Tequistlatecan languages

Not to be confused with Chontal Maya language.

Tequistlatec
Chontal
Geographic distribution	Oaxaca
Native speakers	5,600 (not counting 1,700 speakers of unidentified "Chontal") (2020 census)
Linguistic classification	Hokan ? Tequistlatec
Subdivisions	Highland Chontal Coastal Chontal
Language codes
Glottolog	tequ1244
The Tequistlatecan languages are in Mexico at the left of the map.

The Tequistlatec languages, also called Chontal, are three close but distinct languages spoken or once spoken by the Chontal people of Oaxaca State, Mexico.

Chontal was spoken by 6,000 or so people in 2020.

Languages

The Tequistlatecan languages are:

• Huamelultec (Lowland Oaxaca Chontal)
• Tequistlatec (extinct)
• Highland Oaxaca Chontal

Name

Although most authors use the form tequistlatec(an) today, this is based on an improper derivation in Nahuatl (the correct derivation from Tequisistlán would be Tequisistec(an), and both terms were used by Sapir interchangeably).

Classification

The Tequistlatecan languages are part of the proposed Hokan family, but are often considered to be a distinct family. Campbell and Oltrogge (1980) proposed that the Tequistlatecan languages may be related to Jicaquean (see Tolatecan), but this hypothesis has not been generally accepted.

See also

• Huamelultec vocabulary list on the Spanish Wikipedia

References

• Campbell, Lyle and Oltrogge, David. 1980. Proto-Tol (Jicaque). International Journal of American Linguistics, 46:205-223
• Campbell, Lyle. 1979. "Middle American languages." In L. Campbell & M. Mithun (Eds.), The Languages of Native America: Historical and Comparative Assessment, (pp. 902–1000). Austin: University of Texas Press.
• Campbell, Lyle. 1997. "American Indian Languages, The Historical Linguistics of Native America." In Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press