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Trique languages

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Triqui
EthnicityTrique
Geographic
distribution
 Mexico
Native speakers
30,000 in Mexico (2020 census)[1]
Linguistic classificationOto-Manguean
Subdivisions
Language codes
Glottologtriq1251
ELPTriqui

The Triqui (/ˈtrki/), or Trique, languages are a family of Oto-Manguean spoken by 30,000 Trique people of the Mexican states of Oaxaca and the state of Baja California in 2007 (due to recent population movements). They are also spoken by 5,000 immigrants to the United States. Triqui languages belong to the Mixtecan branch together with the Mixtec languages and Cuicatec.[2]

Varieties

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Ethnologue lists three major varieties:

Mexico's federal agency for its indigenous languages, Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas (INALI), identifies four varieties of Trique in its Catálogo de las lenguas indígenas nacionales published in early 2008.[3] The variants listed by INALI are:

Varieties of Triqui (trique), per INALI[4]
Variant (name in Spanish) Autonym Localities
Triqui de San Juan Copala xnánj nu̱ꞌ a Oaxaca: Santiago Juxtlahuaca
Triqui de La Media snáꞌánj nìꞌ Oaxaca: San Martín Itunyoso
Triqui de La Alta nánj nïꞌïn Oaxaca: Putla Villa de Guerrero
Triqui de La Baja tnanj niꞌinj Oaxaca: Constancia del Rosario, Putla Villa de Guerrero

Phonology

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The following phonology is based on Hollenbach (1984) and DiCanio (2008):

Vowels

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Front Back
Close i ĩ u ũ
Mid e o õ
Open a ã

Consonants

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Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
plain labial
Plosive voiceless p t k ʔ
voiced b d ɡ ɡʷ
prenasal (ᵐb) ⁿd ᵑɡ ᵑɡʷ
Affricate t͡s t͡ʃ ʈ͡ʂ c͡ɲ
Fricative voiceless s ʃ ʂ h
voiced β z ʒ ʐ
Nasal m n
Rhotic r
Lateral l
Glide j w

Itunyoso Triqui may tend to have ten geminated consonants; /mː, βː, tː, nː, lː, tːʃ, jː, ʈːʂ, kː, kːʷ/.[5][6]

Tones

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All varieties of Triqui are tonal and have complex phonologies. The tone system of Copala Triqui is the best described and has eight tones.[6]

Tones in Triqui languages are typically written with superscript numbers,[6] so that chraa⁵ 'river' indicates the syllable chraa with the highest (5) tone, while cha³na¹ 'woman' has the middle (3) tone on the first syllable and the lowest (1) tone on the second syllable.

Of the Triqui languages, the Copala dialect has undergone the most vowel loss, with many non-final syllables losing their vowels. The result, as in many other Oto-Manguean languages, is a complex set of consonant clusters. So, for instance, the word si⁵kuj⁵ 'cow' in Itunyoso Triqui corresponds to skuj⁵ in Copala Triqui.

The tonal phonology of other Triqui languages is more complex than Copala Triqui. The tone system of Itunyoso Triqui has nine tones.[5] The tone system of Chicahuaxtla Triqui has at least 10 tones [7] but may have as many as 16.[8]

Orthography

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Triqui has been written in a number of different orthographies, depending on the intended audience. Linguists typically write the language with all tones fully marked and all phonemes represented. However, in works intended for native speakers of Triqui, a practical orthography is often used with a somewhat simpler representation.

The following Copala Triqui example is written in both the practical (first line) and the linguistic (second line) orthographies:[9]

Me

Me³

WH

síí

zii⁵

3

rihaan

riaan³²

to

aꞌmii

aꞌmii³²

speak

so̱ꞌ

zoꞌ¹

2

ga̱

ga²

INTERR

Me síí rihaan aꞌmii so̱ꞌ ga̱

Me³ zii⁵ riaan³² aꞌmii³² zoꞌ¹ ga²

WH 3 to speak 2 INTERR

'To whom are you speaking?' (¿Con quién estás hablando?)

