''Yokotʼan'' (self-denomination), also known as Chontal Maya, is a
Maya
Maya may refer to:
Civilizations
* Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America
** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples
** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples
* Maya (Ethiopia), a popu ...
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
of the
Cholan family spoken in 2020 by around 60 thousand
Chontal Maya people
The Chontal Maya are a Maya people of the Mexican state of Tabasco. "Chontal", from the Nahuatl word for ''chontalli'', which means "foreigner", has been applied to various ethnic groups in Mexico. The Chontal refer to themselves as the Yokot'ano ...
of the Mexican state of
Tabasco
Tabasco (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco), is one of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa.
It is located in ...
.
[ 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
Tabasco is a state in Southeast Mexico that is divided into 17 municipalities. According to the 2020 Mexican Census, it has the 20th largest population with inhabitants and is the 24th largest by land area spanning .
Municipalities in Tabasco ...
(Brown 2005:122).
* Centla
*Centro
Centro may refer to:
Places Brazil
*Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Du ...
* Jonuta
* Macuspana
* Nacajuca (comprising more than 50% of the Chontal Maya population)
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
Vowels
References
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 / elección de textos y edición, Tomás Pérez Suárez" 1984. Emiliano Zapata, Tabasco, Mexico : Editora Municipal, H. Ayuntamiento Constitucional (1983–1985), 1984.
Agglutinative languages
Mayan languages
Mesoamerican languages
Indigenous languages of Mexico
{{indigenousAmerican-lang-stub