As a former Mixtecanist (or is it 'once a Mixtecanist, always a Mixtecanist'?), I was happy to read the article in the NYT yesterday on a radio station in Fresno that has started a show called "La Hora Mixteca" ("the Mixtec Hour"). Many things made me happy - just that there is such a show, for one. I was also happy to read this: "pronounced MEESE-teck" - I have been on a one-woman crusade for almost three decades now to get English speakers to say it that way instead of the hyper-foreign MEESH-teck. (Quick explanation: many placenames in Mexico that have an "x" in them are in fact pronounced with "sh," but this is due to the Nahuatl origin of such words, and since Mixtec isn't Nahuatl, it doesn't make sense to do the same. Plus in Spanish the "x" in this word is an [s] - you say "mees-TECK-o" for Mixteco, so why palatalize the [s] in English???) Well, it's been a losing battle among linguists, but it's fun to see the NYT get something right for a change.The article did leave me wondering about one thing - Mixtec is one of those "languages" that is really a giant language family, filled with mutually unintelligble varieties misleadingly called "dialects." It's the classic dialect continuum problem, though - there's no answer for where to draw the line for where one dialect stops and another starts. Oh, instead of plagiarizing from my grammar of Chalcatongo Mixtec, I'll just quote:
Ravicz (1965:40) proposes one interesting way to measure dialect boundaries in the area, días de distancia ('days of distance'): "... A person who is two days' walk from their town can communicate easily; however, a distance of three days will hinder understanding to a certain extent. If this person is four or five days from their town, they can hardly depend on sufficient common elements to establish communication, and Spanish will serve them better" [my translation].
So, having said all that, I wonder what dialect of Mixtec they use on la Hora Mixteca? Are the listeners in the Fresno area from the same dialect area, so that they can just use one and be understood by everybody? Or is a sort of standard developing that many can understand, even if it's not their native dialect?
Will keep you posted if I find out any answers.
8 comments:
The following text (emphasis added) from the Radio Bilingüe web site seems to me to rule out the first explanation:
Programa bilingüe en mixteco y español que presenta la música folklórica de Oaxaca, estado del sur de México. Este programa ofrece información, saludos, dedicaciones y anuncios de servicio público relevantes para los trabajadores migrantes mixtecos de los dos lados de la frontera. Durante los últimos 90 minutos del programa se establece un enlace satelital con emisoras indígenas de los estados de Baja California, Guerrero y Oaxaca, en México. Este programa se produce en KSJV-Radio Bilingüe (Fresno, California) y lo conduce el trabajador comunitario mixteco, Filemón Lopez. En la sección de enlace con México participa como co-conductora Eva Hernández, desde Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca.
If people from four Mexican states are listening, there must be a koine of sorts in use.
Who's the guy in the picture?
Mixtec is indigenous to areas in Oaxaca and Guerrero (and Puebla), but I bet the Baja speakers are 'internal migrants'.
The vast majority of the Mixtecs migrating to the US come from a very small area of the Mixteca. Radio Bilingue's Filemon Lopez speaks Mixtepec Mixtec, as does a large percentage of the Mixtecs in the Fresno area and also in the San Quintin area of Baja California. Other large communities include people from Juxtlahuaca, Silacayoapan, Huajuapan, and the Oaxaca-Guerrero border area west of Juxtlahuaca. The communities from Huajuapan and Silacayoapan have a higher rate of bilingualism (Spanish and Mixtec) than do the communities from Juxtlahuaca and west of Juxtlahuaca. Also, because Mixtecs from many different areas find themselves working together in the fields and living together in apartment complexes, most learn to understand one or two other Mixtec languages, even if they don't learn to speak them.
Thanks, anon, that's very helpful information. Is there a good overview source on Mixtecs in the U.S.?
Hello, Mr. Verb. Do you speak Mixteco yourself?
Hello, Mr. Verb. Do you speak Mixteco, yourself?
No, unfortunately, I do not. If you need to find speakers, send me an email (see list of contributors for the profile and my email is there) and I can put you in touch with people who might have contacts.
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