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Chontal Maya language

This article is about the language spoken by the Chontal Maya people of Tabasco. For the languages of the Oaxaca Chontal people, see Tequistlatecan languages.
Chontal Maya
Yokotʼan
Pronunciation[jɔʔkɔʔtʼan]
Native toMexico
RegionNorth central and southern Tabasco
EthnicityChontal Maya
Native speakers
61,000 (2020 census)[1]
Mayan
  • Cholan–Tzeltalan
    • Cholan
      • Chol–Chontal
        • Chontal Maya
Dialects
  • Nacajuca / Central Yokotʼan / Central Chontal of Tabasco
  • Tamulte / Eastern Yokotʼan / Eastern Chontal of Tabasco
  • Macuspana / Southern Yokotʼan / Southern Chontal
  • Centla / Northern Yokotʼan / Northern Chontal
Language codes
ISO 639-3chf
Glottologtaba1266
ELPChontal de Tabasco

Yokotʼan (self-denomination), also known as Chontal Maya, is a Maya language of the Cholan family spoken in 2020 by around 60,000 Chontal Maya people of the Mexican state of Tabasco.[1] According to the National Catalog of Indigenous Languages of Mexico-INALI, Yokotʼan has at least four dialects: Nacajuca (Central), Centla (Northern), Macuspana (Southern) and Tamulte (Eastern).

Distribution

The Chontal Maya are concentrated in 159 settlements in 5 municipalities of Tabasco (Brown 2005:122).

Some Chontal settlements near the town of Nacajuca include (Brown 2005:116):

  • El Tigre
  • Saloya
  • Guatacaloa
  • Olcuatitan
  • Tucta
  • Mazatehuapa
  • Tapotzingo
  • Guaytalpa
  • San Simón
  • Tecoluta
  • Oxiacapue
  • Guadalupe
  • El Sitio
  • Tamulte

Some Chontal settlements in the northeastern Centla region include (Brown 2005:116):

  • Cuauhtemoc
  • Vicente Guerrero
  • Allende
  • Simón Sarlat
  • Quitin Arauz (on the Río Usumacinta)

Chontal settlements near Macuspana include Benito Juárez and Aquiles Serdan (Brown 2005).

Phonology

Consonants[2]
Bilabial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive/
Affricate 		voiceless p t ts tʃ k ʔ
glottalized pʼ tʼ tsʼ tʃʼ kʼ
voiced b d
Fricative s ʃ h
Tap/Flap ɾ
Approximant w l j
Vowels[2]
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e ɘ o
Open a

References

  1. ^ a b Lenguas indígenas y hablantes de 3 años y más, 2020 INEGI. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020.
  2. ^ a b Keller, Kathryn C.; Luciano G., Plácido (1997). Diccionario Chontal de Tabasco. Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Brown, Denise Fay. 2005. "The Chontal Maya of Tabasco." In Sandstrom, Alan R., and Enrique Hugo García Valencia. 2005. Native peoples of the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

  • Keller, Kathryn C. and Plácido Luciano G., compilers. 1997. Diccionario Chontal de Tabasco.

Knowles, Susan Marie. 1984. "A descriptive grammar of Chontal Maya (San Carlos dialect)." Thesis (Ph. D.)--Tulane University, 1984.

"La lengua maya-chontal de Tabasco / [selección de textos y edición, Tomás Pérez Suárez]." 1984. Emiliano Zapata, Tabasco, Mexico : Editora Municipal, H. Ayuntamiento Constitucional (1983–1985), 1984.


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