Chichimeca or Chichimeca Jonaz is an indigenous language of Mexico

Languages of Mexico

The government of Mexico recognizes 68 distinct indigenous Amerindian languages as national languages in addition to Spanish. According to the Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples and National Institute of Indigenous Languages [INALI], while 10-14% of the population identifies as...

 spoken by around 200 Chichimeca Jonaz

Chichimeca Jonaz

The Chichimeca Jonaz are a group of indigenous people living in Guanajuato and San Luis Potosí. In Guanajuato State the Chichimeca Jonaz people live in a community of San Luis de la Paz municipality. The settlement is 2,070 m above sea level...

 people in Misión de Chichimecas near San Luis de la Paz

San Luis de la Paz

San Luis de la Paz is a city and its surrounding municipality of the same name located in the northeastern part of the state of Guanajuato in Mexico. A charming city with great historic and cultural wealth, was founded on August 25, 1552, as a defensive town in the Spanish Silver Road, which linked...

 in the state of Guanajuato

Guanajuato

Guanajuato officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato....

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. The Chichimeca Jonaz language belongs to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean

Oto-Manguean languages

Oto-Manguean languages are a large family comprising several families of Native American languages. All of the Oto-Manguean languages that are now spoken are indigenous to Mexico, but the Manguean branch of the family, which is now extinct, was spoken as far south as Nicaragua and Costa Rica.The...

 linguistic family. The Chichimecos self identify as úza and call their language eza'r.

Phonology

The consonants of Chichimeca Jonaz are: /p t t͡s t͡ʃ k ʔ b d d͡ʒ ɡ s h z l r w/ and the fortis and lenis

Fortis and lenis

In linguistics, fortis and lenis are terms generally used to refer to groups of consonants that are produced with greater and lesser energy, respectively, such as in energy applied, articulation, etc....

 nasals /m n/ and /m n/. The oral vowels are /i ɪ u e o æ ɑ/ and nasal vowels are /ĩ ɪ̃ ũ ẽ õ œ̃ ɑ̃/. Chichimeca Jonaz is a tonal

Tone (linguistics)

Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...

language and distinguish high and low level tones.