Mayo is an Uto-Aztecan language. It is spoken by about 40,000 people, the Mexican Mayo or Yoreme Indians, who live in the South of the Mexican state of Sonora and in the North of the neighboring state of Sinaloa. Under the General Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples" Law of Linguistic Rights, it is recognized as a "national language" along with 62 other indigenous languages and Spanish which all have the same validity in Mexico. The language is considered 'critically endangered' by UNESCO.[3]
| Mayo | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Sonora, Sinaloa, and parts in Durango, Mexico |
| Ethnicity | 100,000 Mayo (1983)[1] |
Native speakers | 39,000 (2020 census)[2] |
Uto-Aztecan
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Mexico |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mfy |
| Glottolog | mayo1264 |
| ELP | Mayo |
 Mayo is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
The Mayo language is partially intelligible with the Yaqui language, and the division between the two languages is more political, from the historic division between the Yaqui and the Mayo peoples, than linguistic.
Programming in both Mayo and Yaqui is carried by the CDI's radio station XEETCH, broadcasting from Etchojoa, Sonora.
Phonology
editConsonants
edit| Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||||
| Plosive | p, bʷ | t | t͡ʃ | k | ʔ | |
| Fricative | β | s | h | |||
| Trill | r | |||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Semivowel | w | j |
Vowels
edit| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː |
| Mid | e eː | o oː |
| Open | a aː | |
Morphology
editMayo is an agglutinative language, where words use suffix complexes for a variety of purposes with several morphemes strung together.
External links
edit
Nominal and Adjectival Predication in Yoreme/Mayo of Sonora and Sinaloa
References
edit- ^ Mayo language at Ethnologue (24th ed., 2021)
- ^ Lenguas indígenas y hablantes de 3 años y más, 2020 INEGI. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020.
- ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org.
- ^ Freeze, Ray A. (1989). Mayo de los Capomos, Sinaloa.
Sources
edit- Collard, Howard and Collard, Elisabeth Scott. 1962. Vocabulario Mayo, Vocabularios Indigenas Marianno Silva y Aceves. Num. 6.
- Aguilar Zeleny, Alejandro S. 1995. "Los mayos," In Etnografía contemporánea de los pueblos indígenas de México. México: Región Noroeste Instituto Nacional Indigenista.
- Acosta, Roberto. 1983. Apuntes históricos sonorenses: la conquista temporal y espiritual del Yaqui y del Mayo Imprenta Aldina. Mèxico (1a. ediciòn). México: Gobierno del Estado de Sonora.
- Hagberg, Larry. 1989. "Stress and Length in Mayo." In Shipley, William, (ed.). In Honor of Mary Haas: From the Haas Festival Conference on Native Essays in Honor to Mary Hass. Halle: Mouton.
- Lionnet, Andres S.J. 1977. Los elementos de la lengua cahita (yaqui-mayo) México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
- Spicer, Edward Holland. 1969. "The Yaqui and the Mayo." In Wauchope, R., editor. Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol 8. Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Hagberg, Larry and Zamarrón, José Luis Moctezuma. 2001. "Investigaciones sobre la lengua mayo." In Zamarrón, José Luis Moctezuma and Hill, Jane H. (eds), Avances y balances de lenguas yutoaztecas; homenaje a Wick R. Miller p. 195–206. Serie Lingüística. Mexico, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Historia.