Chontal, Lowland Oaxaca
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A language of Mexico
ISO 639-3
Alternate Names
Chontal de Oaxaca de la costa, Chontal de la Costa de Oaxaca, Huamelula Chontal, Huamelulteco
Autonym
Lajltyaygi
Population
1,280 (2000 INALI). Chontal de Oaxaca bajo: 220; Chontal de Oaxaca de la costa: 1,060 (2000 INALI). No monolinguals.
Location
Oaxaca state: Tehuantepec district, San Pedro Huamelula and Santiago Astata.
Language Maps
Language Status
8a (Moribund).
Classification
Typology
VSO; medium long words, affixes, clitics; nontonal.
Language Use
Endangered. Simple greetings, ritual speech. Not learned by children as L1. Users are over 70 years old. Also use Spanish [spa].
Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: Most children and young adults in Spanish [spa]. Grammar. Bible portions: 1955.
Language Resources
Writing
Latin script [Latn].