Opata language
| Ópata | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Mexico (traditionally Sonora state, now possibly D.F.) |
| Ethnicity | Opata |
| Extinct | pronounced extinct ca. 1930 but 15 speakers allegedly found by INI in 1993. Accepted as extinct in 2010 by Ethnologue and by INALI. |
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Uto-Aztecan
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| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | opat1247 |
Ópata (also Teguima, Eudeve, Heve, Dohema) is either of two closely related Uto-Aztecan languages, Teguima and Eudeve, spoken by the Opata people of northern central Sonora in Mexico. It was believed to be dead already in 1930, and Carl Sofus Lumholtz reported the Opata to have become "Mexicanized" and lost their language and customs already when traveling through Sonora in the 1890s. In a 1993 survey by the Instituto Nacional Indigenista fifteen people in the Mexican Federal District self identified as speakers of Ópata. This may not mean however that the language was actually living, since linguistic nomenclature in Mexico is notoriously fuzzy. Sometimes Eudeve is called Opata, a term which should be restricted to Teguima. Eudeve (which is split into the Heve (Egue) and Dohema dialects) and Teguima (Also called Ópata, Ore) are distinct languages, but sometimes have been considered merely dialects of one single language. The INALI (Mexican National Institute for Indigenous Languages) does not count Opata among the currently extant indigenous languages of Mexico.
Opata had long been considered to be part of the Taracahitic languages, but this is no longer considered a valid genetic unit.
Opata is an agglutinative language, where words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemes strung together.
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