Southern Tiwa language facts for kids

The Southern Tiwa language is a Tanoan language spoken at Sandia Pueblo and Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico and Ysleta del Sur in Texas.

Genealogical relations

Southern Tiwa belongs to the Tiwa sub-grouping of the Kiowa–Tanoan language family. It is closely related to the more northernly Picurís (spoken at Picuris Pueblo) and Taos (spoken at Taos Pueblo). Trager stated that Southern Tiwa speakers were able to understand Taos and Picurís, although Taos and Picurís speakers could not understand Southern Tiwa very easily. Harrington (1910) observed that an Isleta person (Southern Tiwa) communicated in "Mexican jargon" with Taos speakers as Taos and Southern Tiwa were not mutually intelligible.

Language variation

Southern Tiwa had three dialectal variants

1. Sandía
2. Isleta
3. Ysleta del Sur (Tigua)

Trager reported that Sandía and Isleta were very similar and mutually intelligible.

In August 2015, it was announced that the Tiwa language would be taught to children at Isleta Elementary School in Pueblo of Isleta, as a part of the school's transfer from federal to tribal control.

Sound system

Southern Tiwa has 26 consonants:

Consonants

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Lateral	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
							plain	lab.	plain	lab.
Plosive	voiced	b	d				ɡ
	voiceless	p	t				k	kʷ	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ				kʰ
	glottalized	pʼ	tʼ				kʼ	kʼʷ
Affricate	voiceless					tʃ
	glottalized					tʃʼ
Fricative		f		s	ɬ	ʃ			h	hʷ
Trill				r
Nasal		m	n
Approximant		w			l	j

Stops /pʰ, tʰ, kʰ/ and /b, d/ may be fricated in different positions as [f, θ, x] or [β, ð].

Southern Tiwa has six vowels that have both an oral and nasal contrast.

Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	oral	nasal	oral	nasal	oral	nasal
High	i	ĩ	ɨ	ɨ̃	u	ũ
Mid	e	ẽ
Low			a	ã

Southern Tiwa has three tones: high, mid, and low.