Ayapa Zoque Explained

Ayapa Zoque
Also Known As:	Ayapaneco Tabasco Zoque
Nativename:	Nuumte Oote
States:	Mexico
Region:	Jalpa de Méndez, Tabasco
Date:	2020 census
Ref:	^[1]
Familycolor:	American
Fam1:	Mixe-Zoquean
Fam2:	Zoquean
Fam3:	Gulf Zoquean
Iso3:	zoq
Glotto:	taba1264
Glottorefname:	Tabasco Zoque

Ayapa Zoque (Ayapaneco), or Tabasco Zoque, is a critically endangered Zoquean language of Ayapa, a village 10km (10miles) southeast of Comalcalco, in Tabasco, Mexico. The native name is Nuumte Oote "True Voice".^[2] A vibrant, albeit minority, language until the middle of the 20th century, the language suffered after the introduction of compulsory education in Spanish, urbanisation, and migration of its speakers.^{[2] [3]} Nowadays there are approximately 15 speakers whose ages range from 67 to 90.^[4] In 2010 a story started circulating that the last two speakers of the Ayapaneco language were enemies and no longer talked to each other. The story was incorrect, and while it was quickly corrected it came to circulate widely.

Daniel Suslak, an assistant professor of anthropology at Indiana University, is one of the linguists working to prepare the first dictionary of the language.^{[2] [5] [6] [7]} Since 2012, the Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas (INALI, also known as the National Indigenous Languages Institute) has been supporting the Ayapa community's efforts at revitalising their language.^[2] In 2013 Vodafone launched an advertisement campaign in which they claimed to have helped the community revitalize the language, proposing an erroneous story of enmity between Don Manuel and Don Isidro. The commercial appeared on YouTube.^[8] According to Suslak and other observers the actual help provided to Ayapan and the Ayapaneco language by Vodafone was extremely limited and did not address the actual necessities of the community.^{[9] [10] [11]} A PhD dissertation on Ayapa Zoque at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO) appeared in 2019,^[12] and an orthography designed to better facilitate the development of pedagogical materials and education of new learners is under development.^[13]

See also

• Language death

Further reading

• Web site: Ayapaneco language about to disappear because the only two persons who know it do not speak to each other . Pueblos America.
• Ho . Erica . 18 April 2011 . Last Two Speakers of Dying Language Refuse to Talk to Each Other . Time.
• News: Last 2 Speakers Of Dying Language Won't Speak To Each Other . . 14 April 2011.
• Jhonnatan . Rangel . How many speakers of Ayapa Zoque? in . Where's the Last Speaker? . 2494-2073 . 2016-05-19 . 10.58079/vaq6 .
• Ayapan Echoes: Linguistic Persistence and Loss in Tabasco, Mexico . AnthroSource. 10.1111/j.1548-1433.2011.01370.x . 2011 . Suslak . Daniel F. . 113 . 4 . 569–581 .
• Web site: Tuckman . Jo . Duo's Mexican standoff bodes ill for language on verge of extinction . 15 April 2011 . Sydney Morning Herald.

External links

• Web site: Indiana University Minority Languages & Cultures of Latin America & the Caribbean Program.
• Web site: National Indigenous Languages Institute . es.
• Web site: Vocabulario de la lengua zoque de Tapijulapa . es.

Notes and References

1. http://cuentame.inegi.org.mx/hipertexto/todas_lenguas.htm Lenguas indígenas y hablantes de 3 años y más, 2020
2. News: Language at risk of dying out – the last two speakers aren't talking . . Jo . Tuckman . 2011-04-13 . 2011-04-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110426195959/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/13/mexico-language-ayapaneco-dying-out. 26 April 2011 . live.
3. Suslak . D. F. . 2011 . Ayapan Echoes: Linguistic Persistence and Loss in Tabasco, Mexico . American Anthropologist . 113 . 4. 569–581 . 10.1111/j.1548-1433.2011.01370.x .
4. Rangel . Jhonnatan . 2017 . Les derniers locuteurs: au croisement des typologies des locuteurs de langues en danger . The last speakers: at the crossroads of the typologies of speakers of endangered languages . fr . Histoire Épistemologie Langage . 39 . 1. 107–133 . 10.1051/hel/2017390106 . 191532808 .
5. Web site: Daniel Suslak . Indiana University . 2011-02-08 . 2011-04-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110314025714/http://www.indiana.edu/~anthro/people/faculty/suslak.html . 14 March 2011 . live .
6. Web site: Daniel F Suslak . ResearchGate. en. 2019-08-26.
7. Suslak. Daniel F.. Ayapan Echoes: Linguistic Persistence and Loss in Tabasco, Mexico. American Anthropologist. en. 113. 4. 569–581. 0002-7294. 10.1111/j.1548-1433.2011.01370.x. 2011.
8. How to save a near-extinct language #First . en. 2019-08-26 . YouTube . Vodafone Deutschland.
9. Web site: Suslak . Daniel . 2014 . Who Can Save Ayapaneco? . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180212135444/http://stories.schwa-fire.com:80/who_save_ayapaneco . 2018-02-12 . 2017-05-22 . Schwa Fire.
10. News: Cuando muramos, morirá el idioma. Ahrens. Jan Martínez. 2014-09-23. EL PAÍS. 2017-05-22. es. When we die, so too will our language.
11. Web site: Vodafone, Virality and the Vanishing Voice That Wasn't. 2019-12-11. Medium. en. 2019-12-12.
12. Variations linguistiques et langue en danger. Le cas du numte ʔoote ou zoque ayapaneco dans l'Etat de Tabasco, Mexique . Paris . INALCO . 2019-10-03 . PhD . Jhonnatan . Rangel Murueta.
13. Rangel . Jhonnatan . September 2020 . Writing for the future of Ayapaneco: An orthography for heritage and new speakers of a critically endangered language . Foundation for Endangered Languages Annual Conference: FEL24 . London (on line), United Kingdom.