Cuitlatec language
| Cuitlatec | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Mexico |
| Region | Guerrero |
| Extinct | 1960's, with the death of Juana Can |
Language isolate
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | nai |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Cuitlatec, or Cuitlateco is an extinct language of Mexico.
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 Mexican province of Guerrero. By the 1930's the Cuitlatec was spoken only in San Miguel Totolapan. The last speaker of the language, Señora Juana Can, is believed to have died in the 1960's[2].
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Dental | Postalveolar/ Palatal |
Velar | Labio-velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b | t d | k g | kʷ | ʔ | |
| Affricate | tʃ | |||||
| Fricative | ʃ | h | ||||
| Lateral approximant | l | |||||
| Lateral fricative | ɬ | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||
| Approximant | j | w |
- 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
- ^ a b Escalante Hernández, Robert (1962). El Cuitlateco. México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia.