Sierra Otomi
Highland Otomi
Yųhų (otm)
Ñųhų (otx, otn)
Native toMexico
RegionPuebla, Veracruz, Hidalgo
Native speakers
(72,000 cited 1990–2007)[1]
Oto-Manguean
Official status
Regulated bySecretaría de Educación Pública
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
otm – Eastern Highland
otx – Texcatepec
otn – Tenango
Glottologeast2556  Eastern Highland
texc1235  Texcatepec
tena1241  Tenango
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Sierra Otomi a.k.a. Highland Otomi (Otomi de la Sierra) is a dialect cluster of the Otomi language spoken in Mexico by ca. 70,000 people in the highlands of Eastern Hidalgo, Western Veracruz and Northern Puebla. The speakers themselves call the language Yųhų (Eastern Highland) or Ñųhų (Texcatepec and Tenango).[2] Lastra 2001 classifies it as an Eastern Otomi language together with Ixtenco Otomi, Tilapa Otomi, and Acazulco Otomi. The three varieties of Sierra Otomi—Eastern Highland, Texcatepec, and Tenango—are above 70% lexically similar; the Eastern Highland dialects are above 80%, and will be considered here.

Distribution

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Municipalities with significant Sierra Otomi populations include the following (Dow 2005:236). Many of these municipalities also have Tepehua, Totonac, and Nahuatl speakers.

Phonology

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The phonemic inventory given below is based on the particular phonology of the Otomi de la Sierra dialect as documented by Voigtlander and Echegoyen (1985), phonemic inventories of other dialects vary slightly from that of Otomi de la Sierra.

Consonants

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Bilabial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive p b t d k ɡ ʔ
Affricate ts dz
Fricative ɸ θ ʃ x h
Flap ɾ
Semivowel j w

Vowels

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Front Central Back
oral nasal oral nasal oral nasal
Close i ĩ ʉ u ũ
Open-mid e ø õ
Mid ɛ ɛ̃ ɔ
Open ɑ ɑ̃

Orthography

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Alphabet

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Other letters

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Tones

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Tones are usually not marked.

Notes

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  1. ^ Eastern Highland at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Texcatepec at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Tenango at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Lastra 2006 p 57, Wright Carr 2005
  3. ^ "Sierra Otomi language". Omniglot. Retrieved 31 August 2021.

References

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Otomian
Mazahua
Otomi
Matlatzincan
Pamean
Italics indicate extinct languages
Western
Oto-Pamean
Otomian
Mazahua
Otomi
Matlatzincan
Pamean
Chinantecan
Tlapanecan
Manguean
Eastern
Popolocan
Zapotecan
Chatino
Zapotec
Northern
Sierra Juárez
Rincón
Cajonos
Other
Southern
Cis-Yautepec
Coatec
Central
Trans-Yautepec
Western Valley
Other
Other
Amuzgoan
Mixtecan
Lists
Italics indicate extinct languages
Category