Chichimeca Jonaz language


Chichimeca or Chichimeca Jonaz is an indigenous language of Mexico spoken by around 200 Chichimeca Jonaz people in Misión de Chichimecas near San Luis de la Paz in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. The Chichimeca Jonaz language belongs to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family. The Chichimecos self identify as úza and call their language eza'r.

Distribution

The language is currently spoken only in San Luis de la Paz, on the rancho of Misión de Chichimecas, which is located on a small town to the east of the town. In 1934, Jacques Soustelle counted 452 chichimecas, 63 of which were children which attended the local school.
Prior to that point the language was spoken in five other locations:
  1. Misión Arnedo to the east of San Luis, near Villa Victoria.
  2. Misión de las Palmas, along the Etorax river, which arises near Victoria.
  3. Misión de Santa Rosa, to the north of Victoria.
  4. San Pedro Tolimán, where a mission was established in the 18th century, which failed, however, and the chichimecas abandoned the area. It was later repopulated with Otomís.
  5. Villa Colón, to the south of Tolimán.

    Phonology

Chichimeca Jonaz is a tonal language and distinguishes high and low level tones.
FrontBack
Closeiu
Near-closeɪ
Mideo
Openæɑ

In addition, Chichimeca Jonaz has nasal counterparts of these vowels, which are.
There are also fortis-lenis versions of the nasal consonants: m and n.