// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Cuitlatec language say to its student? You'll "speak" well of me.
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|
 |
| Cuitlatec | |
|---|---|
| Uhpɨnéʔlu | |
| Native to | Mexico |
| Region | Guerrero |
| Ethnicity | Cuitlatec people |
| Extinct | 1960s, with the death of Juana Can |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cuy |
| Glottolog | cuit1236 |
Cuitlatec, or Cuitlateco, is an extinct language isolate of Mexico, formerly spoken by an indigenous people known as Cuitlatec.
Classification
[edit]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
[edit]Cuitlatec was spoken in the state of Guerrero. In the 16th century, the Relaciones geográficas recorded Cuitlatec spoken in Ajuchitlán and Tetela del Rio, while it was also known to be spoken along much of the Costa Grande.[3] 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.[4]
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]| 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
[edit]| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | ɨ | u |
| Low | e | a | o |
Grammar
[edit]Sentences generally follow SVO word order. Adjectives precede the nouns they modify. Cuitlatec is agglutinative and mainly suffixing. It appears to use a vigesimal counting system. There do not appear to be relational nouns or directionals. The kinship system only distinguishes gender in the generation of the speaker and older generations.[5]
Vocabulary
[edit]| Cuitlatec | English |
|---|---|
| aʔnelgái | Cuitlatec people |
| uhpɨnéʔlu | Cuitlatec language |
| aikimɨ | hello |
| šelopɨlʔmɨ | thanks |
| aškɨli | man |
| ɬɨnóʔo | woman, wife |
| cɨʔɨ | children |
| iwililúmɨ | river |
| úmɨ | water |
| ahpúʔɬɨ | sun |
| tuɬíʔi | moon, month |
| kúʔli | land |
| ɬa | house |
| ihšɨɬɨ | sky |
| iʔkɨʔɨ | tomb |
| iʔyɨʔléɬɨ | door |
Trees
[edit]| Cuitlatec | Common name | Scientific name |
|---|---|---|
| citakáʔli | Sweet acacia, Cascalote | Vachellia farnesiana, Caesalpinia coriaria |
| éhci | Capire | Sideroxylon cartilagineum |
| nempáʔa | Monkeypod tree, Camachile | Pithecellobium dulce |
| ɨncipéʔɬu | Charamasca | Tanacetum annuum |
| puɬɨʔmelpɨmɨ | Nanche, hogberry | Byrsonima crassifolia |
| ɬɨmšíli; šemɨʔšilí | Tololote | Andira inermis |
| šiɬiʔá | Tepemesquite | Lysiloma divaricatum |
| wíhci | Chupandia | Cyrtocarpa procera |
| yóʔo | White leadtree | Leucaena leucocephala |
| mɨnɨmɨli | Gliricidia | Gliricidia sepium'' |
Placenames
[edit]| Cuitlatec | English |
|---|---|
| šamigéli | San Miguel Totolapan |
| šišmɨwɨ | Ajuchitlán |
| pulkúʔwɨ | Mexico City |
Body Parts
[edit]| Cuitlatec | English |
|---|---|
| kwérpu | body |
| íhcɨ | arm |
| ɨmté | head |
| úli | hair |
| kúʔbe | neck |
| šuwéʔe | nose |
| šúhpe | mouth |
| kahcíʔdi | ears |
| ihpɨléla | stomach |
| puɬké | back |
| álmɨ | heart |
| ehtɨʔi | tongue |
| díšci | leg |
| iškélɨ | foot |
| dehpɨlkoyó | ankle |
| ihtalói | waist |
| dašíʔi | knee |
| dašilapɨ | elbow |
| gɨléwɨ | face |
| enhkeyáta | the whole face |
Numerals
[edit]| Cuitlatec | Numbers |
|---|---|
| tɨʔɨ, tɨwɨlɨ, téʔɬi | 1 |
| káɬɨ | 2 |
| kalíɬɨ | 3 |
| páɬa | 4 |
| puwáɬɨ | 5 |
| dašíɬa | 6 |
| wɨšíɬɨ | 7 |
| puhtalíɬa | 8 |
| nɨɬɨ | 9 |
| šɨɬɨ | 10 |
| pɨli | 11 |
| méɬi | 20 |
| kɨɬmɨli | 30 |
| kaltɨwɨlméɬi | 40 |
| puhmé | 100 |
References
[edit]- ↑ 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) - 1 2 Escalante Hernández, Robert (1962). El Cuitlateco. México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
- ↑ Cline, Howard F. (1972). Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volume 12: Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources, Part One. University of Texas Press. p. 308. ISBN 1477306803.
- ↑ 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 11 July 2025). ISSN 2448-6221.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link) - ↑ Campbell, Lyle (2017-10-03). Language Isolates. Routledge. p. 250. ISBN 978-1-317-61090-8.
Bibliography
[edit]- 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.
- Escalante Hernández, Robert (1962). El Cuitlateco . Mexico City: National Institute of Anthropology and History.==External links==
