_{Lecsyony Chon, Picture 1. Inside wall of a house in Tlacolula. Bright colors are very characteristic of Oaxaca}

This lesson explains more about the pronunciation guides which are presented along with most words in the early lessons in this book, and for all entries in the vocabulary at the end of the book.

Probably you’re familiar with pairs of English words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently — for example, if the sentence We read that book refers to the present (We read that book every day), read rhymes with heed, while if it refers to the past (We read that book yesterday), read rhymes with head. Bow referring to a type of knot or what you shoot an arrow with rhymes with hoe, while bow referring to a respectful gesture or part of what a dog says rhymes with how. English speakers learn these pronunciations when they learn a new word, and if they are ever confused, they can check the pronunciation guide in [ ]’s in a dictionary.

Valley Zapotec spellings can be similar. When you learn a new word, it’s good to listen to your teacher or another speaker pronounce it. Both the pronunciation guides (in [ ]’s) in the lessons and the Rata Ra Dizh are included to help you pronounce words you haven’t heard before, so it’s important to learn something about how to read them. This lesson will help you get a general idea of what the pronunciation guides show, so that if you need to, you can use the information they contain to help you with the pronunciation of Zapotec words. Remember that you can refer back to this lesson any time you need to check on pronunciation during the course.

In this course, you will not be responsible for memorizing pronunciation guides, although if this helps you, you can certainly do this. Listen to your teacher, and work hard at trying to repeat all the words exactly as your teacher says them. When you say something in Zapotec, try hard to make it sound like what your teacher would say. Pronnciations of all of the examples in Unida Teiby are included in the videos that accompany this course, and you can always refer to them for a reminder of what each sound is like.  In addition, each word in the Ra Dizh from each lesson after Unida Teiby is recorded too.

You may wonder why we use a spelling system that does not completely indicate pronunciation. This spelling system is much simpler and easier to learn than the more complex spelling used in the pronunciation guides. The spelling system used here reflects the intuitions of Valley Zapotec speakers, who have expressed the idea that many words are spelled the same even though their pronunciations (especially, the pronunciation of their vowel sounds) are different — just as English speakers feel about the read and bow examples discussed above. When words in the spelling system used here are used in the context of a complete phrase or sentence, the surrounding words generally will help a reader tell what the word is.

The different sections below cover how pronunciation guides represent different vowel and consonant pronunciations. §3.1 presents double vowels,  §3.2 additional consonant sounds, and §3.3 and §3.4 more vowel pronunciations. §3.5 covers more about the ë vowel and §3.6 more about diphthongs. §3.7 includes a summary of vowel pronunciation guides.

§3.1. Double vowels in pronunciation guides

If you look back at the examples in Lecsyony Tyop, you’ll see that the last syllable of each pronunciation guide includes a double vowel. But the vowels in pronunciation guides for other words can vary. There may be from one to three vowels in a syllable of a Zapotec pronunciation guide.

If you compare the length of time it takes to say the first vowels in the words syuda [syudaa], cafe [cafee], and rrelo [rreloo] with the length of time it takes to say the sequence of two vowels in the pronunciation guides for the last syllables of these words, you can see why we need to indicate this difference in the pronunciation guides. You can listen to this in the video below.

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 1. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

Zapotec words and PHRASES with different meanings can be distinguished by such differences in pronunciation. (A phrase is a sequence of words that express a single concept — you’ll learn more about these starting in Lecsyony Gai.) Here’s an example, which you can listen to in the video that follows:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 2. (With Dr. Felipe H. Lopez)}

The two phrases above are spelled the same, but they are pronounced differently. The pronunciation guide shows that the second phrase has a double vowel in its first word, while there is only a single vowel in the first word in the first phrase. The two ra words here are related. The first is used to show that a following word is PLURAL, referring to more than one item (you’ll learn more about using this ra in Lecsyony Xon). The second ra (the one whose pronunciation guide has a double vowel) means “all”. This example shows that it’s important to pay attention to pronunciation!

