The Southern Tiwa language is a Tanoan language spoken at Sandia Pueblo and Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico and Ysleta del Sur in Texas.

Genealogical relations

Southern Tiwa belongs to the Tiwa sub-grouping of the Kiowa–Tanoan language family. It is closely related to the more northernly Picurís (spoken at Picuris Pueblo) and Taos (spoken at Taos Pueblo). Trager stated that Southern Tiwa speakers were able to understand Taos and Picurís, although Taos and Picurís speakers could not understand Southern Tiwa very easily. Harrington (1910) observed that an Isleta person (Southern Tiwa) communicated in "Mexican jargon" with Taos speakers as Taos and Southern Tiwa were not mutually intelligible.

Language variation

Southern Tiwa had three dialectal variants Trager reported that Sandía and Isleta were very similar and mutually intelligible. In August 2015, it was announced that the Tiwa language would be taught to children at Isleta Elementary School in Pueblo of Isleta, as a part of the school's transfer from federal to tribal control.

Sound system

Southern Tiwa has 29 consonants: ! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | ! rowspan="2" | Labial ! rowspan="2" | Dental ! colspan="2" |Alveolar ! rowspan="2" | Palatal ! colspan="2" | Velar ! colspan="2" | Glottal !plain !plain !plain ! rowspan="4" | Plosive ! voiced ! voiceless ! aspirated ! glottalized ! rowspan="2" | Affricate ! voiceless ! glottalized ! colspan="2" | Fricative ! colspan="2" | Rhotic ! colspan="2" | Nasal ! colspan="2" | Approximant Southern Tiwa has five vowels that have both an oral and nasal contrast. ! rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" | Front ! colspan="2" |Central ! colspan="2" | Back ! oral ! nasal !oral !nasal ! oral ! nasal ! High ! Mid ! Low Southern Tiwa has three tones: high, mid, and low.