Morphology

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Triqui bound morphology is fairly limited. Verbs take a /k-/ prefix (spelled c- or qu-) to show completive aspect:

Aꞌmiie³² izoꞌ¹. 'You are speaking'.

C-aꞌmii³² zoꞌ¹. 'You spoke'.

The same /k-/ prefix plus a tonal change shows the potential aspect:

C-aꞌmii² zoꞌ¹. 'You will speak.'

The tonal changes associated with the potential aspect are complex but always involve lowering the tone of the root (Hollenbach 1984).

There are also complex phonological processes that are triggered by the presence of root-final clitic pronouns. These pronouns (especially the first- and the second-person singular) may change the shape of the stem or alter its tone.

As a language subfamily, Triqui is interesting for having a large tonal inventory, complex morphophonology, and interesting syntactic phenomena, much of which has yet to be described.

Syntax

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Copala Triqui has a verb-subject-object word order:

Aꞌnii⁵

put

Mariia⁴

Maria

chraa³

tortilla

raa⁴

in

yoo⁴

tenate

a³².

DECL

Aꞌnii⁵ Mariia⁴ chraa³ raa⁴ yoo⁴ a³².

put Maria tortilla in tenate DECL

'Maria put the tortilla in the tenate (basket).'

Copala Triqui has an accusative marker maa³ or man³, which is obligatory for animate pronominal objects but optional otherwise:

Queneꞌe³

saw

Mariia⁴

Maria

(maa³)

ACC

chraa⁴

tortilla

a³².

DECL

Queneꞌe³ Mariia⁴ (maa³) chraa⁴ a³².

saw Maria ACC tortilla DECL

'Maria saw the tortilla.'

Queneꞌe³

saw

Mariia⁴

Maria

*(maa³)

ACC

zoꞌ¹

you

a³².

DECL

Queneꞌe³ Mariia⁴ *(maa³) zoꞌ¹ a³².

saw Maria ACC you DECL

'Maria saw you.'

This use of the accusative before some objects and not others is what is called differential object marking.

The following example (repeated from above) shows a Copala Triqui question:

Me³

WH

zii⁵

3

riaan³²

to

aꞌmii³²

speak

zoꞌ¹

2

ga²

INTERR

Me³ zii⁵ riaan³² aꞌmii³² zoꞌ¹ ga²

WH 3 to speak 2 INTERR

'To whom are you speaking?' (¿Con quién estas hablando?)

As this example shows, Copala Trique has wh-movement and pied-piping with inversion.

Copala Triqui syntax is described in Hollenbach (1992).

Triqui is interesting for having toggle processes as well. For negation, a completive aspect prefix signifies the negative potential. A potential aspect prefix in the same context signifies the negative completive.

Sample text

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The following is a sample of Copala Triqui taken from a legend about the Sun and the Moon.[10] The first column is Copala Triqui, the second is a Spanish translation, and the third is an English translation.

Copala Triqui: Spanish: English:
(1) Niánj me ꞌo̱ nana̱ maa ga̱a naá ca̱ta̱j riaan zoj riaan zo̱ꞌ riaan me maꞌa̱n ze co̱no̱ maa niánj ne̱
(2) ꞌO̱chrej me ze güii a̱ güii caꞌngaa, [neꞌé] zo̱ꞌ, chumii̱ taj nii me ze ñáán, [neꞌé] zo̱ꞌ, ꞌo̱ xcuaꞌánꞌ ꞌna̱j Caꞌaj ne̱
(3) Ñáán, [neꞌé] zo̱, xcuaꞌánꞌ Caꞌaj me ze me ndo rá yoꞌ ga̱ taꞌníí ne̱
(4) Me ndo rá ga̱ taꞌníí ne̱ za̱ a ne̱ tiempó yoꞌ ga̱a ne̱ tiempó xrmi̱ꞌ me ne̱
(5) Navij rá, [neꞌé] zo̱ꞌ, navij rá xcuaꞌánꞌ Caꞌaj.
(6) Ga̱a ne̱ "Vaa nica̱j" taj ne̱
(1) Esta es una historia antigua que les voy a relatar a ustedes, para tí, para cualquier persona que pueda escuchar esto.