If you listen to the last syllable of all the examples given in Lecsyony Tyop, as well as those above, you will hear that the speaker’s voice makes a high-toned, even, relatively longer sound. Unlike English and Spanish, Zapotec is a TONE LANGUAGE: Zapotec speakers use different TONES, with different pitch and melody to make a difference in the meaning of words, which is not true of English or Spanish. The last syllables of all the example words in Lecsyony Tyop and the next section contain HIGH TONES, which are also LEVEL TONES (meaning that they do not rise or fall). The sign of this high level tone  in the pronunciation guide is a doubled vowel: [aa], [ee], [ii], [oo], or [uu]. (As the examples may suggest, this tone is particularly common in words borrowed from Spanish — but it also occurs in many non-borrowed Zapotec words as well.)

Any syllable with two identical vowels in a row in its pronunciation guide is pronounced like the examples just discussed in this section. Any two Valley Zapotec syllables with the same pattern of vowels in the pronunciation guide always have the same tone. You’ll learn more about other tones later in this lesson.

(There is one place where two identical vowels can occur in a row in Zapotec spelling. In Lecsyony Tseiny (13), you’ll learn that two identical vowels are written in a row when each vowel is part of a different element of the word. For example, laa means “my name” and loo means “your name” — these words are more complex forms of la “name”, with added endings meaning “my” and “your”. These three words are pronounced [laàa’], [lòo’], and [lah] — you’ll learn what each of these pronunciation guides mean later in this lesson.)

Valley Zapotec has a number of types of vowels that are different from the normal vowels of English, Spanish, or most other languages you are probably familiar with. The vowels in the example words you’ve encountered up to now, which are comparable to the vowels of English or Spanish, are PLAIN VOWELS. When naming types of vowel sequences that can occur in Zapotec words, we’ll refer to plain vowels with the letter P. We will refer to the VOWEL PATTERN of the words in this section (and the words used as examples in Lecsyony Tyop) as a PP pattern, because it contains two plain vowels.

Zapotec words may have many forms, depending on how speakers decide to use them in sentences. In the Rata Ra Dizh vocabulary at the end of this book, words are listed in their INDEPENDENT FORM, the simplest way the words are used, with nothing added — the way the words are pronounced on their own, without any of the changes you might hear if they were used in a sentence. Most of the examples in this unit are independent forms.

In general, the most important syllable of a Zapotec word is the final (last) or KEY SYLLABLE of the independent form of that word. When we refer to the vowel pattern of a word, we mean the vowel pattern of its key syllable. Words like syuda and solisitu have more than one syllable, but their last syllable is most important: we can say these words have a PP vowel pattern, because the pronunciation guides for their key syllables contain two plain vowels. Most key syllables of independent forms of Zapotec words have vowel patterns containing two or three vowels.

§3.2. Additional consonant sounds

There are six remaining Zapotec sounds that are not used in either English or Spanish, though each is quite similar to, and spelled the same as, one of the sounds described in Lecsyony Tyop.

First, there are doubled versions of the sounds [l], [m], [n], and [ng]: [ll], [mm], [nn], and [nng]. These are similar to the sounds that have already been presented, but are longer: a double [ll] sounds longer than a single [l], and so on. These sounds are written just like the other sounds in normal spelling, with l, m, n, and ng. Here are some examples, which you can hear in the video that follows:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 3. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

(Nzhung “hard” in section §3.3.1. illustrates the sound [nng].)

Next, there are special versions of the sounds [x] and [zh]. The letter combinations [x:] and [zh:] are pronounced with a whistling sound. In pronunciation guides, these sounds are indicated with a colon (:) after the [x] or [zh]. They are written x and zh. Here are some examples, which you can hear in the video that follows:

§3.3. More vowel pronunciations

Valley Zapotec has three other types of vowels in addition to those you’ve heard so far: breathy vowels, checked vowels, and creaky vowels. The best way to learn to make these other types of vowels, and the various patterns they can occur in, is to imitate your teacher’s pronunciation. Since all these different types of vowels are spelled the same, the pronunciation guides will serve as a helpful reference if you forget the pronunciation of a word, or when you learn a new word.

