Analysis of the speech of the people of Santa Maria Lachixio, a Zapotec town in Mexico shows they use a high voice to show respect toward others, and that variability in the height of pitch is unimportant. No other voice quality changes occur, such as laryngealization or breathiness. Kinship, age, and authority are important determiners of high pitch. The greatest effort toward teaching children this sign of respect occurs between the ages of 6 and 12 years. By 12, children are expected to know how to speak and behave respectfully. Slight differences occur in patterns of men and women, based on interlocutor age and authority differences. Both speak in high pitch to their children's godparents, employers, and town authorities. Men speak in high voice to men and women the approximate age of 60 sixty, and to certain outsiders (doctors or teachers). Women are more likely to use high voice with men and women only slightly older than they, and with parents-in-law. Most conversations are begun and ended in high voice, with dialogue in between spoken in a normal voice, although some are conducted entirely in high voice. Some speakers transfer high voice use to Spanish. (MSE)