Chicomuceltec language

Chicomuceltec
Chikomuselteko
Pronunciation[tʃikomuselˈteko]
Native toMexico (Chiapas state); Guatemala (Huehuetenango Dept.)
Regionseveral communities in the Fronteriza and Sierra demographic regions of the southeastern Chiapas highlands; isolated villages across the Guatemalan border
Extinct1970s–80s
Mayan
Language codes
ISO 639-3cob
Glottologchic1271

Chicomuceltec (also Chikomuselteko or Chicomucelteco; archaically, Cotoque) is a Mayan language formerly spoken in the region defined by the municipios of Chicomuselo, Mazapa de Madero, and Amatenango de la Frontera in Chiapas, Mexico, as well as some nearby areas of Guatemala. By the 1970s–80s it had become extinct, with recent reports in Mayanist literature finding that there are no living native speakers.[1] Communities of contemporary Chicomucelteco descendants, numbering approximately 1500 people in Mexico and 100 in Guatemala[2] are Spanish speakers.

Chicomuceltec was formerly sometimes called Cakchiquel Mam, although it is only distantly related to the Cakchiquel or Mam, being much closer to Wastek (Huastec).

  1. ^ See Campbell and Canger (1978); Ethnologue entry on "Chicomuceltec" (Gordon 2005).
  2. ^ See Gordon (2005) for population estimates, which draw on sources collected in the early 1980s.