Tepecano
Encyclopedia
The Tepecano language is an extinct indigenous language of Mexico
belonging to the Uto-Aztecan
language-family
. It was formerly spoken by a small group of people in Azqueltán (earlier Atzqueltlán), Jalisco
, a small village on the Río Bolaños in the far northern part of the state, just east of the territory of the Huichol people. Most closely related to Southern Tepehuán of the state of Durango
, Tepecano was a Mesoamerican language and evinced many of the traits that define the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area
. So far as is known, the last speaker of Tepecano was Lino de la Rosa (born September 22, 1895), who was still living as of February 1980.
Research on Tepecano was first carried out by the American linguistic anthropologist John Alden Mason
in Azqueltán during the period 1911-13. This work led to the publication of a monograph
ic grammatical sketch (1916) as well as an article on native prayers in Tepecano that Mason had collected from informants
(1918). Later field-research was conducted by American linguist Dennis Holt
in 1965 and 1979–80, but none of his results have so far been published.
s strung together.
Languages of Mexico
The government of Mexico recognizes 68 distinct indigenous Amerindian languages as national languages in addition to Spanish. According to the Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples and National Institute of Indigenous Languages [INALI], while 10-14% of the population identifies as...
belonging to the Uto-Aztecan
Uto-Aztecan languages
Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States , through western, central and southern Mexico Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family...
language-family
Historical linguistics
Historical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages...
. It was formerly spoken by a small group of people in Azqueltán (earlier Atzqueltlán), Jalisco
Jalisco
Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...
, a small village on the Río Bolaños in the far northern part of the state, just east of the territory of the Huichol people. Most closely related to Southern Tepehuán of the state of Durango
Durango
Durango officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northwest Mexico. With a population of 1,632,934, it has Mexico's second-lowest population density, after Baja...
, Tepecano was a Mesoamerican language and evinced many of the traits that define the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area
Mesoamerican Linguistic Area
The Mesoamerican Linguistic Area is a sprachbund containing many of the languages natively spoken in the cultural area of Mesoamerica. This sprachbund is defined by an array of syntactic, lexical and phonological traits as well as a number of ethnolinguistic traits found in the languages of...
. So far as is known, the last speaker of Tepecano was Lino de la Rosa (born September 22, 1895), who was still living as of February 1980.
Research on Tepecano was first carried out by the American linguistic anthropologist John Alden Mason
John Alden Mason
John Alden Mason was an archaeological anthropologist and linguist.Mason was born in Orland, Indiana, but grew up in Philadelphia's Germantown. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1907 and a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley in 1911...
in Azqueltán during the period 1911-13. This work led to the publication of a monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
ic grammatical sketch (1916) as well as an article on native prayers in Tepecano that Mason had collected from informants
Informant (linguistics)
An informant or consultant in linguistics is a native speaker who acts as a linguistic reference for a language being studied. The informant's role is that of a senior interpreter, who demonstrates native pronunciation, provides grammaticality judgments regarding linguistic well-formedness, and may...
(1918). Later field-research was conducted by American linguist Dennis Holt
Dennis Holt
Dennis Graham Holt is an American poet and linguist.Born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, Holt graduated from Van Nuys High School in Los Angeles in 1960. Holt subsequently attended the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, Berkeley, and UCLA, from which he...
in 1965 and 1979–80, but none of his results have so far been published.
Morphology
Tepecano is an agglutinative language, where words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemeMorpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
s strung together.