Approximate extent of Huastec-speaking area in Mexico
A speaker of Huastec, also known as Tenek
The Huastec (also spelled Wasteko or Huasteco) language, now commonly known by the endonym Téenek, of Mexico is spoken by the Téenek people living in rural areas of San Luis Potosí and northern Veracruz. Though relatively isolated from them, it is related to the Mayan languages spoken further south and east in Mexico and Central America. According to the 2005 population census, there are about 200,000 speakers of Huasteco in Mexico (some 120,000 in San Luis Potosí and some 80,000 in Veracruz).[2] The language and its speakers are also called Teenek, and this name has gained currency in Mexican national and international usage in recent years.
The first linguistic description of the Huasteco language accessible to Europeans was written by Andrés de Olmos, who also wrote the first grammatical descriptions of Nahuatl and Totonac.
Huasteco has three dialects, which have a time depth of no more than 400 years (Norcliffe 2003:3). It is spoken in a region of east-central Mexico known as the Huasteca Potosina.
Western (Potosino) — 48,000 speakers in the 9 San Luis Potosí towns of Ciudad Valles (Tantocou), Aquismón, Huehuetlán, Tancanhuitz, Tanlajás, San Antonio, Tampamolón, Tanquian, and Tancuayalab.
Central (Veracruz) — 22,000 speakers in the 2 northern Veracruz towns of Tempoal and Tantoyuca.
Eastern (Otontepec) — 12,000 speakers in the 7 northern Veracruz towns of Chontla, Tantima, Tancoco, Chinampa, Naranjos, Amatlán, and Tamiahua. Also known as Southeastern Huastec. Ana Kondic (2012) reports only about 1,700 speakers, in the municipalities of Chontla (San Francisco, Las Cruces, Arranca Estacas, and Ensinal villages), Chinampa, Amatlan, and Tamiahua.[3]
Unaspirated sounds of both plosives and affricates, only occur as realizations of sounds occurring word-medially. They are realized elsewhere as aspirated. /p/ can also become voiced [b] in word-final positions.
Sounds /f,d/ may appear from Spanish loanwords.
The affricate sounds /ts,tsʼ/ can also be realized as [s,dz].
/b/ can also be realized as a fricative [β], and also as a voiceless fricative [ɸ] in word-final positions.
Ejective velar sounds /kʼ,kʼʷ/ can be realized as voiced [ɡ,ɡʷ] in word-medial positions.
Approximant sounds /l,w,j/ can be realized as voiceless [l̥,w̥,j̊] in word-final positions.
/n/ before velar sounds is realized as a palatal nasal [ɲ].
/h/ before /i/ can be realized as a velar sound [x].[4]
Campbell, L. and T. Kaufman. 1985. "Maya linguistics: Where are we now?," in Annual Review of Anthropology. Vol. 14, pp. 187–98
Dahlin, B. et al. 1987. "Linguistic divergence and the collapse of Preclassic civilization in southern Mesoamerica". American Antiquity. Vol. 52, No. 2, pp. 367–82.
Edmonson, Barbara Wedemeyer. 1988. A descriptive grammar of Huastec (Potosino dialect). Ph.D. dissertation: Tulane University.
INAH. 1988. Atlas cultural de Mexico: Linguistica. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia.
Kaufman, T. 1976. "Archaeological and linguistic correlations in Mayaland and associated areas of Mesoamerica," in World Archaeology. Vol. 8, pp. 101–18
Malstrom, V. 1985. "The origins of civilization in Mesoamerica: A geographic perspective", in L. Pulsipher, ed. Yearbook of the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers. Vol. 11, pp. 23–29.
McQuown, Norman A. 1984. A sketch of San Luis Potosí Huastec. University of Texas Press.
Wilkerson, J. 1972. Ethnogenesis of the Huastecs and Totonacs. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Tulane University, New Orleans.
