A Dictionary of Misantla Totonac

FAIN: FN-230218-15

Carolyn J. MacKay
Ball State University (Muncie, IN 47306-1022)

The goal of this fellowship project, A Dictionary of Misantla Totonac, is to produce a trilingual (Totonac/Spanish/English) analytical dictionary and an extensive corpus of Misantla Totonac, an endangered Mesoamerican language spoken by fewer than 200 individuals in Yecualta and nearby communities in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The dictionary, of at least 5000 lexical items, will be produced in both print and electronic versions. The project will also result in a corpus of audio and video recordings of naturally occurring speech in different genres (e.g. narratives, conversations, jokes, personal histories, community history, descriptions of current and traditional uses of local flora and fauna and of culturally important activities and events). These materials, to be archived at the Archive of Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA) at the University of Texas at Austin, will provide the remaining elderly speakers of Totonac and younger non-Totonac-speaking members of the communities with a basis for developing meaningful and coherent strategies of revitalization and preservation. The PI, together with Frank R. Trechsel, has conducted fieldwork and published on Misantla Totonac since the 1980s. MacKay and Trechsel are each requesting a fellowship in tandem to spend a year in Mexico compiling the dictionary and related recordings. Their experienced teamwork is required for the project’s success. Neither of them could undertake and complete the project alone. (Edited by staff)

Associated Products

Totonac-Tepehua Genetic Relationships (Article)
Title: Totonac-Tepehua Genetic Relationships
Author: Carolyn J. MacKay and Frank R. Trechsel
Abstract: na
Year: 2015
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Amerindia 37(2): 121-157

Hacia una reconstruccion del proto-totonaco-tepehua (Article)
Title: Hacia una reconstruccion del proto-totonaco-tepehua
Author: Carolyn J. MacKay and Frank R. Trechsel
Abstract: na
Year: 2015
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Investigaciones (inter)disciplinarias en linguistica (Estudios Linguisticos 6)
Publisher: Mermosillo, Sonora: Universidad de Sonora

Totonac/Spanish/English Dictionary (Web Resource)
Title: Totonac/Spanish/English Dictionary
Author: Carolym J. MacKay and Frank R. Trechsel
Abstract: The goal of this website is to make available information about three endangered languages of Mexico. Misantla Totonac and Pisaflores Tepehua belong to the Totonac-Tepehua language family, while the Veneto language of Chipilo, Mexico has its origins in Segusino, Treviso, Italy. We have been researching these languages for many years and are trying to make the data we have collected accessible to anyone who might be interested.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: http://www.mackay-trechsel.com

An Alternative Reconstruction of Proto-Totonac-Tepehua (Article)
Title: An Alternative Reconstruction of Proto-Totonac-Tepehua
Author: Carolyn J. MacKay
Author: Frank R. Trechsel
Abstract: This paper presents a reconstruction of the phonological inventory of Proto-Totonac-Tepehua (PTT) that differs significantly from previous reconstructions. The chief difference is that the PTT inventory proposed here includes a series of glottalized stops and affricates and does not include a series of laryngealized vowels. It is argued that it is easier to explain the correspondences among cognates in the Totonac and Tepehua languages if the protolanguage includes a series of glottalized stops and affricates. The diachronic changes that are required to account for the distribution of glottalized consonants in the Tepehua languages and laryngealized vowels in the Totonac languages are more natural and less marked under this proposal than under the alternative proposals involving laryngealized vowels in PTT. [KEYWORDS: Totonac; Tepehua; Proto-Totonac-Tepehua; historical reconstruction; comparative method]
Year: 2018
Access Model: subscription
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol 84:1, pp 51-92
Publisher: International Journal of American Linguistics, University of Chicago Press

Una reconstrucción alternativa del Proto-totonaco-tepehua (Book Section)
Title: Una reconstrucción alternativa del Proto-totonaco-tepehua
Author: Carolyn J. MacKay
Author: Frank R. Trechsel
Editor: Elsa Cristina Buenrostro
Editor: Lucero Meléndez Guadarrama
Editor: Marcela San Giacomo Trinidad
Abstract: En este trabajo proponemos una reconstrucción del inventario fonémico del protototonaco-tepehua (ptt). La familia totonaco-tepehua se encuentra en la parte central de México en la región que incluye parte de tres estados –el sur de Hidalgo, la Sierra Norte de Puebla y el noroeste de Veracruz. La familia está constituida por dos ramas: la totonaca, que cuenta con unos 244 033 hablantes, y la tepehua, con unos 8868 hablantes (inegi 2010). El enfoque principal de este trabajo es proponer que la protolengua incluía una serie de oclusivas y africadas glotalizadas y que no incluía una serie de vocales laringizadas. Además proponemos que el inventario fonémico del protototonaco-tepehua incluía un cierre glotal y una sola fricativa velar/posvelar.
Year: 2018
Publisher: México D.F.: Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Book Title: Lingüística histórica de lenguas indomexicanas: Hallazgos y discusiones recientes

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