Zapotec language
| Zapotec | |
|---|---|
| Diidxazá | |
| Native to | Mexico |
| Region | Oaxaca, Veracruz, Guerrero, Puebla |
| Ethnicity | Zapotecs |
|
Native speakers
|
450,000 (2010 census) |
|
Oto-Manguean
|
|
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Early forms
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Ancient Zapotec
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| Dialects |
|
| Official status | |
| Regulated by | Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 |
|
| Glottolog | zapo1437 |
Zapotec languages in Oaxaca.
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The Zapotec (English pronunciation: /ˈzæpətɛk/) languages are a group of closely related indigenous Mesoamerican languages that constitute a main branch of the Oto-Manguean language family and which is spoken by the Zapotec people from the southwestern-central highlands of Mexico. The 2010 Mexican census reports 425,000 speakers, with the majority inhabiting the state of Oaxaca. Zapotec-speaking communities are also found in the neighboring states of Puebla, Veracruz, and Guerrero. Labor migration has also brought a number of native Zapotec-speakers to the United States, particularly in California and Bridgeton, New Jersey. Most Zapotec speaking communities are highly bilingual in Spanish.
The name of the language in Zapotec itself varies according to the geographical variant. In Juchitán (Isthmus) it is Diidxazá [didʒaˈza], in Mitla it is Didxsaj [didʒˈsaʰ], in Zoogocho it is Diža'xon [diʒaʔˈʐon], in Coatec Zapotec it is Di'zhke' [diʔ̥ʒˈkeʔ], in Miahuatec Zapotec it is Dí'zdéh [diʔzdæ] and in Santa Catarina Quioquitani it is Tiits Së [tiˀts sæ], for example. The first part of these expressions has the meaning 'word' (perhaps slightly reduced as appropriate for part of a compound).
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Wikipedia