Jalapa Mazatec (Ndaxjò)

Jalapa Mazatec is Oto-Manguean language spoken in the Tuxtepec District of the north of the Mexican State of Oaxaca, mainly near the town of San Felipe Jalapa de Díaz. In 2005 there were by about 23,200 speakers of Jalapa Mazatec, which is also known as Lowland Mazatec, Mazateco de San Felipe Jalapa de Díaz, or Mazateco del este bajo.

There is a whistled version of Jalapa Mazatec.

The language is used in homes, businesses, churches, and in local government. It is also taught in schools, alongside Spanish.

Jalapa Mazatec alphabet and pronunciation

Notes

Vowels are nasalized after m, n and ñ
hw is pronounced [ɸ] before e and i
The high tone can be indicated with an acute accent (á), the middle tone can be indicated by a macron (ā), or is unmarked, and the low tone can be indicated with a grave accent (à)
Creaky vowels are pronounced in high tones and are written with an acute accent (á), modal vowels are pronounced in middle tones and are unmarked (a), and breathy vowels are pronounced in low tones and are written underlined (a̱)
The labial velars /w̥ w w̰ kʷ/ become bilabial [ɸ β β̰ kᶲ] before e or i
Vowels became nasal before m or n

Download alphabet charts for Jalapa Mazatec in PDF or Excel format.

Sample text

Nku xú chána̱tsé kisakuyá xúhu̱ nku ni̱jmé. I̱s'a̱i xú y'éntje̱ chána̱tsée̱ kui ni̱jmée̱, b'a̱ tjíu̱n. Nga xú ja kuma nk'a xú jnu̱hu̱ chána̱tsée̱, i̱s'a̱i xú b'a̱ kitsú: “Tsa tu̱ sahá i̱chí kuenta̱ nji̱ kfihi̱nnchíhi̱í jóo̱ ñá kai, déíhi̱”, tsu xú.

Translation

There was once a rabbit that found a grain of corn. The rabbit planted it, and when the cornfield grew, he said to himself: “Let's go borrow corn from the people on account of our milpa”.

Source: XÛJÛN ÉN NTÁXJÔ Narraciones Mazatecas con Glosario Mazateco de Jalapa de Díaz y españo

Information provided by Wolfram Siegel and Michael Peter Füstumum

Sample video

Links

Information about Jalapa Mazatec languages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalapa_Mazatec
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazatèque_de_Jalapa https://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/maj/
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/jala1237
http://lengamer.org/publicaciones/trabajos/mazateco_jalapa_socio.pdf

Oto-Manguean languages

Chinanteco, Chatino, Mazahua, Mazatec, Mazatec (Chiquihuitlán), Mazatec (Jalapa), Mixtec, Mixtec (Chayuco), Mixtec (Coatzospan), Otomi, Otomi (Acazulco), Otomi (Sierra), Otomi (Temoaya), Tlapanec, Triqui (Chicahuaxtla), Triqui (Copala), Triqui (San Martín Itunyos), Triqui (Santo Domingo del Estero), Zapotec (Aloápam), Zapotec (Choápam), Zapotec (Güilá), Zapotec (Isthmus), Zapotec (Miahuatlán), Zapotec (Rincón), Zapotec (San Dionisio Ocotepec), Zapotec (Zoogocho)

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page last modified: 23.04.21

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