Huehuetla Tepehua is a moribund Tepehua language spoken in Huehuetla, northeastern Hidalgo, Mexico. There are fewer than 1,500 speakers left according to Susan Smythe Kung (2007).
Syntax Word order tends to be VSO, although it can be SVO at times (Kung 2007).
Phonology Consonants
Huehuelta Tepehua has 26 consonant phonemes.The following table lists these phonemes and uses Kung's practical orthography in angled brackets.
+Consonant phonemes Labial Alveolar Post-alveolar Velar Uvular Glottal Nasal Stop/Affricate () () () Fricative Approximant Trill Flap
The voiced stops , , and , as well as the flap and the trill , appear only in loanwords and ideophones.
In younger speakers, the uvular /q/ has merged with the glottal stop /ʔ/. Based on fieldwork from previous linguists and interviews with modern speakers, Kung theorizes that merged into between 1945 and 1984. When Kung began her fieldwork in 1999, was only consistently found in speakers over 65.
Vowels
Hueheutla Tepehua has ten phonemic vowels. Earlier stages of the language only had six, with , , , and in complimentary distribution.
+Vowel PhonemesFrontCentralBackHigh Mid Low
Morphology Huehuetla Tepehua has a large variety of affixes.
Valency-changing affixes Reflexive Reciprocal Dative Causative Instrumental Comitative Applicative
Aspectual derivational affixes Inchoative Imminent Roundtrip Ambulative Begin Desiderative Repetitive Again All Distal Proximal
Derivative affixes Agent nominalizer Non-agentive nominalizers and Deverbalizer Instrumental and Locative Applicative Comitative
Further reading
References
Sources