Zapotec language
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- noun
- Linguists study the Zapotec language to understand its unique tonal qualities.
Examples
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Many children in Oaxaca are learning the Zapotec language alongside Spanish.
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In addition, the multiclass alliance supporting Charis shared in the elaboration of Zapotec language and ritual practices, an activity reinforced by the central state's use of narratives of Indianness in defining and legitimizing its rule.
Academic text (1996) -
The Zapotec language is important for preserving the culture of the Zapotec people in Oaxaca.
Synonyms
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The language spoken by a native people of southern Mexico
A native language that the Zapotec people speak in southern Mexico
A group of related languages spoken by the native people of Oaxaca, Mexico
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase 'Zapotec language' is directly compositional: combining the proper name 'Zapotec' (the people or their tongue) with 'language' yields 'the language of the Zapotec people.' This X + language naming pattern is cross-linguistically common and therefore immediately understandable to a learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Zapotec language gets its name from the people called Zapotec, who live mainly in Oaxaca. Zapotec may come from an old local word for the sapote fruit, so it once meant 'people of the sapote', and that's why Zapotec language means the language those people speak.