(2) Erase una vez, cuando nació el universo, una abuela que se llamaba Ca'aj.

(3) Vivía la abuela Ca’aj, quien deseaba mucho tener hijos.

(4) Deseaba mucho tener hijos, pero aquel tiempo era tiempo de tinieblas.

(5) Se preocupó, se preocupó la abuela Ca’aj.

(6) Entonces ella dijo, “Tengo esposo!”

(1) Here is an ancient legend that I am going to tell you all, you, and anyone who can hear this.

(2) Once upon a time, when the universe was born, they say that there lived a grandmother named Ca’aj.

(3) There lived our Grandmother Ca’aj, who wanted to have children very much.

(4) She wanted to have children very much, but that time was a time of darkness.

(5) Our Grandmother Ca’aj worried, worried.

(6) Then she said, “I have a husband!”

Media

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Triqui-language programming is carried by the CDI's radio stations XEQIN-AM, based in San Quintín, Baja California, and XETLA, based in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca.

Use

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As of 2012, the Natividad Medical Center of Salinas, California, was training medical interpreters bilingual in one of the Oaxacan languages (including Trique, Mixteco, or Zapotec), as well as in Spanish.[11] In March 2014, Natividad Medical Foundation launched Indigenous Interpreting+, "a community and medical interpreting business specializing in indigenous languages from Mexico and Central and South America," including Trique, Mixteco, Zapotec, and Chatino.[12]

A Trique-speaking community has also settled in Albany, New York,[13][14] as well as in northwestern Washington.

Notes

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  1. ^ Lenguas indígenas y hablantes de 3 años y más, 2020 INEGI. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020.
  2. ^ The proposal to group Mixtec, Trique and Cuicatec into a single family (none more closely related to one than to the other) was made by Longacre (1957) with convincing evidence.
  3. ^ The catalogue is the result of a project completed by INALI in 2007 in fulfillment of its obligations under Mexican federal law to document and enumerate the indigenous languages of Mexico. The catalogue was published in the federal government's official gazette, the Diario Oficial de la Federación (DOF).
  4. ^ Table data source: see "triqui" , online extract reproduced from Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas (2008), p.5 [third section/Tercera Sección].
  5. ^ a b DiCanio, Christian. The Phonetics and Phonology of San Martín Itunyoso Trique. Ph.D Thesis, University of California, Berkeley. 2008.
  6. ^ a b c Hollenbach, Barbara. The Phonology and Morphology of Tone and Laryngeals in Copala Trique. Ph.D Thesis, University of Arizona. 1984
  7. ^ Good, Claude. Diccionario Triqui, volume 20 of Serie de Vocabularios Indigenas. Summer Institute of Linguistics, Mexico. 1979.
  8. ^ Longacre, Robert E. Proto-Mixtecan. In Indiana University Research Center in Anthropology, Folklore, and Linguistics, volume 5. Indiana University Research Center in Anthropology, Folklore, and Linguistics, Bloomington. 1957
  9. ^ Hollenbach, Barbara. Vocabulario breve del triqui de San Juan Copala. 2005
  10. ^ Lopéz, Román Vidal; Broadwell, George Aaron (2009-01-01). The origin of the sun and moon: a Copala Triqui legend (in Spanish). Lincom Europa.
  11. ^ Melissa Flores (2012-01-23). "Salinas hospital to train indigenous-language interpreters". HealthyCal.org. Archived from the original on 2012-01-29. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  12. ^ "Natividad Medical Foundation Announces Indigenous Interpreting+ Community and Medical Interpreting Business". Market Wired. 2014-03-07. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
  13. ^ Claudio Torrens (May 28, 2011). "Some NY immigrants cite lack of Spanish as barrier". UTSanDiego.com. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
  14. ^ Carleo-Evangelist, Jordan (April 14, 2014). "Keeping a language alive: Dictionary project aims to save native tongue of the Triqui community". Times Union (Albany). Retrieved June 4, 2016.

Bibliography

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