Mixe-Zoque languages
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The Mixe-Zoque languages are a language family spoken in and around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. It is apparently unrelated to any other language group, although in the early 20th century Edward Sapir included it as a member of the Penutian languages superfamily.
The branches of the Mixe-Zoque languages are as follows:
- Mixe languages -- an estimated 90,000 native speakers
- *Eastern Mixe
- ::An estimated 72,000 native speakers
- ::Dialects: Coatlán (mco), Istmo (mir), Quetzaltepec (mve), Juquila (mxq), and Mazatlán (mzl)
- *Veracruz Mixe
- ::An estimated 4,000 native speakers
- ::Dialects: Oluta (plo) nearly extinct - only 100 speakers, Sayula (pos)
- ::Sometimes classified as Popoluca languages
- *Western Mixe
- ::An estimated 10,000 native speakers
- ::Dialects Totontepec (mto), Tlahuitoltepec (mxp)
- Zoque languages -- an estimated 60,000 native speakers
- *Chiapas Zoque
- ::An estimated 22,000 native speakers
- ::Dialects: Copainalá (zoc), Rayón (zor), Francisco León (zos)
- *Oaxaca Zoque
- ::An estimated 4,500 native speakers
- ::Dialect: Chimalapa (zoh)
- *Veracruz Zoque
- ::An estimated 30,000 native speakers
- ::Dialects: Highland (poi), Texistepec (poq) nearly extinct - only 450 speakers, Tabasco (zoq) nearly extinct - only 40 speakers
- ::Both Highland and Texistepec are sometimes classified as Popoluca languages
- ::Highland is also known as Sierra
Extinct languages classified as Mixe-Zoquean include Tapachultec, formerly spoken along the southeast coast of Chiapas. Some linguists believe the Olmec people spoke a Mixe-Zoquean language.[#endnote_M-Z]
References
- ↑ Campbell, L., and T. Kaufman, 1976, "A Linguistic Look at the Olmecs", American Antiquity, 41 pp. 80-89.
- [Mixe-Zoque entry] at [Ethnologue.com]
- http://www.native-languages.org/fammix.htm
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