The Supanecan or Tlapanecan languages are Tlapanec (Me'phaa) of

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and the extinct

Subtiaba Subtiaba is an extinct Oto-Manguean language which was spoken on the Pacific slope of Nicaragua, especially in the Subtiaba district of León. Edward Sapir established a connection between Subtiaba and Tlapanec. When Lehmann wrote about it in ...

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. The family was recognized in 1925 by

Edward Sapir Edward Sapir (; January 26, 1884 – February 4, 1939) was an American Jewish anthropologist-linguist, who is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the development of the discipline of linguistics in the United States. Sa ...

, who linked them to his

Hokan The Hokan language family is a hypothetical grouping of a dozen small language families that were spoken mainly in California, Arizona and Baja California. Etymology The name ''Hokan'' is loosely based on the word for "two" in the various Hokan ...

proposal. However, they are the most recently recognized members of the Oto-Manguean language family, the relationship having been demonstrated in 1977 by Jorge Suárez. The Oto-Manguean affiliation of Tlapaneco-Subtiaba is supported by Kaufman (2016). Sapir proposed that a third language, the extinct ''Maribo'' of the village of Maribichicoa, on the Guatajiguala River in Lencan country in El Salvador, may have been the closest relative of Subtiaba, or that it in fact was Subtiaba. However, Campbell (1975) questions this.Oltrogge (1977)''Two studies in Middle American comparative linguistics'', p. 4

References

{{Oto-Manguean languages Oto-Manguean languages