Cuitlatec language

Cuitlatec
Native to Mexico
Region Guerrero
Extinct 1960s, with the death of Juana Can
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
Linguist list
 qpb
Glottolog cuit1236[1]

Cuitlatec, or Cuitlateco, is an extinct language of Mexico, formerly spoken by an indigenous people known as Cuitlatec.

Classification

Cuitlatec has not been convincingly classified as belonging to any language family. It is believed to be language isolate. In their controversial classification of the indigenous languages of the Americas, Greenberg and Ruhlen include Cuitlatec in an expanded Chibchan language family, along with a variety of other Mesoamerican and South American languages.[2] Hernández suggests a possible relation to the Uto-Aztecan languages.[3]

Geographic distribution

Cuitlatec was spoken in the state of Guerrero. By the 1930s, Cuitlatec was spoken only in San Miguel Totolapan. The last speaker of the language, Juana Can, is believed to have died in the 1960s.[3]

Phonology

Consonants

Cuitlatec consonant phonemes
Labial Dental Palatal Velar Labio-velar Glottal
Plosive p b t d tʃ k ɡ kʷ ʔ
Fricative ɬ ʃ h
Approximant ɬ j w
Nasal m n

Vowels

Cuitlatec vowel phonemes
  Front Central Back
High i h u
Low e a o

Grammar

Sentences generally follow SVO word order. Adjectives precede the nouns they modify.

References

  1. ↑ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Cuitlatec". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  2. ↑ Greenberg, Joseph; Ruhlen, Merritt (2007-09-04). "An Amerind Etymological Dictionary" (pdf) (12 ed.). Stanford: Dept. of Anthropological Sciences Stanford University. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  3. 1 2 Escalante Hernández, Robert (1962). El Cuitlateco. México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
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