§1. Part Chon

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Lia Len rcwa teiby email lo Lia Glory cuan lo Lia Tyen —

Xa nuu Lia Glory?, xa nuu Lia Tyen?

Rcaza ynia laad xi bienyën bduxman. Bed cuan naa byoën San Diegw lainy autobuas. Re reipy buny nii field trip — uas zyeiny ra mniny nu lainy autobuas, chiru queity bdizhdyën. Cwe xamiegwa Lia Araceli bzubgaa. Byoën lainy teiby edifisy ro laty nu zyeiny ra cos ntiu xte deibyta gaxlyu, zicy ni na Museo de Antropología ni na Meijy, laty gune Lia Tyen xtad Lia Tyen. Museum of Man la ricy, chiru maru bro Museum of Man cano museu ni nu Ndua, laty runy xtiuwa Rony zeiny. Queity gundilazdyën ni raprëng ricy — ricy nu ra gues xte ra buny Dizhsa Ndua, cuan ra blal cuan, sa ni bzhiel xtadmam Lia Glory lo zhia xtadmam Lia Glory bdubiaz. U rnalazad Tiu Pamyël, rsagual xnana, ni nu cwe xalyën San Luc? Blal ni nu lainy museu ricy, deplan zicy ni na xablal Tiu Pamyël na blal ni nu ricy — deplan zhi. Bed cuan naa queity bindilazdyën ni binyloën, zicyagza Mazh, xamiegw Bed. Rzilazën, xizhyëng cayac? Bto Tiu Pamyël xablal Tiu Pamyël cwa museu e?

Ual gunyla contest! Queity xi galarzyadi chuad, riabzac Lia Araceli naa, per maru riabzacad naa!

Xamiegwad,
Lia Len

_{Fot Teiby xte Blal xte Tiu Pamyël, Part Chon. The Museum of Man, Balboa Park, San Diego.}

Lia Glory rcwa lo Lia Len —

As, Lia Len,

Queity rindilazdya, zicy na blal xte Tiu Pamyël na blal ni nu museu!

Mnigya xi — amer chua Los Angl! A mnab xtada danoën. Xtuxman a bzenyën ricy!

Yzhajan, tyen a gual ynazën camyuny.

Ucdi a bzyenya ricy!

Xamiegwu,
Lia Glory

_{Fot Tyop xte Blal xte Tiu Pamyël, Part Chon. The bus that goes between San Lucas and Tlacolula (where Gloria was able to read Elena’s email) several times a day.}

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§2. Ra Dizh cuan Xiëru Zalo Ra Dizh

§2.1. Some of the parts of this story contain Spanish words written in italics and pronounced as in Spanish, just as some of them contain English words like field trip and Museum of Man. Museo de Antropología means “Museum of Anthropology” and Araceli is a Spanish name that does not have a special Zapotec form.

§2.2. As with earlier parts of the story, some expressions here are best to read just as phrases for now, such as

(You’ve learned that rzilaz means “thinks”. When a question word comes after rzilaz, however, a better translation is “wonders”.)

The following might be useful to you in conversation:

Though it’s not in the story, this one would be good to learn too:

§2.3. Below are the other new vocabulary words and expressions used in this part of the story. You’ll learn more about using many of these words in later lessons. References are given, where necessary, to notes below or in Blal xte Tiu Pamyël (BXTP) Parts Teiby and Tyop. Verbs are listed in the habitual stem, with cross-references to perfective and irrealis stems that don’t use the regular prefixes b- and y-.

§2.4. As in BXTP 1 and 2, there are a number of verbs in the list above that are irregular, which you won’t learn to use with pronoun subjects until later lessons. (Almost all of these, you might notice, are verbs that have bases that either begin or end with vowels, or both. These tend to be the most irregular verbs in Zapotec.) For now, don’t use these verbs yourself except in the forms used here and with noun or name subjects.

§2.5. The different stem forms in Valley Zapotec often don’t work exactly like the present, past, and future in English. An easy example is

Although nu referred to the present time when you saw it used in BXTP 1 and 2, it can also refer to the past. But here’s a trickier example:

The meaning of a perfective verb is more complicated than just “past” — a Valley Zapotec perfective verb actually tells you that a certain action was completed at a point of reference. Here, Gloria is saying that by next week, her family’s arriving will be in the past.

Sometimes, verbs are used idiomatically, and you just need to learn what expression is most appropriate in another language, as in

The verb here is habitual, so we’d expect a translation like “I don’t believe”. But in English, in this context, “I can’t…” sounds better (less as though Gloria is contradicting Elena).

As you listen to more Valley Zapotec, you’ll catch on to how to use these verb forms.

§2.6. You’ve probably already noticed that Valley Zapotec ADJECTIVES (words used to describe qualities, like “old” and “big”) come after the nouns they refer to, as in cos ntiu “old thing” and edifisy ro “big building”. You will learn how to use adjectives in several types of sentences in Lecsyony Tseinyabtap and Galy. (It can be complicated — for example, in this story you’ll see that both ro and bro mean “big”.)

