Chontal, Highland Oaxaca

CHD

threatened

Alternate Names: Chontal de la Sierra de Oaxaca, Tequistlatec

Dialects: Chontal de Oaxaca alto, Chontal de Oaxaca bajo.

Genealogy:

Tequistlatecan

Demographics: 2,420 (2000 INALI).

Language Use: Most speakers are over 40 years old. Also use Spanish [spa].

Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 60%–100%. Literacy rate in L2: 75%–100%. Dictionary. Grammar. NT: 1991.

Typology: VS, SV, or VO; medium long words, affixes; nontonal.

Writing System: Latin

Nation of Origin: Mexico

Other Comments: ‘Tequistlateco’ has been used in publications, but true Tequistlateco was spoken in Tequisistlán town, and is now extinct.