Ixpantepec Nieves Mixtec

Ixpantepec Nieves Mixtec, or simply Nieves Mixtec, is a variety of Mixtec spoken in the municipality of Ixpantepec Nieves, Oaxaca, Mexico and in San Diego County, California, United States.

Classification

INALI classifies Nieves Mixtec as part of Upper Western Mixtec. J. Kathryn Josserand classified it as part of Southern Baja Mixtec. SIL grouped Nieves Mixtec with Silacayoapan Mixtec, and found that speakers of Nieves Mixtec could understand 94% of Silacayoapan Mixtec, 75% of Juxtlahuaca Mixtec, 56% of Mixtepec Mixtec and 46% of Cacaloxtepec Mixtec.

Phonology

Consonants

The voiceless stops /t tʲ k/ lenite lenite in prosodically weak positions: /t/ becomes or, /tʲ/ becomes, and /k/ becomes or .
/x/ may be realized as .
/v/ may be realized as or .
/ʒ/ may be realized as .
/ᵐb/ and /ᵑɡ/ are found in only a small number of words, including loanwords.
/ɲ/ may be realized as in unstressed syllables.
Spanish consonants such as /p f b d ɾ r/ are found in loanwords. /r/ is also found in two animal names.