The classification and status of Mesoamerican languages
The language families of Mesoamerica are Mayan, Mixe-Zoquean, Otomanguean, Tequistlatecan, Totonacan, Uto-Aztecan, and Xinkan. The language isolates—languages with no known relatives—are Cuitlatec, Huave, and Tarascan (Purépecha). Garífuna (formerly also called Black Carib), an Arawakan (South American Indian) language, is a late arrival from the Caribbean. While most of these language families and isolates are found exclusively within Mesoamerica, Uto-Aztecan languages extend far to the north and most Arawakan languages are found in South America. The most widely accepted classification of these languages follows.
Languages of the Mayan family are spoken in
Guatemala, southern Mexico, and
Belize. The most widely accepted classification of the family of languages is:
Yucatecan-Core Mayan
Core Mayan
Central Mayan
Greater Q’anjob’alan (aka [also known as] Q’anjob’alan-Chujean)
K’ichean-Mamean (aka Eastern Mayan)
K’ichean
Q’eqchi’
Uspanteko
Central K’ichean
K’iche’
Sakapulteko
Sipakapense
It is clear that the Huastecan branch was the first to separate off from the rest of the family. Next Yucatecan branched off, and then later the remaining Core Mayan separated into distinct branches. It appears that Cholan-Tzeltalan and Greater Q’anjob’alan belong together in a single branch, though this is not entirely certain.
Several Mayan languages have documentation beginning shortly after earliest Spanish conquest in the early 16th century.
Mixe-Zoquean languages are spoken mostly in the Mexican states of
Veracruz,
Oaxaca, and
Chiapas. The classification of these languages is:
Mixean
Tapachultec (extinct) [Chiapas]
Sayula Popoluca [Veracruz]
Oluta Popoluca [Veracruz]
Zoquean
Chimalapa Zoquean [Oaxaca]
Chiapas Zoquean [Chiapas]
North Zoque (includes Magdalena, Francisco León)
Northeast Zoque
Northeast Zoque A (includes Tapalapa, Ocotepec, Pantepec, Rayón)
Northeast Zoque B (includes Chapultenango, Oxolotán)
Central Zoque (includes Copainalá, Tecpatán, Ostuacán)
South Zoque (includes Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Ocozocuautla)
A Mixe-Zoquean language appears have been spoken by the Olmecs.
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Western Otomanguean
Oto-Pame-Chinantecan
Chinantecan [Oaxaca, Veracruz]
Chiltepec
Lalana
Ojitlán
Palantla
Quiotepec
Usila
Eastern Otomanguean
Popolocan-Zapotecan
Zapotecan
Zapotec complex [mostly in Oaxaca, varieties in
Guerrero, Puebla, and Veracruz, with migrants in the U.S.]
Lachixío
Papabuco
Northern-Central Zapotec group
Amuzgo-Mixtecan
Amuzgo Guerrero Amuzgo
Oaxaca Amuzgo
Mixtecan Mixtec complex [Oaxaca, Puebla, Guerrero, with migrants in California]
Northern Mixtec
Central Mixtec
Southern Mixtec
Cuicatec [Guerrero]
The precise number of languages in the Zapotec complex and the Mixtec complex has not yet been determined definitively. Otomanguean languages tend to be characterized by contrastive tones, nasal vowels, mostly open syllables (that is, syllables which end in a vowel or in h or a glottal stop), and a lack of labial consonants (no p, b), though original kw became p in some languages—for example, in the Zapotec complex of languages.
Tlapanec and Subtiaba had been considered part of the large but mostly abandoned Hokan hypothesis. However, it has been determined conclusively that they belong to the Otomanguean family.
Tequistlatecan had also formerly been associated with the controversial and now mostly abandoned Hokan hypothesis.
Totonac [Veracruz, Puebla]
Misantla Totonac (aka Southeastern Totonac)
Northern Totonac (aka Xicotepec Totonac)
Papantla Totonac (aka Lowland Totonac)
Sierra Totonac (aka Highland Totonac
Tepehua [Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz]
Tlachichilco
Huehuetla
Pisaflores
Northern Uto-Aztecan
Numic
Central Numic
Shoshone-Goshiute
Panamint
Comanche
Southern Numic
Southern Paiute
Ute
Chemehuevi
Kawaiisu
Tübatulabal
In addition to these languages, there is a very long list of names identified in colonial and other early sources that are generally thought to represent extinct Uto-Aztecan groups, most in northern Mexico. No information has survived on most of these, and it is not certain whether they represent independent groups with their own languages or just alternative names for others already known.
Uto-Aztecan languages are distributed from Oregon to Panama. Only the Aztecan (Nahuan) branch is squarely in Mesoamerica. Cora and Huichol have some Mesoamerican traits and were influenced by Mesoamerican languages. The other languages lie outside Mesoamerica, though the members of the Southern Uto-Aztecan subfamily mostly fall within Middle America.
Xinkan and Lencan were often assumed to be related to one another, but the evidence does not support this, and the hypothesis has been abandoned.
Other non-Mesoamerican languages of Middle America, from north to south, include the following:
Guaicurian languages became extinct in the colonial era and are poorly known, since the surviving documentation is extremely limited. For that reason, their classification is uncertain. A tentative classification based on judgments of similarity reported in colonial sources, not on real linguistic evidence, is:
Guaicuran branch
Guaicura (aka Waikuri)
Callejue
(all extinct)
Comecrudo (extinct) [Tamaulipas]
Mamulique (extinct) [Nuevo León]
Garza (extinct) [Texas, Tamaulipas]
Huetar (Costa Rica) and Antioqueño (Colombia) are extinct languages for which the extant evidence is sufficient to demonstrate that they belong to the Chibchan family, but the evidence is not sufficient to show to which subgroup they belong.
Chibchan languages are spoken in lower Central America and northern South America, and thus several of the languages of the family do not fall within the Middle American languages.
