The Pame languages are a group of languages in Mexico that is spoken by around 12,000 Pame people in the state of San Luis Potosí. It belongs to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family.
Distribution and languages Ethnologue notes two living varieties of Pame both spoken in the state of San Luis Potosí: Central Pame, in the town of Santa María Acapulco,Central Pame and Northern Pame,Ethnologue: Northern Pame in communities from the north of Río Verde to the border with Tamaulipas.
The third variety, Southern Pame, was last described in the mid 20th century, is assumed to be extinct, and is very sparsely documented. It was spoken in Jiliapan, Hidalgo, and Pacula, Querétaro.SouthernPame
Northern Pame (Ñãʔũ) (~6,000Berthiaume 2004) Central Pame (Šiʔúi) (~6,000) Southern Pame (Šiyúi) (†)
Classification The Pame languages are part of the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family. They are most closely related to the Chichimeca Jonaz language, spoken in Guanajuato, and together, they form the Pamean language groups. During the colonial period, two grammatical descriptions were written.
Phonology
Consonants Berthiaume (2004) report a complex phonology for Northern Pame with contrasts between plain, voiced, aspirated, and glottalized consonants both for the stops, nasals, affricates and approximants.
BilabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalNasal Stop Fricative Affricate Flap Lateral Semivowel
Pame languages are tonal but the exact number of tonal contrasts is a matter of debate. Avelino, Gibson and Manrique have analyzed the language as having three tones: high and low level tones and a falling contour tone (Suárez 1983, pg. 51). However, Berthiaume (2004) argues that only a high and a rising tone exist, no low, level tone.
Vowels Front CentralBack CloseMidOpen
Grammar
Pame grammar is characterized by complex morphophonemics and suppletion. Many grammatical categories are marked by exchanging consonants in patterns that are not fully predictable. The morphology is head-marking, marking agreement with possessors on nouns and with the participants in actions on verbs. Its personal system distinguishes between singular, dual and plural number in all persons, and there is also an exclusive first-person category ("we but not you").
Pame has an octal (base-8) counting system, as the Pame keep counting their knuckles, rather than the fingers.
Examples
The following table shows the numbers and some basic words in different varieties of Pame:Soustelle, 1937, p. 364-365 GLOSS Southern Pame Central PameLos numerales 1-10 no proceden de Soustelle sino de Dr. Heriberto Avelino, 5 November 2008, Northern Pame Northern PameLos numerales 1-10 no proceden de Soustelle sino de Dr. Heriberto Avelino, 5 November 2008, Central Pame PROTO-PAME (Jiliapan) (Tilaco) (Santa María) (Alaquines) 1 nna nna ndɑ sɑnte *nda 2 ti ti-yii nui nuyi *nui 3 niyũ ti-ñũn rɑnhũʔ rnuʔ *-nũʔ 4 tipiyã tyipya ki-ñui giriui *ki-nui 5 špitũnt šputun kikʔɑi gičʔɑi *kikʔɑi 6 tikiyen taken tiliyɑ teriɑ *te- 7 tekiti ki-yii tiliñũhũñ teriuhiñ *te-?i+2 8 teiniyun kyidinũn ndɑ ntsɑwʔ tenhiuñ *te-?-nũʔ 9 nahwẽn nawẽ nda ntsawʔ nda kɑrɑ tenhiuñ santa ? 10 stutʔu štusu seskɑʔɑi kɑrɑ tenhiuñ nuji ? 'head' kiñãu keyãw ganãw ganãu *kənaw 'eye' nta ndao gotao ntao *nta 'nose' šiñũ šiyõa ʦiñowa šiñõã *šiñũ(?) 'mouth' kine kane kona kteye * 'pie' nogua nigowa mokwa mokwa *mokwa 'corn' ʦʔiũ tyõã gu-dhwã tʔwã *tʔwã 'metate' mbot nabʔotʔ kʔyi kʔiyn ? 'chile' bihi mahi mahi lʔu *-hi 'tomato' mpia rumbay lapay dbipay *-pay 'bean' tio tʔawuʔ gu-kʔwe kʔwi *kʔwi(?) 'meat' migu magiybi pakas pakas *mpak-(?) 'eat' dii, nii nii sihin sey *si- 'maguey' ši-nʤia pʔi-doa go-doa ndwa *ndoa 'alcohol' pinkʔi pingi ke-pi ki-pint ? 'forest' mipwi setʔa mabwo kwãn *mikwV (?) 'flower' ntu ndʔow go-tun nkyun *ndo-ni 'dog' nnʔow nnʔow nadu dyo *ndʔo- 'horse' pahan bhãn wahil pahal *pahal-(?) 'stone' kido kudo kotu gitu *ki-nto 'sun' mpãẽ nimbay kunhu mpa *mpay 'moon' mʔõ mʔãũ mʔau mʔãũ *mʔau 'water' bisa masa kwote kãnte *nte 'mountain' tʔoe tʔi go-loe toe *tʔoe 'salt' tʔiũs tʔũs lʔũs tʔũs *tʔũs 'market' tityawt tetãwn kekywãw kikʔyič *teta- 'year' špo šopʔaw ningyihin čyii ? 'week' nimpya nembẽ nembẽyn pyẽy *mpyẽ(y) 'night' sãu nasaw gu-sãw digun *sãw 'cold' ʦe ʦe ʦee ʦee *ʦe(e) 'hot' pa mapa mapa mpa *(ma)pa
Media Pame-language programming is carried by the CDI's radio station XEANT-AM, based in Tancanhuitz de Santos, San Luis Potosí.
References
Bibliography Suaréz, Jorge A. 1983. The Mesoamerican Indian Languages. Cambridge: CUP Berthiaume, S. C. (2004). A phonological grammar of Northern Pame (Doctoral dissertation, PhD thesis, University of Texas at Arlington). Avelino, H. (2006). The typology of Pame number systems and the limits of Mesoamerica as a linguistic area. Linguistic Typology, 9, 493–513. Gibson, L. F. (1956). Pame (Otomi) phonemics and morphophonemics. International Journal of American Linguistics, 22(4), 242–265. Gibson, Lorna, and Doris Bartholomew. "Pame noun inflection." International Journal of American Linguistics 45, no. 4 (1979): 309–322. Manrique Castañeda, Leonardo. "Análisis preliminar del vocabulario pame de Fray Juan Guadalupe Soriano." In Anales de Antropología, vol. 12, no. 1. 2009. Castañeda, L. M. (1960). Dos gramáticas pames del siglo XVIII. Anales del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, sexta época (1945–1967), 11, 283–287. Lastra, Y. (2015). Tratado del arte y unión de los idiomas otomí y pame; Vocabularios de los idiomas pame, otomi, mexicano y jonaz de Fray Juan Guadalupe Soriano. Manrique Castañeda, Leonardo. 1967. Jiliapan Pame. The Handbook of Middle American Indians, ed. by Robert Wauchope, general editor, Norman McQuown, volume editor, vol. 5, 331–48. Austin: University of Texas Press. Soustelle, Jacques (1992): La familia Otomí-Pame de México Central, Fondo de Cultura Económica, México DF, .
External links A Phonological Grammar of Northern Pame