Zaniza Zapotec (''Zapoteco de Santa María Zaniza'') is an

Oto-Manguean The Oto-Manguean or Otomanguean () languages are a large family comprising several subfamilies of indigenous languages of the Americas. All of the Oto-Manguean languages that are now spoken are indigenous to Mexico, but the Manguean languages, Ma ...

language of western

Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. It is one of several Zapotec languages called Papabuco. It has only 10% intelligibility with Texmelucan Zapotec, its closest important relative. (Speakers of the nearly extinct

Elotepec Zapotec Elotepec Zapotec (Zapoteco de San Juan Elotepec) is a Zapotec language of a single village in western Oaxaca, Mexico, San Juan Elotepec in the Municipio of Villa Sola de Vega. It is one of several Zapotec languages called Papabuco, and has 68% ...

have 70% understanding of Zaniza, but it is not known if the reverse is true, so this may be a question of familiarity.) The language is spoken in

Santa María Zaniza Santa María Zaniza is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in southwestern Mexico. It is part of the Sola de Vega District Sola de Vega District is located in the Sierra Sur Region of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. The district center is Villa Sola ...

, Oaxaca. As of 2003, the language had about 400 fluent speakers. It is also spoken in

Santiago Textitlán Santiago Textitlán is a town and municipality in Oaxaca in south-western Mexico. The municipality covers an area of km2. It is part of the Sola de Vega District Sola de Vega District is located in the Sierra Sur Region of the State of Oaxaca, ...

Phonology

Zaniza Zapotec has five vowels /i, e, a, o, u/, phonemic vowel nasalization, and a distinction between modal and laryngealized vowels.

Tone

Zaniza Zapotec words contrast low, mid, and high tones on stressed syllables. Unstressed syllables, apart from a few pronominal enclitics, do not bear contrastive tone.

References

External links

* * *
OLAC resources in and about the Zaniza Zapotec language
Zapotec languages {{Oto-Manguean-lang-stub