Mecapalapa Tepehua

Abstract

Mecapalapa Tepehua (ISO code: tee) is a language of Mexico that belongs to the Huehuetla branch of the Totonac-Tepehua linguistic family. It is spoken in the town of Mecapalapa, Puebla, Mexico. This linguistic family is composed of the Tepehua and Totonac branches (see MacKay & Trechsel 2014 and references there). The Tepehua branch consists of three main languages and their respective varieties: Pisaflores and Tlachichilco Tepehua are located in Veracruz, and Huehuetla Tepehua is located in Hidalgo and Puebla (see Figure 1). In comparison with Totonac, Tepehua has been poorly studied (see a comprehensive list of references in MacKay & Trechsel 2012). Representative works include Watters (1988), on Tlachichilco morpho-syntax with a brief phonological survey; Gutiérrez, Jiménez & García (2013), on a Tepehua-Spanish vocabulary, which is a vocabulary for the Tepehua variety spoken in Tlachichilco; MacKay & Trechsel (2013, 2018), providing detailed accounts of the phonological structures of Pisaflores and discussion of previous reconstructions of proto-Totonac-Tepehua sounds; and Kryder (1987) and Smythe (2007), offering a detailed description of Huehuetla phonology.