§3.3.1. Breathy vowels. A BREATHY VOWEL sounds like an plain vowel combined with a sound similar to an English h. In a breathy vowel, the vocal cords vibrate while remaining apart. Each of the first five vowel sounds you have learned can be pronounced as a breathy vowel. In the pronunciation guides, these are indicated with the vowel letter followed by [h]. Here are some examples, which you can hear in the video that follows:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 5. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

(Bets provides a good example of the Zapotec consonant sound ts.)

An interesting fact about breathy vowels is that the amount of breathiness you hear in a vowel may vary from community to community or even from speaker to speaker. Vowels that are shown as breathy in the pronunciation guide will sound a lot breathier in Tlacolula or San Lucas than in San Juan Guelavía or Santa Ana del Valle, for example. You may also notice that when women pronounce breathy vowels they sound more breathy than when men pronounce them. Try to imitate your teacher and other speakers you hear on the recordings.

Zapotec [h] is different from both English h and Spanish h. In English, h can represent a consonant sound (as in hi). In Spanish, h (in words like hola) is not pronounced. In Zapotec, [h] is only used in pronunciation guides to indicate that a vowel is breathy.

Sometimes breathy vowels are pronounced longer. A long breathy vowel is indicated by a double breathy vowel in the pronunciation guide (vowel-plus-h, vowel-plus-h — as in [ahah]). You can hear this in the video that follows.

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 6. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

In vowel pattern abbreviations, a breathy vowel is indicated with the letter B. Thus, the short breathy vowel pattern is shown by B, and the long breathy vowel pattern by BB. Remember that you can tell the tone on a Zapotec syllable by the pattern of vowels in the pronunciation guide for that syllable. Both single and double breathy vowels have a LOW TONE. You can hear the difference from the high tone of the plain vowels when you compare words such as those in the examples and video below.

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 7. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

The difference between single and double breathy vowels is only one of length. In Zapotec sentences and phrases, double breathy vowels are often replaced by single breathy vowels. For example, lo “face” [lohoh] is pronounced with a short breathy vowel in lorëng “their faces”, as you can hear in the video below.

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 8. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

As this example shows, many Valley Zapotec words shorten to simpler COMBINATION FORMS when endings are added to them, or when other words follow them. Zapotec speakers know how to make these combination forms without even thinking about it (but they can be tricky for non-native speakers to remember about!).

§3.3.2. Checked vowels. A CHECKED VOWEL ends with a GLOTTAL STOP sound. This sound is made by completely closing the folds of the glottis (the opening at the top of the larynx), cutting off the flow of air from the lungs into the mouth without bringing together the lips or any other part of the mouth. The glottal stop is the sound that we pronounce in the middle of the English word uh-oh (meaning “oops”). There is no special way to write a glottal stop in English (because it is not considered a regular sound of the language). The glottal stop is not written in Valley Zapotec spelling either, but in pronunciation guides this sound is indicated with ‘ (an apostrophe). All five of the first Zapotec vowels you’ve learned can be checked, which you can hear in the video that follows:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 9. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

The tone on a single checked vowel is as high as on a plain double vowel (though the single checked vowel is much shorter!). In representing Zapotec vowel patterns, we will abbreviate a checked vowel with the letter C. The pattern above, then, is represented with a single C.

Checked vowels are often combined with other vowels. When another vowel follows a checked vowel within a single syllable, the vowel sound is interrupted by the check (glottal stop). For example, at the end of a word a checked vowel is often followed by a breathy vowel (in a CB — checked plus breathy — pattern). Here are some examples, which you can hear in the video that follows:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 10. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

This sequence of vowels has a FALLING TONE — it starts off higher than it ends.

You may find the check harder to hear when a consonant follows this same CB vowel pattern, but it is still there! Here are some examples, which you can hear in the video that follows:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 11. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

(In these words, there seems to be less pause between the checked vowel and the breathy vowel than in the words in which the breathy vowel comes at the end.) In a few words, the checked vowel is followed by a double breathy vowel (CBB), again with a falling tone. Here are some examples, which you can hear in the video that follows:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 12. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

A checked vowel can also be followed by a plain vowel (CP), as in these examples, which you can hear in the video that follows:

This vowel pattern is pronounced with a RISING TONE — it ends higher than it starts off.**

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 13. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

The tone of a checked vowel followed by two plain vowels (CPP) may seem to you to rise even more.

