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Sochiapam Chinantec

Language

Sochiapam (/sˈəpæm/ soh-CHEE-ə-pam) is a Chinantec language of Mexico. It is most similar to Tlacoatzintepec Chinantec, with which it has 66% intelligibility (intelligibility in the reverse direction is 75%, presumably due to greater familiarity in that direction).

Sochiapam has seven tones: high, mid, low, high falling, mid falling, mid rising, low rising.

Like other Chinantec and Mazatec languages, Sochiapam Chinantec is noted for having whistled speech (produced only by men, but understood by all). More unusually, it has also been reported to have a rare marked absolutive case system.

01Phonology

The following are sounds of Sochiapan Chinantec:

Consonants
Labial Interdental Alveolar Retroflex Velar Laryngeal
Nasal m n ŋ
Stop voiceless p t k ʔ
voiced (ɡ)
Affricate ts
Fricative voiceless (ɸ) θ s h
voiced β ð ʐ
Liquid lateral l
rhotic (ɾ)
1. Parenthesised sounds are loans, allophones, or free variants
2. /p, t, k/ tends to be slightly aspirated
3. Alveolar and velar consonants are palatalised before the semivowel /j/
Vowels
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
High i ɨ u
Mid e ɘ o
Low a
Tones
Watch videos about Sochiapam ChinantecExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Sochiapam Chinantec, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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