This paper adds to research on linguistic differentiation in a Zapotec transborder community shaped by migration between the village of San Juan Guelavía, Oaxaca, Mexico, and West Los Angeles, California. Amid Oaxacan Guelavians, evaluations of sociolinguistic discrepancies between speakers, frequently rely upon the specific linguistic variety used by an individual, and its observed (dis)similitude from San Juan Guelavía Zapotec. Amid Guelavian migrants in L.A., migrants from other Zapotec-speaking communities are mostly assessed as to where, when and to whom they speak Zapotec, despite the variety. By exploring the different metalinguistic practices of Guelavians residing in Oaxaca and L.A., this paper adds to grasp the changing link between language, locality and identity caused by indigenous transborder migration.