Zapotec is spoken in Oaxaca, Mexico, and every town has its own variety/dialect; this chapter is based on the dialect of Valley Zapotec spoken in San Lucas Quiaviní. Valley Zapotec is characterized by relatively short word length (1-3 syllables), a consonant system with cross-linguistically common place and manner distinctions but with a fortis-lenis distinction (where lenis consonants are short and can be highly variable), a large number of root-initial consonant clusters (most of which violate the Sonority Sequencing Principle) and a few root-final and intervocalic clusters, a six-vowel system complicated by four contrastive voice qualities (which can be combined within a single vowel), both stress (predictable) and tone (H, L, rising, falling), and a rarely-used writing system adapted from Spanish and guided by phonetics. There are few studies of children’s acquisition of Valley Zapotec that address phonology. Researchers have focused on typically developing children. There are no tools for speech assessments or interventions.

Key words: 
Valley Zapotec, San Lucas Quiaviní, multilingual, communication, speech, language, children’s development, interdisciplinary, international communities, assessment, intervention

Book chapter:
Stemberger, J. P., & Chávez-Peón, M. E. (2025). Zapotec speech development. In S. McLeod (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of speech development in languages of the world. Oxford University Press.

Language overview presentation – forthcoming:

• Stemberger, J. P., & Chávez-Peón, M. E. (forthcoming). Zapotec: Multilingual children’s speech development. Charles Sturt University, Australia. https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/languages

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goals