The Mixtepec Mixtec tone system features three distinct
tones: high, mid (which is considered to be unmarked), and low. Since mid tones are not marked in the IPA, just the vowel is used with no tonal diacritics. The tone system also features two bi-level contour tones: rising, falling; and two tri-level tones: falling-rising, rising-falling. In the IPA transcriptions there is no difference made between high and rising tones and low and falling tones because these are phonologically non-contrastive. However, the specific difference between low/high and falling/rising is marked in the IPA transcription. The root shape in Mixtepec Mixtec is: (1) (C)(C)V(C)V
The Mixtecan consonantal inventory ''*Taken from, 'A phonological Sketch of the Yucunany Dialect of Mixtepec Mixtec'*''
(The symbols encased within the parentheses are phonemes that are used very little in the language or, they only occur in loanwords.) In Mixtepec Mixtec, consonants are restricted to onsets. Consonant clusters may occur word-initially or word-medially but not root-medially. ''*Taken from, 'A Phonological Sketch of the Yucunany Dialect of Mixtepec Mixtec'*''
Vowel Phonemes The vowel phonemes of Mixtepec Mixtec includes a canonical five-vowel system with widely dispersed vowels. ''*Taken from, 'A Phonological Sketch of the Yucunany Dialect of Mixtepec Mixtec'*'' Each of these vowels in the Mixtepec Mixtec language has a nasalized counterpart. The vowel length is not phonologically contrastive even though the vowels' duration varies contextually. While the vowels /i/, /u/, /o/, and /a/ are used on a regular basis throughout the language, the /e/ vowel is used rarely and occurs only in a handful of words. Each of these vowels has a nasalized counterpart.
Tone Patterns The Mixtepec Mixtec language has monomorphemic couplets that exhibit a maximum of three tones (high, mid, and low). Some examples of common tone patterns include: ''*Taken from, 'A Phonological Sketch of the Yucunany Dialect of Mixtepec Mixtec'*'' All five vowels found in the Mixtepec Mixtec language have nasalized differentiating counterparts however, the mid vowels /õ/ and /ε/ are rare. The language may have words that are spelled similarly but, they can be distinguished by the use of nasalization in the way the words are pronounced. Below are some examples of words that are spelled similarly but are differentiated by accents that distinguish tone and nasalization. ''*Taken from, 'A Phonological Sketch of the Yucunany Dialect of Mixtepec Mixtec'*'' == Orthography ==