Tequistlatecan languages

Tequistlatecan
Chontal de Oaxaca, Slijuala xanuk
Ethnicity:	Oaxaca Chontal
Geographic distribution:	Oaxaca
Linguistic classification:	Hokan ? Tequistlatecan
Subdivisions:	Highland Chontal Coastal Chontal
Glottolog:	tequ1244
The Tequistlatecan languages are in Mexico at the left of the map.

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

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

They were spoken by 4,400 people in 2010.

The Tequistlatecan languages are part the proposed Hokan family, but are often considered to be 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.

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