Zapotec Science: Farming and Food in the Northern Sierra of Oaxaca

Appendix A. Pronunciation of Rincón Zapotec Terms

              Rincón or Nexitzo Zapotec can be written and pronounced using a modified Spanish alphabet. All pronunciations are identical to those in Mexican Spanish, but there are several additional sounds in Zapotec: . There are six vowels in Nexitzo Zapotec, rather than five. The sixth vowel is similar to the schwa sound in English (e.g., the e in cider), but is pronounced with a tightly constricted glottis. It may be denoted with the letter h (which in Spanish is mute), as in the word bhni, man. . All vowels have two variants, a ‘‘normal,’’ unabbreviated version and a more abrupt version that is abbreviated with a glottal stop. The glottal stop may be denoted with an apostrophe following the abbreviated vowel. For example: gui’ fire, light za’a sweet corn yu’u house dxi’a good . There are four consonant sounds that do not have equivalents in Spanish but do have equivalents in English. These may be denoted as the following: (a) dx, pronounced like English [j] (e.g., jar) (b) sh, pronounced like English [sh] (e.g., shy) (c) z, pronounced like English [z] (e.g., zip) (d) zh, pronounced like English [zh] (e.g., pleasure)  Zapotec Science  For example: bedx bull padiush greetings zroj hot (piquant) zhua maize This is a modified version of a system developed by Cado Pérez, a Talean who organized and taught a class on written and spoken Zapotec during the s. He has also translated several items from Spanish to Rincón Zapotec. ...