Chontal Maya language

This article is about the language spoken by the Chontal Maya people of Tabasco. For the languages of the Oaxaca Chontal people, see Tequistlatecan languages.

Chontal Maya
Yoko ochoco
Native to	Mexico
Region	North central and southern Tabasco
Ethnicity	Chontal Maya
Native speakers	37,000 (2010 census)
Language family	Mayan Cholan–Tzeltalan Cholan Chol–Chontal Chontal Maya
Language codes
ISO 639-3	chf
Glottolog	taba1266
ELP	Chontal de Tabasco

Chontal Maya, also known as Yoko ochoco and Acalan, is a Maya language of the Cholan family spoken by the Chontal Maya people of the Mexican state of Tabasco. Chontal Maya is spoken in Nacajuca, Centla, El Centro, Jonuta, and Macuspana. There are at least three dialects, identified as Tamulté de las Sábanas Chontal, Buena Vista Chontal, and Miramar Chontal.

Distribution

The Chontal Maya are concentrated in 159 settlements in 5 municipalities of Tabasco (Brown 2005:122).

• Centla
• Centro
• Jonuta
• Macuspana
• Nacajuca (comprising more than 50% of the Chontal Maya population)

Some Chontal settlements near the town of Nacajuca include (Brown 2005:116):

• El Tigre
• Saloya
• Guatacaloa
• Olcuatitan
• Tucta
• Mazatehuapa
• Tapotzingo
• Guaytalpa
• San Simón
• Tecoluta
• Oxiacapue
• Guadalupe
• El Sitio
• Tamulte

Some Chontal settlements in the northeastern Centla region include (Brown 2005:116):

• Cuauhtemoc
• Vicente Guerrero
• Allende
• Simón Sarlat
• Quitin Arauz (on the Río Usumacinta)

Chontal settlements near Macuspana include Benito Juárez and Aquiles Serdan (Brown 2005).

References

Brown, Denise Fay. 2005. "The Chontal Maya of Tabasco." In Sandstrom, Alan R., and Enrique Hugo García Valencia. 2005. Native peoples of the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

• Keller, Kathryn C. and Plácido Luciano G., compilers. 1997. Diccionario Chontal de Tabasco.