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Concept
Opata people
Summary
The Opata (Ópata, /ˈopata/) are an indigenous people in Mexico. Opata territory, the “Opatería” in Spanish, encompasses the mountainous northeast and central part of the state of Sonora, extending to near the border with the United States. Historically, they included several subtribes, including the Eudeve, Teguima, and Jova peoples.
Most Opatan towns were situated in river valleys and had an economy based on irrigated agriculture. They spoke the Opata language, a Uto-Aztecan language, that is now extinct.
In the 16th century, at the time of Spanish contact, the Opata were the most numerous people in Sonora.
Some sources indicate that as an identifiable ethnic group, the Opata are now extinct, or nearly extinct. Today, some people identify as Opatas.
The Opata language was a Uto-Aztecan language, related to neighboring languages such as O'odham, Tarahumara, Tepehuan, Yaqui and Mayo, among others.
The Eudeve dialect is called Dohema. The Tehuimas spoke Tehuima, and the Jovas spoke Jova. The Eudeve and Tehuima languages were closely related, as "different as Portuguese and Spanish." Jova was a more distinct language.Johnson, Jean B. "The Opata: An Inland Tribe of Sonora." in The North Mexican Frontier, ed. by Basil C. Hedrick, J. Charles Kelly, and Carroll L. Riley. Carbondale, IL; Southern Illinois U Press, 1971, p. 171
The Ópata language, with the possible exception of the Jova dialect, were extinct by 1950. During the 1993 census in Mexico, 12 persons claimed to be “Opata” speakers, but this is widely considered to be an error in the census count.
Professor Manuel García Madrid, an Opata from Sonora, has published a linguistic text on the Tehuima dialect. American linguistic anthropologist David L. Shaul has done extensive research and published much material on the Eudeve dialect. Field anthropologist Campbell Pennington researched and published much information on the Opatan peoples and their dialects during the latter part of their history.
Official source
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