Huichol language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Huichol Vixaritari Vaniuqui, Vizaritari Vaniuki |
||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Mexico: Nayarit, Zacatecas and Jalisco | |
| Total speakers: | approx. 20,000 (1990) | |
| Language family: | American Uto-aztecan Coracholan Huichol |
|
| Official status | ||
| Official language in: | none | |
| Regulated by: | Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas (INALI) | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | – | |
| ISO 639-3: | hch | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
The Huichol language is an indigenous language of Mexico, belonging to the Uto-Aztecan language family. It is spoken by the ethnic group widely known as the Huichol who refer to themselves as Wixarika, and who inhabit the northern Sierra of the Mexican states of Nayarit, Zacatecas and Jalisco.
Huichol is a Mesoamerican language and shows many of the traits that define the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area. Under the "Law of Linguistic Rights" it is recognized as a "national language" along with 62 other indigenous languages and Spanish which have the same "validity" in Mexico [1]. Huichol is a tonal language distinguishing high and low tone[1]
Contents |
[edit] Geographic Distribution
[edit] Genealogy
The closest relatives of the Huichol language is the Cora language together with which it forms the Coracholan subgroup of the Uto-Aztecan languages, also the Taracahitan group of languages containing among others the languages Tarahumara, Yaqui and Mayo is related to Huichol.
- General Uto-Aztecan
- Coracholan branch
- Huichol language
- Cora languages
- Coracholan branch
[edit] Phoneme Inventory
[edit] Vowels
There are six vowel phonemes, namely /i, e, a, o, u, ɨ/.
[edit] Consonants
| Bilabial | Coronal | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Occlusive | p | t | k | kʷ | ʔ | ||
| Affricate | c | ||||||
| Fricative | s | x* | h | ||||
| Approximant | r, x* | y | w | ||||
| Nasal | m | n |
[edit] Media
Huichol-language programming is carried by the CDI's radio station XEJMN-AM, broadcasting from Jesús María, Nayarit.
[edit] References
- ^ Suaréz, Jorge, 1983, The Mesoamerican Indian Languages, Cambridge, CUP, pg 51
- Joseph E. Grimes, 1959. "Huichol Tone and Intonation", International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol. 25, No. 4. (Oct., 1959), pp. 221-232.
- McIntosh, John B. 1945. "Huichol phonemes." International Journal of American Linguistics 11: 31-35
- José Luis Iturrioz Leza y Julio Ramírez de la Cruz, et al., 2001, Gramática Didáctica del Huichol: Vol. I. Estructura Fonológica y Sistema de Escritura, Departamento de Estudios en Lenguas Indígenas-Universidad de Guadalajara – Secretaria de Educación Pública, Vol. 1,
