amen.

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.

References

1. Lenguas indígenas y hablantes de 3 años y más, 2020 INEGI. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020.
2. "Catálogo de las Lenguas Indígenas Nacionales".
3. Bascom, Burton (1982). Northern Tepehuan. Studies in Uto-Aztecan grammar 3: Uto-Aztecan grammatical sketches: Summer Institute of Linguistics. pp. 267–393.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
4. Willett, Thomas L. (1988). A Reference Grammar of Southeastern Tepehuan.