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 14. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

_{Lecsyony Chon, Picture 2. This sign in Mitla says “niss yaa” (nyis ya [nnyi’ihs yàa]), meaning “clean water”, written in a different system from the one used in this book.
Speakers often use double vowels to represent Zapotec sounds that are different from Spanish ones.}

§3.3.3 Creaky vowels. The last type of Zapotec vowel pronunciation is the CREAKY VOWEL. Creaky vowels sound like someone talking much lower than their normal tone of voice, or maybe like someone whose voice hasn’t limbered up yet in the morning. In a creaky vowel, one end of the vocal cords vibrates irregularly, while the other end is closed, producing a low-pitched creaky sound along with the vowel.

In the pronunciation guide, most Zapotec creaky vowels are written with a GRAVE ACCENT: [à], [è,], [ì], [ò], [ù]. (The grave accent goes the opposite direction from the usual accent mark used in Spanish. It may help you to remember that it looks as if this accent is going down from left to right, just the way your voice goes down when you make a creaky vowel.) In representing vowel patterns, we will use a K to indicate a creaky vowel.

Creaky vowels are never used alone in Valley Zapotec, but are always combined with some other type of vowel. Most commonly, this is a checked vowel (in a KC pattern). Here are some examples of the creaky plus checked pattern, which has a falling tone:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 15. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

(Do you hear the w at the end of becw? The cw combination doesn’t occur at the end of a word in English.)

The creaky, checked, plain (KCP) vowel pattern also has a falling tone:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 16. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

Some speakers use this KCP pattern where other speakers use the KC pattern. For instance, here is another way to say “dog”:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 17. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

Sometimes two creaky vowels are followed by a checked vowel. This KKC vowel pattern, which also has a falling tone, sounds even creakier!

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 18. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

An interesting fact about the creaky vowels in vowel patterns like those above is that the amount of creakiness you hear in a vowel may vary from speaker to speaker. You may notice that when men pronounce creaky vowels they sound more creaky than when women pronounce them. Try to imitate your teacher and other speakers you hear on the recordings.

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 19. (With Dr. Felipe H. Lopez.)}

When a creaky vowel is followed not by a checked vowel, but by a plain vowel, its sound is much softer, less obviously creaky. Here are some examples:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 20. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

This KP vowel pattern has a low tone.

There are other creaky plus plain patterns too. For instance, the following words have a creaky vowel plus two plain vowels.

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 21. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

This KPP vowel pattern has a rising tone.

Here’s one more common vowel sequence in pronunciation guides: a plain vowel followed by a creaky vowel followed by a checked vowel. This PKC vowel pattern also has a falling tone.

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 22. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

§3.4 Other types of vowels

You’ve now learned about pronouncing all the different types of Zapotec vowels. You’ll learn additional vowel patterns that can appear in pronunciation guides later. Each of these different sequences of vowels in pronunciation guides has its own associated tone (for the majority of them, it is a falling tone).

You’ve seen a lot of examples of single plain (P) vowels in pronunciation guides, but you haven’t seen these at the end of many words. Here’s one, though, in an example from section §3.1:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 23. (With Dr. Felipe H. Lopez.)}

The plural word ra is special: it is not used by itself, but only before another word. Pronunciation guides for key (final) syllables of words that can be used alone, without any added endings, never have just a single plain vowel. Single plain vowels appear in pronunciation guides only in non-key syllables or in words like ra that are used only as part of longer phrases. They also may appear in endings like the -ëng ending you saw in section §2.5, which is discussed further in the next section.

§3.5. More about the ë vowel

The ë vowel also can occur in breathy, checked, and creaky versions. Here is a Zapotec word containing a breathy version of this vowel sound, in a B pattern:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 24. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

When the ë vowel is pronounced as creaky, there’s a problem for the pronunciation guide (since, you’ll recall, creaky vowels are shown with a ` accent, which can’t easily be combined with the ¨ on the ë). In the pronunciation guide, a creaky ë is shown as ê — an e with a CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT (which looks like a little hat over the vowel) Here’s an example, using a KC sequence:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 25. (With Dr. Felipe H. Lopez.)}

Some people pronounce this word with an ë, as just shown, while others pronounce it with an ëa diphthong. In both cases, though, there is a creaky [ê] and a KC vowel pattern:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 26. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

Some words are pronounced differently by different speakers of Valley Zapotec. The most common differences are in vowels. You should write the vowels you hear. If your teacher says tsë for “ten”, that’s how you should write the word. If your teacher says tsëa, you should write the word that way, and so on.

