Zoogocho Zapotec, or ,Long & Cruz (1999) is a Zapotec language of Oaxaca, Mexico.

It is spoken in San Bartolomé Zoogocho, Oaxaca, Santa María Yalina, Tabehua, and Oaxaca City.

As of 2013, about 1,500 "Zoogochenses" live in Los Angeles, California. Classes are held in the MacArthur Park neighborhood to preserve the Zoogocho Zapotec language.

The language is also known as Tabehua, Yalina, Zapoteco de San Bartolomé Zoogocho, and Zoogocho.

Phonology Vowels Front Back Closei(u)MideoOpena There are a total of five vowels in San Bartolomé Zoogocho Zapotec. The vowel /u/ only appears in loanwords. Phonation types include: VV, VhV, V'. VV stands for double vowels that are pronounced with creaky voice, vowels with an /h/ between them are pronounced with breathy voice and vowels such as V' are checked vowels.

Tones Tones include high, mid, low, rising and falling. Lower tonal qualities are seen more commonly in breathy tones, while checked vowels have a higher tone quality. Although it's common for breathy to have a lower tones and checked vowels commonly have higher tones, this is considered a distinct phenomenon and tone can't be predicted based on phonation types.

Example: 'weapon’

Stress In Zoogocho Zapotec, stress is most commonly found on the penultimate syllable of a stem. In words consisting of two roots, the stress (accent) will fall on the second root.

Example: 'nixtamal'; 'the tortilla'

Syllable Structure Syllables are created according to the pattern (C)CV(V)(C)(C). Vowels in a syllable may carry any phonation type.

Consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalRetroflexVelarLabio-velarUvularGlottalPlosivevoicelessptkkʷʔvoicedbdɡAffricatevoicelesstʃvoiceddʒFricativevoicelesssʃʂvoicedzʒʐʁNasalvoicedmnvoicelessn̥Rhotic(ɾ)Lateralvoicedlvoicelessl̥Approximantjw A few sounds also occur in loanwords from Spanish: /f/, /ɾ/, /ɲ/, /x/, /r/, /ɲ/, and /x/.

Morphology

Nominal Morphology

Nominal means to be categorized in a group of nouns and adjectives, the morphology occurs in a noun phrase.

Possession Possession is indicated by placing the possessor or possessive pronoun after the item possessed (Inherent possession is the items being possessed) which is marked prenominally with prefix , the possessed nominal then is developed by a pronominal clitic or noun phrase.

Pronominal Clitic Or noun phrase is pronounced like an affix. Clitics play a syntactic role at the phrase level.

Verbal Morphology No tense in this language. Zoogocho Zapotec relies on 'temporal particles' , or .

Primary Aspect Events that are still occurring, occurred, or will occur over a period of time. The continuative aspect of the examples is .

The completive aspect is usually marked as or . This aspect reflects the completion of the event occurred.

The potential aspect refers to an event that has not yet happened or an event that has not been specified. This aspect is marked by or .

The stative aspect is referred to as the prefix or by nothing at all. This aspect has multiple uses, such as, expressing the states and conditions and habitual meaning.

+Table 4.1 Conjugation in gw-Conjugation in gw-Potential gw- Completiveb-Continuativedx-Stative n-

Orthography Dillawalhall Zapotec Alphabet a, b, ch, chh, d, e, f, g, i, j, k, l, ll, lh, m, n, nh, o, p, r, rh, s, sh, t, u, w, x, xh, y, z.

Vowels Vowels are as follows. +Letter(s)ExampleA/a, E/e, I/i, O/o "grave", "ash", "No, negation", "rope"A'/a', E'/e', I'/i', O'/o' "Oaxaca", "skin disease", "sting", "home"A'A, a'a, E'E, e'e, I'I, i'i O'O/u'u "corn", "wall", "it is heavy", "let’s go"

Consonants Consonants are as follows. +Letter(s)ExamplesB/b "ash", "bug"CH/ch "two", "already"CHH/chh "something being done", "then", "tos"D/d "see", "ash", "away", "there"F/f "Brugmansia arborea"G/g "nine", "ladder", "sweet patato", "my ear"J/j "hen", "well", "rooster", "cane"K/j "so", "dog", "so", "is", "am"L/l "aguave stalk flower", "snake", "fish", "certain"LL/ll "down, south", "day", "tiger", "scar"LH/lh "your number", "your house", "you", "in the morning"M/m (rare) "money", "basket", "owl"N/n "today, now", "ten", "person"NH/nh "here", "nixtamal", "there", "mother", "I washed", "clarity"P/p (rare) "greeting", "four", "rainbow"R/r (In loanwords, rare) "at", "pink, rice", "pink"RH/rh (rare) "little", "daisy"S/s "high (wall, house, tree)", "piece of glass", "irrigation", "scrape/set in motion", "water"SH/sh "10", "casserole", "buzzard", "Amarillo", "changes"T/t "four", "one", "when", "corn"W/w "orange", "firewood", "musician", "dance", "my grandmother", "worker"X/x "Zoogocho", "your father", "six", "tomato", "vulture", "scourer"XH/xh "your dog", "barañas", "kiss", "jicara", "six"Y/y "iron", "tree", "ice", "my tooth", "Yaté"Z/z "bean", "vixen", "path", "mouse"

Syntax

Sentence Structure Zoogocho Zapotec normally uses the Verb–Subject–Object sentence structure. It is also possible to form Object–Verb–Subject or Subject–Verb–Object sentences. +Sentence StructureVerb Subject Object (VSO)Object Verb Subject (OVS)Subject Verb Object (SVO)

Noun Phrases Adjective-Noun Order: The ordering of adjectives and nouns.

When asked to cite adjectives in isolation, native speakers will invariably put , the inanimate classifier, in front of the adjective.

is used as an inanimate classifier, is a classifier for small things and is an animate classifier. These three classifiers can be used in sentences when agreeing with the head noun.

Plural Markers can be used to mark a plural noun. Plural markers are not always present in plural noun phrases, and plurality can also be inferred from context or from verbal marking.

Demonstratives Demonstratives follow their nouns, and either appear by themselves or with a classifier.

Determiners The determiner is a clitic which has three main variants; , which occurs following a non-nasal consonant, which occurs after noun phrases ending in /n/ or /n̥/, and or which occur in free variation after vowels. Determiners occur at the end of a noun phrase.

References

External links Long C., Rebecca & Sofronio Cruz M., compilers. 1999. Diccionario Zapoteco de San Bartolomé Zoogocho Oaxaca. Coyoacán D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano. Zoogocho Zapotec language resources OLAC resources in and about the Zoogocho Zapotec language