As of 2013, about 1,500 "Zoogochenses" live in Los Angeles, California. Classes are held in the MacArthur Park neighborhood to preserve the Zoogocho Zapotec language.[3]
The language is also known as Tabehua, Yalina, Zapoteco de San Bartolomé Zoogocho, and Zoogocho.[4]
There are a total of five vowels in San Bartolomé Zoogocho Zapotec.[5] The vowel /u/ only appears in loanwords.[5] Phonation types include: VV, VhV, V'. VV stands for double vowels that are pronounced with creaky voice, vowels with an /h/ between them are pronounced with breathy voice and vowels such as V' are checked vowels. [5]
Tones
Tones include high, mid, low, rising and falling. [5] Lower tonal qualities are seen more commonly in breathy tones, while checked vowels have a higher tone quality. [5] Although it's common for breathy to have a lower tones and checked vowels commonly have higher tones, this is considered a distinct phenomenon and tone can't be predicted based on phonation types. [5]
Example: yáhà 'weapon’
Stress
In Zoogocho Zapotec, stress is most commonly found on the penultimate syllable of a stem.[5] In words consisting of two roots, the stress (accent) will fall on the second root.[5]
Example: niihe 'nixtamal'; yeten 'the tortilla'
Syllable Structure
Syllables are created according to the pattern (C)CV(V)(C)(C). Vowels in a syllable may carry any phonation type. [5]
Possession is indicated by placing the possessor or possessive pronoun after the item possessed (Inherent possession is the items being possessed) which is marked prenominally with prefix x-, the possessed nominal then is developed by a pronominal clitic or noun phrase. [5]
Pronominal Clitic
Or noun phrase is pronounced like an affix. Clitics play a syntactic role at the phrase level.
Verbal Morphology
No tense in this language. Zoogocho Zapotec relies on 'temporal particles' za, ba, na, gxe, or neghe.
Primary Aspect
Events that are still occurring, occurred, or will occur over a period of time. The continuative aspect of the examples is dx-.
The stative aspect is referred to as the prefix n- or by nothing at all. This aspect has multiple uses, such as, expressing the states and conditions and habitual meaning.
(28)
m-ban=a'
STAT-live=1SG
m-ban=a'
STAT-live=1SG
'I am alive.'
(29)
kuzh
pig
la
FOC
n-dxe=be'
STAT-carry=3SG.INF
ke?
no
kuzh la n-dxe=be' ke?
pig FOC STAT-carry=3SG.INF no
'He’s carrying a pig, right?'
(30)
nake
how
gud-itgh=le
COMP-play=2PL
kate
when
n-ak=le
STAT-be=2PL
bidao=na'
child=DET
nake gud-itgh=le kate n-ak=le bidao=na'
how COMP-play=2PL when STAT-be=2PL child=DET
'How did you all use to play when you were children?'
ya "iron", yag "tree", beye' "ice", laya' "my tooth", yade "Yaté"
Z/z
za "bean", beza' "vixen", nhez "path", bzinha' "mouse"
Syntax
Sentence Structure
Zoogocho Zapotec normally uses the Verb–Subject–Object sentence structure. It is also possible to form Object–Verb–Subject or Subject–Verb–Object sentences.
Sentence Structure
Verb Subject Object
(VSO)
Object Verb Subject
(OVS)
Subject Verb Object
(SVO)
dx-aogo
CONT-eat
be'ko'
dog
yet
tortilla
dx-aogo be'ko' yet
CONT-eat dog tortilla
'The dog is eating tortillas.'
yet
tortilla
dx-aogo
CONT-eat
be'ko'
dog
yet dx-aogo be'ko'
tortilla CONT-eat dog
'Tortillas, the dog is eating.'
be'ko'=n'
dog=DET
dx-aogo
CONT-eat
yet
tortilla
be'ko'=n' dx-aogo yet
dog=DET CONT-eat tortilla
'It’s the dog that’s eating tortillas.'
Noun Phrases
Adjective-Noun Order: The ordering of adjectives and nouns.
When asked to cite adjectives in isolation, native speakers will invariably put da, the inanimateclassifier, in front of the adjective.
Da is used as an inanimate classifier, bi is a classifier for small things and be is an animate classifier. These three classifiers can be used in sentences when agreeing with the head noun.
Plural Markers
Ka can be used to mark a plural noun. Plural markers are not always present in plural noun phrases, and plurality can also be inferred from context or from verbal marking.
Demonstratives
Demonstratives follow their nouns, and either appear by themselves or with a classifier.
Determiners
The determiner is a clitic which has three main variants; en', which occurs following a non-nasal consonant, na' which occurs after noun phrases ending in /n/ or /n̥/, and n or na' which occur in free variation after vowels. Determiners occur at the end of a noun phrase.