View source for Tequistlatecan languages

{{Short description|Language group}}
{{distinguish|Chontal Maya language}}
{{Infobox language family
| name          = Tequistlatec
| altname       = Chontal
| region        = [[Oaxaca]]
| speakers      = {{sigfig|5613|2}} (not counting 1,700 speakers of unidentified "Chontal")
| date          = 2020 census
| ref           = <ref name=inegi2020>[http://cuentame.inegi.org.mx/hipertexto/todas_lenguas.htm Lenguas indígenas y hablantes de 3 años y más, 2020] INEGI. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020.</ref>
| familycolor   = hokan
| fam1          = [[Hokan languages|Hokan]] ?
| glotto        = tequ1244
| glottorefname = Tequistlatecan
| child1        = Highland Chontal
| child2        = Coastal Chontal
| map           = Tolatecan Languages.png
| mapcaption    = 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 [[Oaxaca Chontal people|Chontal people]] of [[Oaxaca]] State, Mexico.

Chontal was spoken by 6,000 or so people in 2020.<ref name=inegi2020/>

==Languages==
The Tequistlatecan languages are:

*[[Huamelultec language|Huamelultec]] (Lowland Oaxaca Chontal)
*[[Tequistlatec language|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 [[Edward Sapir|Sapir]] interchangeably).

==Classification==
The Tequistlatecan languages are part of the proposed [[Hokan languages|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 languages|Jicaquean]] (see [[Tolatecan languages|Tolatecan]]), but this hypothesis has not been generally accepted.

==See also==
*[[:es:Anexo:Lista vocabulario de huamelulteco|Huamelultec vocabulary list]] on the [[Spanish Wikipedia]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==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.&nbsp;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

{{Hokan languages}}
{{Mesoamerican families}}
{{language families}}
{{Indigenous people of Oaxaca}}
{{North American languages}}

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[[Category:Tequistlatecan languages| ]]
[[Category:Language families]]
[[Category:Hokan languages]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of Mexico]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of Central America]]
[[Category:Mesoamerican languages]]
[[Category:Oaxaca]]

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