Choyatá: The Matlatzinca verbal art of persuasion

 

Language	Matlatzinca
Depositor	Enrique L. Palancar, Leonardo Carranza Martínez
Affiliation	CNRS, CIESAS
Location	Mexico
Collection ID	0747
Grant ID	MDP0463
Funding Body	ELDP
Collection Status	Collection online
Landing Page Handle	http://hdl.handle.net/2196/0e046e2e-5f7f-4d7a-b1f3-d9ebea6ac3bf

 

Summary of the collection

English: “Choyatá” in the Matlatzinca word used to refer to the verbal art of the Matlatzinca people from San Francisco Oxtotilpan. The Matlatzincas use Choyatá as a way to persuade fellow members to seal social contracts in the community. Choyatá is the only such artistry that survives in Central Mexico in an Oto-Pamean community.

 

Group represented

English: Matlatzinca is a Mesomarican language spoken by the Matlatzinca group from the village of San Francisco Oxtotilpan. Matlatzinca belongs to the Oto-Pamean family, which includes other languages spoken by indigenous communities in Central Mexico, such as Tlahuica, Otomi, Mazahua, Pame and Chichimeca. Matlatzinca is, along with Tlahuica, the only Atzinca language that has survived today from the language spoken in historical times by the Matlatzinca people throughout the vast territory known today as the Toluca Valley.
INEGI estimates that the number of Matlatzinca speakers is 1250 speakers; we estimate 1500 including emigration to Mexico City and the USA. San Francisco Oxtotilpan is located in a lush, deep valley at 2700 metres above sea level, on the slopes of the Nevado de Toluca volcano in Central Mexico. It is the geographical isolation of its linguistic community that has allowed the language to survive to this day. The isolation has further allowed traditional linguistic practices such as Choyatá to be kept alive in times when such practices have disappeared in other communities.

 

Collection contents

English: The Choyatá collection will consist of 30 hours of raw documentary footage of community cultural events where the Choyatá verbal art of the Matlatzinca people is performed in its natural environment in San Francisco Oxtotilpan. The documentary footage will include aspects of the events of anthropological interest, but will focus on the performances, paying particular attention to sound quality, so that the ritual exchanges are properly recorded.
The Choyatá collection will also include 14 hours of raw audiovisual materials of Choyatá speech performed in a controlled environment by pairs of speakers that will dramatize the performance. 7 hours out of those 14h will be fully annotated in ELANCorpAfroas.

 

Acknowledgement and citation

English: To refer to any data from the collection, please cite as follows:
Palancar, Enrique L. & Leonardo Carranza Martínez. 2023. Choyatá: The Matlatzinca verbal art of persuasion. Endangered Languages Archive. Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/2196/2f8c6175-2ea4-4159-b7b5-ca61aa7b3620. Accessed on [insert date here].