Wiktionary:About San Juan Quiahije Chatino
San Juan Quiahije Chatino
[edit]The Chatino languages, part of the Zapotecan family within the Oto-Manguean stock—three closely related languages: Zenzontepec Chatino, Tataltepec Chatino, and Eastern Chatino (EC), SJQ belongs to the EC group—boast a remarkably intricate grammar. SJQ Chatino exemplifies this complexity with its 12-tone contrast system, sophisticated verb inflection, and nuanced vocabulary. Consider the subtle distinction between "yanG" and "ngyanG": both mean "s/he visited me." The former implies the visit occurred while the speaker was away from home, while the latter indicates the visit happened in the speaker's hometown.
Despite growing interest among Chatino speakers in learning their language's grammar and writing, schools still teach exclusively in Spanish. The present work addresses these gaps through by making Chatino easily available to speakers, linguists, and language lovers. This work also empowers speakers to preserve, study, and transmit their language to future generations.