Tzotzil language

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Tzotzil

Spoken in

Mexico
speaker 430,000
Linguistic
classification
Official status
Official language in National language in MexicoMexicoMexico 
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

-

ISO 639 -2

myn (Maya languages)

ISO 639-3

tzo

The Tzotzil language , also Tsotsil (Bats'i k'op) is an indigenous language in Mexico , spoken by the Tzotzil ethnic group in Chiapas . It belongs to the Maya languages and is most closely related to the Tzeltal language .

The proper name is Bats'i k'op ("original word") or jK'optik ("our word").

classification

The Tzotzil language, along with Tzeltal and Ch'ol, forms a group within the Mayan languages ​​that descend from Proto-Ch'ol , a language spoken in cities of the Late Classical Period of Mayan culture such as Palenque and Yaxchilán .

Sociolinguistic situation today

Tzotzil is one of the most vital indigenous languages ​​in Mexico . The number of Tzotzil speakers is growing faster than the total population of Mexico. In the 2010 Mexico census, 429,168 people aged 3 and over said they could speak tzotzil. Of these, 258,767 or 60.30% said they also speak Spanish. With almost 40% monolinguals, Tzotzil has one of the highest proportions of the indigenous languages ​​in Mexico. 88,165 children between the ages of 3 and 9 spoke Tzotzil, which is 20.54% of all Tzotzil speakers aged 3 and over, while 14.71% of the total Mexican population aged 3–9 years and older.

In the municipality of Chamula, 69,475 of 69,796 people aged 3 and over, i.e. 99.54%, spoke the indigenous language. 41,736 people, or 59.80%, did not speak Spanish. Of all 15,853 children aged 3 to 9 in Chamula, 15,699 or 99.03% spoke their indigenous language, 14,242 of these children or 89.84% did not speak Spanish.

In the municipality of Zinacantán, 32,323 of 32,611 people aged 3 and over, i.e. 99.11%, spoke the indigenous language. 16,929 people, or 51.91%, did not speak Spanish. Of all 7,048 children aged 3 to 9 in Zinacantán, 6,957 or 98.71% spoke their indigenous language, and 5,851 of these children or 83.02% did not speak Spanish.

Bible translations

The Mexican Bible Society has so far published two complete translations of the Bible . One of them, including the deutero-canonical books, was created in collaboration with Catholic and Protestant Christians and was published in 1997 (Biblia en Tzotzil de Chenalhó con libros Deuterocanónicos) , the other in 2000 without deuterocanonical books (Biblia en Tzotzil de Chamula) . The Jehovah's Witnesses again published a New World Translation of the New Testament in 2014 ; they also run a tzotzil-language version of their website.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c INEGI 2010: Censo de Población y Vievienda 2010 , accessed on March 25, 2011
  2. ↑ Bible in Tzotzil de Chenalhó with Deuterocanon (TZE97) / Biblia en Tzotzil de Chenalhó con libros Deuterocanónicos (bible.com) . Sociedad Bíblica de México, 1997.
  3. ↑ Bible in Tzotzil de Chamula (TZC00) (bible.com) . Sociedad Bíblica de México, 2000.
  4. ↑ Ch'ul Ts'ibetik ta Mateo k'alal ta Apokalipsis. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, Máaxoʼob Jóoʼsik: La Torre del Vigía, AR, México (Distrito Federal) 2014.
  5. ↑ Stestigotak Jeova (Jehovah's Witnesses, language version in Tzotzil)

literature

  • Robert M. Laughlin: The great Tzotzil dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantán. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington 1975
  • John Haviland: Sk'op Sotz'leb: El Tzotzil De San Lorenzo Zinacantan. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México 1981. ISBN 9685800561

Web links