Proto-Mixe–Zoquean is a language that language scholars and

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...

n historians believe was spoken on the

Isthmus of Tehuantepec The Isthmus of Tehuantepec () is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Before the opening of the Panama Canal, it was a major overland transport route known simply as the Te ...

during the Initial Formative Period (c. 2000–1200 BCE). Evidence of this proto-Mixe Zoque language is limited, and researchers have reconstructed only a small amount of its vocabulary, about 450 items.

Ethnic marker

Olmec The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that t ...

influence on neighboring groups and cultures, and those that followed them suggest that they shared a similar language, or had roots in a similar language, called the proto-Mixe Zoque. In later Mesoamerican languages, evidence of

loan word A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because the ...

s suggests that in earlier times the Olmecs' influence involved not only the material culture, but the language as well. Many of the words borrowed by these early civilizations show a shared vocabulary of Mesoamerican cultigens, beans, squash, tomatoes, maize, and food preparation. The vocabulary reveals that Mesoamerican speakers had a sophisticated culture for their time.

Phonology

vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...

could either be short or long, and the nucleus of a

syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...

could either involve a short or long vowel, or was followed by /ʔ/ or /h/. Proto-Mixe–Zoque - Phonology

Mixe–Zoque language

Archaeologists call this culture ''

Mokaya Mokaya were pre-Olmec cultures of the Soconusco region in Mexico and parts of the Pacific coast of western Guatemala, an archaeological culture that developed a number of Mesoamerica’s earliest-known sedentary settlements. The Soconusco regio ...

,'' which means 'people of the corn' in the contemporary Mixe–Zoque languages. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Mixe–Zoque language was spoken across the isthmus, therefore sharing its roots in this

Olmec language The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that t ...

tradition, and a common ancestor, the proto-Mixe–Zoque.Evans, Susan Toby 2008 Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History, second edition. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mixe-Zoquean Mixe–Zoque languages Mixe

Ethnic marker

Phonology

Mixe–Zoque language

See also

References