{"id":2050,"date":"2017-04-03T16:44:55","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T16:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.americanlinguistics.org\/?page_id=2050"},"modified":"2017-04-04T13:57:01","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T13:57:01","slug":"ocotepec-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.americanlinguistics.org\/?page_id=2050","title":{"rendered":"Ocotepec 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The N\u00e4wayomo\u2019<\/em> \u2018The River Woman\u2019<\/div>\n
told by Br\u00edgida Mu\u00f1oz Morales<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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Ernesto Ram\u00edrez Mu\u00f1oz<\/div>\n
CIESAS<\/div>\n
Ocotepec Zoque is part of the dialect chain of Chiapas Zoque dialect chain (Wonderly 1949), spoken in the municipality of the same name located in the Northeastern part of the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Ocotepec Zoque speakers identify themselves as \u02b9odep\u00e4t<\/em>, literally \u2018man (pon<\/em>) of words (\u0294one<\/em>)\u2019. To refer to the language, speakers use the term \u02b9odetsame<\/em>, which comes from \u0294on e tsam e<\/em> \u2018speech (\u0294on e<\/em>) say (tsam e<\/em>)\u2019, literally meaning \u2018language of the word\u2019. The \u02b9odep\u00e4t<\/em> have a great repository of oral tradition that is still transmitted today to younger generations from grandparents to grandchildren and parents to children in family settings.<\/div>\n
The legend of the N\u00e4wayomo\u02b9<\/em> \u2018The River Woman\u2019 is a narrative of prehispanic origin that has endured to the present day. The version analyzed and transcribed here was told in 2014 by Mrs. Br\u00edgida Mu\u00f1oz Morales, a 44-year-old native speaker of Ocotepec Zoque. She tells of the n\u00e4wayomo\u02b9<\/em>, a snake that transforms into a women with four digits on each hand. When appearing to men, this creature takes the form of their wives, seducing them and causing them to become ill and die.<\/div>\n
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