Cuitlatec language
| Cuitlatec | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Mexico |
| Region | Guerrero |
| Extinct | 1960s, with the death of Juana Can |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
qpb | |
Cuitlatec, or Cuitlateco, is an extinct language of Mexico, formerly spoken by an indigenous people also 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.[1] Hernández suggests a possible relation to the Uto-Aztecan languages.[2]
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.[2]
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Labio-velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b | t d | tʃ | k ɡ | kʷ | ʔ |
| Fricative | ɬ | ʃ | h | |||
| Approximant | l | j | w | |||
| Nasal | m | n |
- The sounds /f/, /s/, /r/, and /ɾ/ are found in loan words from Spanish.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | ɨ | u |
| Low | e | a | o |
Grammar
Sentences generally follow SVO word order. Adjectives precede the nouns they modify.
References
- ^ 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.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ a b Escalante Hernández, Robert (1962). El Cuitlateco. México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.