Cuitlatec language


Cuitlatec, or Cuitlateco, is an extinct language of Mexico, formerly spoken by an indigenous people known as Cuitlatec.

Classification

Cuitlatec has not been convincingly classified as belonging to any language family. It is believed to be language isolate. In their controversial classification of the indigenous languages of the Americas, Greenberg and Ruhlen include Cuitlatec in an expanded Chibchan language family, along with a variety of other Mesoamerican and South American languages. Hernández suggests a possible relation to the Uto-Aztecan languages.

Geographic distribution

Cuitlatec was spoken in the state of Guerrero. 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.

Phonology

Consonants

Grammar

Sentences generally follow SVO word order. Adjectives precede the nouns they modify.