Cuitlatec language
Extinct isolate language of Mexico
| Cuitlatec | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Mexico |
| Region | Guerrero |
| Extinct | 1960s, with the death of Juana Can |
Language family | Language isolate |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cuy |
| Glottolog | cuit1236 |
| This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. | |
Cuitlatec, or Cuitlateco, is an extinct language of Mexico, formerly spoken by an indigenous people known as Cuitlatec.
Classification
Cuitlatec has not been convincingly classified as belonging to any language family. It is believed to be a language isolate. In their controversial classification of the indigenous languages of the Americas, Greenberg and Ruhlen include Cuitlatec in an expanded Chibchan language family (Macro-Chibchan), along with a variety of other Mesoamerican and South American languages.[1] Escalante 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] In 1979, only two elderly women, Florentina Celso and Apolonia Robles, were able to remember about fifty words of the language.[3]
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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-25. 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.
- ^ Valiñas Coalla, Leopoldo; Cortina Borja, Mario; Mireles Padilla, Miguel (2010-03-11). "Notas sobre el cuitlateco". Anales de Antropología (in Spanish). 21 (1). doi:10.22201/iia.24486221e.1984.1.15915 (inactive 31 January 2024). ISSN 2448-6221.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link)
Bibliography
- Susana Drucker, Roberto Escalante, & Roberto J. Weitlaner. 1969. The Cuitlatec. In Evon Z. Vogt, ed., Handbook of Middle American Indians, Ethnology: Vol 7, Chapter 30. University of Texas Press, Austin: 565–575
- McQuown, Norman A. 1945. Fonémica del Cuitlateco. El México Antiguo 5: 239–254.
- Weitlaner, Roberto J. 1939. Notes on the Cuitlatec language. El México Antiguo 4: 363–373.
External links
Look up Appendix:Cuitlatec word list in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- Cuitlatec word list on Wiktionary
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