Xincan languages

Xincan
Geographic
distribution
Guatemala
Ethnicity16,200 Xinca people (2003 census)
Extinct1970s (3 semi-speakers reported)
Linguistic classificationOne of the world's primary language families
Subdivisions
Language codes
ISO 639-3xin
Glottologxinc1237
Geographic distribution of the Xincan languages. Solid blue is the recorded range, transparent is the range attested by toponyms.

Xinca (or Xinka, Sinca, or Szinca) is a small extinct family of Mesoamerican languages, formerly regarded as a single language isolate, once spoken by the indigenous Xinca people in southeastern Guatemala, much of El Salvador, and parts of Honduras.

They have also historically been referred to as Popoluca, or Popoluca-Xinca, Popoluca being a Nahuatl term for unintelligible speech.[1]

  1. ^ Solano y Perez Lila, Francisco de. Areas lingüísticas y población de habla indígena de Guatemala en 1772. Spain, Departamento de Historia de América de la Universidad de Madrid, 1969.