Totozoquean languages

Totozoquean is a proposed language family of Mesoamerica, originally consisting of two well-established genetic groupings, Totonacan and Mixe–Zoque. The erstwhile isolate Chitimacha was later proposed to be a member. The closest relatives of Totozoquean may be the Huavean languages.[1]

Totozoquean
(proposed)
Geographic
distribution		Mexico
Linguistic classificationProposed language family; perhaps related to Huavean
Subdivisions
GlottologNone

Correspondences

Comparative proto-Totozoquean reconstructions are proposed in Brown et al. (2011) for simple consonants and vowels. The consonant-inventory for proto-Totozoquean is similar to that reconstructed for proto-Totonacan (Arana Osnaya 1953), and the vowels are not unlike those proposed for proto-Mixe–Zoquean (Wichmann 1995). A parallel set of laryngealized but otherwise identical proto-Totozoquean vowels is reconstructed for proto-Totozoquean to account for the distribution of laryngealized vowels in the Totonac branch of the Totonacan family, though these left no known trace in proto-Mixe–Zoquean (Wichmann 1995) and there may be a more economical explanation. Vowel length is likewise an independent parameter reconstructed for proto-Totozoquean that does not seem to affect the correspondences, but in this case it is a feature inherited by both families.

Vowels

Proto-Totozoquean (pTZ) is reconstructed with seven vowel qualities, all of which occur with long, laryngealized, and long laryngealized homologues. These reduce to a three-vowel system in proto-Totonacan (pT); length and laryngealization is retained. Proto-Mixe–Zoque (pMZ) loses laryngealization and neutralizes **ɨ~ə and **ɔ~o.

pTZ pT pMZ
**i*i*i
**e*e
**ɨ*ə
**ə*a
**a*a
**ɔ*o
**o*u
**u*u

Consonants

Of the three consonants which do not appear in either daughter, **ty and **ny are poorly attested, whereas **ky is robust. Proto-Mixe–Zoque loses the laterals and gutturals, and neutralizes the alveolar–palato-alveolar distinction. Proto-Totonocan loses glottal stop and **y.

pTZ pT pMZ
**n*n*n
**ny*l
**l*y
**ɬ*ɬ
**ƛ*ƛ
**y*t
**t*t
**ty*č
**č*¢
**¢*¢
**š*š*s
**s*s
pTZ pT pMZ
**p*p*p
**m*m*m
**w*w*w
**ky*k*k
**k*q
**q*ʔ
**ʔ*∅
**h*h
**#h*h
**x*x

See also

References
  1. Brown, Cecil H., Wichmann, Søren, & Beck, David. 2014. Chitimacha: A Mesoamerican language in the Lower Mississippi Valley. International Journal of American Linguistics 80(4): 425–474.
  • Arana Osnaya, E. 1953. Reconstrucción del protototonaco: Huastecos, totonacos y sus vecinos, ed. Ignacio Bernal. Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropológicos 23:123–30.
  • Brown, Cecil H., David Beck, Grzegorz Kondrak, James K. Watters, and Søren Wichmann (2011). Totozoquean. International Journal of American Linguistics 77, 323–372.
  • Brown, Cecil H., David Beck, Grzegorz Kondrak, James K. Watters, and Søren Wichmann (2011) "Linking proto-Totonacan and proto-Mixe–Zoquean"
  • Søren Wichmann (1995). The Relationship among the Mixe-Zoquean Languages of Mexico. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
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