One place you often hear the vowel ë in Valley Zapotec is in endings that are added onto other words, such as the following:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 27. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

These examples contain special -ëng “he, she, it, his, her, its” (nearby) and -ën “we, our” endings. Endings like these are very common on nouns, verbs, and other words in Zapotec sentences. You’ll learn more about these endings later. (Pronunciation guides are included for every example in this lesson, but normally they will not be. Practice is the best way to learn how to pronounce Zapotec words and sentences. Listen to the examples on the audio portion of this course, and listen to your teacher. Note too that the ë in the -ën ending won’t always sound strongly breathy to you — but it always has the low tone of a B vowel.)

Some speakers of Valley Zapotec (especially some people from San Lucas) use the vowel ë in the key syllables of only a few words — “tuna”, “ten”, and one or two others. For other speakers from San Lucas and people from most other communities, however, this sixth Zapotec vowel is much more common. They use ë in place of e in many words, such as

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 28. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

Which vowel does your teacher say in this word, e or ë? (Most speakers aren’t aware that familiar words like “head” have two pronunciations until this is pointed out to them. But once you know about it, you will begin to notice which speakers use e in words like “head”, and which use ë!) While you’re learning Zapotec, it is best to imitate your teacher, and to pronounce and write the word according to the way your teacher pronounces it.

§3.6. More about diphthongs

The diphthongs you learned about in the last lesson can be used in the same kind of vowel pronunciations you’ve seen already.

For instance, you know that pronunciation guides may show a creaky vowel followed by a checked vowel, in a KC sequence with a falling tone. In the examples you saw earlier for this pattern (in section §3.3.3) both of the two vowels were the same. However, diphthongs can be used in the same vowel pattern, as in the following examples:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 29. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

In each case, the first part of the diphthong in the pronunciation guide is creaky, while the second part of the diphthong is checked.

Diphthongs may vary quite a bit from community to community. Just as you saw with the word “ten” in section §3.5, some speakers may use a simple vowel where other speakers use a diphthong. Listen to your teacher, and pronounce and write words they way your teacher does.

Here’s another example of a different pronunciation for diphthongs. You know that in a pronunciation guide a creaky vowel can be followed by a plain vowel (KP), producing a low tone. The same sequence can be a diphthong, as in

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 30. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

(Some speakers pronounce “deer” with an ei diphthong, some with ëi.) Once again, the first vowel in the sequence is the first part of the diphthong, and the second vowel is the second part of the diphthong.

Here are a few examples of diphthongs in the checked vowel plus breathy vowel (CB) pattern:

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 31. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

Diphthongs may also appear in sequences of three vowels. For instance, you’ve seen examples of the KKC pattern, a sequence of two creaky vowels followed by a checked vowel. A diphthong can be used in the same pattern, as in

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 32. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

When a diphthong appears in a vowel pattern that includes three vowels, such as the KKC pattern, either the first or the second part of the diphthong may be repeated. Thus, for example, the ua diphthong may appear in this pattern either as [ùùa’] (with the [u] twice) or as [ùàa’] (with the [a] twice).

^{Lecsyony 3, Video 33. (With Geraldina López Curiel.)}

§3.7. Another summary chart

Below is a chart of the types of vowel patterns you’ve learned in this lesson. This chart lists the patterns, with examples and a reference to the section in which each is introduced. They are organized according to the tone of each pattern.

You’ve now learned how to pronounce the most common types of vowel patterns you’ll see in pronunciation guides in this book. There are more things to learn about pronouncing both vowels and consonants, most of which will be presented in the next lesson. The most important thing, however, is to try to imitate your teacher and the speakers on the videos, and to refer back to this section — or the fuller charts in S-1 — whenever you need to.