§2.7. As you saw in BXTP 1 and 2, xte (or xten) means “of”, but can be used to show other types of relationship or association:

This part of the story shows some more ways to use xte:

§2.8. The verb riabzac is used to say “likes”, but it works backwards from the way the English word works, as in the following example:

Lia Araceli is the subject of the first part of this sentence (Riabzac Lia Araceli naa), and naa is the object. (You can tell this because of the order the parts of the sentence come in: first verb, then subject, then object.) “You guys” is the subject of the second part of the sentence (riabzacad naa), and again, naa is the object. (You can tell this because the verb is followed by the bound pronoun -ad.) But both parts of the sentence are used to talk about a feeling the speaker has — in English, we express this with an I subject. The Valley Zapotec verb riabzac works “backwards” from the English verb likes (or, alternatively, the English verb works “backwards from the Zapotec one!) — you just have to remember to express the person who does the liking as the object of this verb. One way to think of this is to imagine that the verb means “pleases” rather than “likes” — then you can think of the sentence as something like “Araceli pleases me, but you guys please me more!” Although that isn’t exactly the right meaning, at least the subject and object seem correct! (If you know Spanish, you will realize that the Spanish verb gustar works just like riabzac.)

§2.9. If you know Spanish, you are familiar with the word consuegro (feminine consuegra), which refers to a special in-law relationship (if you are married, your parents are your in-laws’ consuegros, and vice versa). The Zapotec word sagual refers to a broader but possibly related concept. Your saguals or ra sagual are your sibling’s spouse’s relatives (brother’s wife’s relatives, sister’s husband’s relatives), or your parent’s sibling’s spouse’s relatives. These relatives are very important in Valley Zapotec culture, and are generally referred to and addressed respectfully, even if they are younger than you.

§3. Xa Rni Buny Ra Dizh

pa’rt chòonn

Lia Leen rcwààa’ te’ihby email loh Lia Gloory cuahnn loh Lia Tye’nn:

X:a nu’-ùu’ Lia Gloory, x:a nu’-ùu’ Lia Tye’nn?

Cayuhnya’ ua’s computadoor x:tèe’ bibliote’c tye’nn ycwaàa’ te’ihby email rèe’!

Rcàa’za’ ynniìa’ làa’d xi bie’nyëhnn bduhxmaan. Beed cuahnn nàa’ byoo’-ëhnn Sann Diegw làa’iny autobu’as. Rèe’ re’ihpy bùunny nìi “field trip” — u’as zyèiny ra mnìi’iny nu’uh làa’iny autobu’as, chiru’ que’ity bdi’ihzhgyëhnn. Cwe’eh x:amiegwa’ Lia Araceli bzubga’-a’. Byoo’-ëhnn làa’iny te’ihby edifii’sy ròo’oh lahty nu’uh zyèiny ra co’s nti’u x:tèe’ de’ibyta’ gahx:lyuh zi’cy nih nàa Museo de Antropología nih nàa Me’ijy lahty gunèe Lia Tye’nn x:ta’ad Lia Tye’nn. Museum of Man laa ri’cy, chiru’ maaru’ bròo’oh Museum of Man canoh museu nih nu’uh Ndùu’ah. Que’ity gundilaa’zdyëhnn nih ràa’prëng ri’cy – ri’cy nu’uh ra guehs x:tèe’ ra bùunny Dìi’zhsah Ndùu’ah, cuahnn ra blàaal cuahnn, sa’ah nih bzhìe’l x:ta’adma’mm Lia Gloory loh zhiah x:ta’adma’mm Lia Gloory bdubiihahz. U rnalàa’zahd Ti’u Pá’mmyëll, rsaguall x:nna’ana’, nih nu’uh cwe’eh x:a’ahllyëhnn Sann Lu’uc? Blàaal nih nu’uh ri’cy làa’iny museu, depla’nn zi’cy nih nàa x:ablàaal Ti’u Pá’mmyëll nàa blàaal nih nu’uh ri’cy — depla’nn zhi’. Beed cuahnn nàa’ que’ity bindilàa’zdyëhnn nih binylohnn, zi’cyahgza’ Maazh, x:amiegw Beed. Rzilàa’zëhnn, xizhyëng cayahc? Btòo’oh Ti’u Pá’mmyëll x:abla’al Ti’u Pámmyëll cwàa’ah museu èee?

U’all gunylàa’ conte’st! Que’ity xi gahllarzyàa’ahdi’ chu’ahd, riahbza’c Araceli nàa’, pehr maaru’ riahbza’cahd nàa’.

X:amiegwahd,
Lia Leen

Lia Gloory rcwààa’ loh Lia Leen:

Que’ity rinndilaa’zdyëhnn, zi’cy nàa blàaal x:tèe’ Ti’u Pá’mmyëll nàa blàaal nih nu’uh museu!

Mnnìi’gya’ah xi – ameer chu’a’ Lohs A’nngl! A mnàa’b x:ta’ada’ dannooëhnn. X:tuhxmaan a bzee’nnyëhnn ri’cy.

Yzhàajàann, tye’nn a gùall ynàa’azëhnn camyuuny.

U’cdi’ a bzye’ennya’ ri’cy.

X:amiegùu’,
Lia Gloory

§4. Video Recording