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Abstract
This work is a study of the process of palatalization in Isthmus Mixe, in which every consonant in the inventory has a palatalized counterpart. This type of palatalization occurring as a secondary [i]-like
articulation, simultaneous to the primary articulation of the consonant Bhat 1974, Ladefoged 1993, is defined as secondary palatalization by Keating 1993. Occurring word initially in Isthmus Mixe, the
feature of secondary palatalization alone represents the grammatical third person morpheme, palatalizing the initial consonant of the noun or verb. There are also verbal suffixes that consist solely of secondary
palatalization, indicating clause-type markers Dieterman 1995, 1998, and a deverbalizer, that palatalize the final consonants of the verb.
Morpheme-induced secondary palatalization has been described in all of the Oaxacan Mixe languages; however, Isthmus Mixe is an undescribed language, except for the recent work of the author of this study.
It is shown that the secondary palatalization feature in Isthmus Mixe modifies mutates the initial or final consonants of the word and also the vowels adjacent to the consonant. Spectrograms that show the
transition formants of vowels adjacent to palatalized consonants support the claim that even the laryngeal consonants h and
Ð are subject to secondary palatalization. It is shown that representing secondary palatalization as an autosegmental feature may be used to
describe all occurrences of morpheme-induced secondary palatalization and its phonetic effects on all of the consonants and vowels. Previous descriptions of other Mixe languages that were based on the linear
phonemic model, obscured the phonetic reality of secondary palatalization and did not recognize secondary palatalization as a consonant mutation. Autosegmental features that are consonant mutations linked to
morphemes have been described in a number of the world’s languages. With this initial description of secondary palatalization in Isthmus Mixe, and references to secondary palatalization in all of the Oaxacan
Mixe languages, it is hoped that these processes will become known to the wider linguistic community and also that further studies will be initiated in the Mixe-Zoque languages.
Editor’s note: The present volume is a slightly revised version of the author’s 2002 Ph.D. dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Arlington.
1. Introduction
1.1 Palatalization
Palatalization is a common phonological process in the languages of the world. What is less well known is that there are two major types of palatalization processes that have been documented: 1 palatalization
which modifies the primary articulation of the consonant itself, referred to here as “primary palatalization,” and 2 the addition of a high front tongue position [i]-like as a secondary articulation which occurs
simultaneously with the primary consonantal articulation, referred to in this study as “secondary palatalization” Bhat 1974:19–20, Keating 1993:6, Ladefoged 1993:230.
Although secondary palatalization of consonants is well attested in some languages e.g. Lithuanian, Russian, the fact that a similar phenomenon occurs in the Mixe languages of Mexico has been virtually
unreported in the linguistic community. This study examines the issue of palatalization in one variety of Mixe, Isthmus Mixe, with a broader aim of contrasting the processes of primary palatalization and
secondary palatalization, showing ultimately how the type of morphological-induced secondary palatalization found in the Mixe languages is best described in terms of an autosegmental feature. In
accomplishing these goals, this study provides a phonological sketch of Isthmus Mixe, including acoustic analyses, and documenting the widespread effects of secondary palatalization in the language.
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1.2 Isthmus Mixe and the Mixe-Zoque language family
San Juan Guichicovi
Figure 1.1. Map of Mexico EnchantedLearning.com: 2001
Isthmus Mixe, also known as Eastern Mixe or Guichicovi Mixe,
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is a Mesoamerican language of the Mixe-Zoque family spoken in southern Mexico in the state of Oaxaca. It is primarily an oral language, with
some religious and governmental documents having been translated with the assistance of bilingual speakers El Nuevo Testamento en Mixe de Guichicovi 1988, Pedro 1994. In 1990, there were reported to
be 20,000 speakers Gordon 2005:265. The Isthmus Mixe people live in the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico figure 1.1. Their more numerous and well-known neighbors in the
Isthmus are Zapotec speakers.
Many of the relatively few speakers of the Mixe-Zoque languages are pressured by economic, educational, and social factors to use Spanish, the national language of Mexico. Like so many of Mexico’s
indigenous languages, Mixe-Zoque languages are endangered because of the greater prestige and opportunities available to Spanish speakers.
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The names reflect geographical or political relationships. “Isthmus” is the geographical area of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The label “Eastern” is in relationship to the other Mixe languages which are spoken in areas farther
west. San Juan Guichicovi is the major city in this Mixe region.
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1.3 Studies in the Mixe-Zoque languages
