Pisaflores Tepehua Explained

Pisaflores Tepehua
Nativename:	North Tepehua
States:	Mexico
Region:	Veracruz
Speakers:	2,500
Date:	2000
Ref:	^[1]
Familycolor:	American
Fam1:	Totonacan
Fam2:	Tepehua
Iso3:	tpp
Glotto:	pisa1237
Glottorefname:	Pisaflores Tepehua

Pisaflores Tepehua is a Tepehua language of Veracruz, Mexico. It is spoken in the towns of Ixhuatlán de Madero and Pisaflores.

Phonology

Consonants

! rowspan=2

Labial	Alveolar		Alveo- palatal	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Stop		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/				pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/				pronounced as /link/
Affricate			pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
			pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Fricative			pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/
Approximant		pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/

Vowels

Pisaflores Tepehua vowels!! Front! Central! Back

Close	pronounced as /link/  pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/  pronounced as /link/
Mid	pronounced as /link/  pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/  pronounced as /link/
Open		pronounced as /link/  pronounced as /link/

Phonotactics

Pisaflores Tepehua syllable structure is summarized by MacKay and Treschel (2013) as:

• C (C) V (C (C))

That is, Pisaflores Tepehua syllables must start with a consonant or two-consonant cluster, have one vowel sound, and may end without consonants or with a consonant or two-consonant cluster.

Phonological restrictions apply:

• Onset
  1. C can be any consonant
  2. C can only exist if and only if C is a fricative (/s/, /ɕ/, /ɬ/)
  3. C cannot be a fricative or affricate (/s/, /ɕ/, /ɬ/, /ts/, /tɕ/, /tsʼ/, /tɕʼ/)
  4. If C = /ɬ/, then C cannot be a lateral (/ɬ/, /l/)
• Nucleus
  1. V can be any vowel, long or short
• Coda
  1. C can be any consonant that is not an affricate (/ts/, /tɕ/, /tsʼ/, /tɕʼ/)
  2. C can be a bilabial stop (/p/, /pʼ/) in syllable-final positions, but never in word-final positions
  3. C can only exist if and only if C = /k/ or C = /ʔ/
  4. C can only be /s/, /ɕ/, or /ɬ/ if C = /k/
  5. C can only be /s/ or /ɕ/ if C = /ʔ/

External links

• Collections in the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America.

Notes and References

1. Unidad Médica Rural de Pisaflores, cited in MacKay & Treschel (2013)