Ch’olti’ language

See also: Ch'orti' language and Classic Maya language

Ch'olti'
Part of an inscription at Palenque
Native to	Guatemala, Manche region
Extinct	18th century
Language family	Mayan Western Cholan–Tzeltalan Cholan Chorti Ch'olti'
Early forms:	Classic Maya Ch'olti'
Language codes
ISO 639-3	emy
Linguist List	emy Epigraphic Mayan
	qjt Ch'olti' (not ISO)

The Ch'olti' language is an extinct Mayan language which was spoken in the Manche region of eastern Guatemala. It is only known from a single manuscript written between 1685 and 1695 which was first studied by Daniel Garrison Brinton. Ch'olti' belongs to the Cho'lan branch of the Mayan languages and is closely related to Chontal and especially Ch'orti'. The Ch'olti' language has become of particular interest for the study of Mayan Hieroglyphs since it seems that most of the glyphic texts are written in an ancient variety of Ch'olti' called Classic Ch'olti'an by epigraphers and which is thought to have been spoken as a prestige dialect throughout the Maya area in the classic period.

References

Fought, John (1984). "Choltí Maya: A sketch". In Munro S. Edmonson (Volume ed.). Supplement to Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 2: Linguistics. Victoria R. Bricker (General Editor). Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 43–55. ISBN 0-292-77577-6. 

Kettunen, Harri; and Christophe Helmke (2005). Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs (PDF). Wayeb and Leiden University. Retrieved 2006-10-10. 

Houston, Stephen D.; John Robertson, and David Stuart (2000). "The Language of Classic Maya Inscriptions". Current Anthropology 41 (3): pp.321–356. ISSN 0010-3204.