Cuitlatec language

Cuitlatec
Cuitlatec
Uhpɨnéʔlu
Native to	Mexico
Region	Guerrero
Ethnicity	Cuitlatec people
Extinct	1960s, with the death of Juana Can
Language family	Language isolate
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cuy
Linguist List	qpb
Glottolog	cuit1236
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Cuitlatec, or Cuitlateco, is an extinct language isolate of Mexico, formerly spoken by an indigenous people known as Cuitlatec.

Classification

Cuitlatec has not been convincingly classified as belonging to any language family. It is believed to be a language isolate. In their controversial classification of the indigenous languages of the Americas, Greenberg and Ruhlen include Cuitlatec in an expanded Chibchan language family (Macro-Chibchan), along with a variety of other Mesoamerican and South American languages.^[1] Escalante Hernández suggests a possible relation to the Uto-Aztecan languages.^[2]

Geographic distribution

Cuitlatec was spoken in the state of Guerrero. By the 1930s, Cuitlatec was spoken only in San Miguel Totolapan. The last speaker of the language, Juana Can, is believed to have died in the 1960s.^[2] In 1979, only two elderly women, Florentina Celso and Apolonia Robles, were able to remember about fifty words of the language.^[3]

Phonology

Consonants

**Cuitlatec consonant phonemes**
	Labial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Glottal
Plosive	p b	t d	tʃ	k ɡ	kʷ	ʔ
Fricative		ɬ	ʃ			h
Approximant		l	j		w
Nasal	m	n

The sounds /f/, /s/, /r/, and /ɾ/ are found in loan words from Spanish.

Vowels

**Cuitlatec vowel phonemes**
	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ	u
Low	e	a	o

Grammar

Sentences generally follow SVO word order. Adjectives precede the nouns they modify.

Vocabulary

Cuitlatec	English
aʔnelgái	Cuitlatec people
uhpɨnéʔlu	Cuitlatec language
aikimɨ	hello
šelopɨlʔmɨ	thanks
aʃkɨli	man
ɬɨnóʔo	woman, wife
cɨʔɨ	children
iwililúmɨ	river
úmɨ	water
ahpúʔɬɨ	sun
tuɬíʔi	moon, month
kúʔli	land
ɬa	house
ihʃɨɬɨ	sky
iʔkɨʔɨ	tomb
iʔyɨʔléɬɨ	door

Trees

Cuitlatec	Common name	Scientific name
citakáʔli	Sweet acacia, Cascalote	Vachellia farnesiana, Caesalpinia coriaria
éhci	Capire	Sideroxylon cartilagineum
nempáʔa	Monkeypod tree, Camachile	Pithecellobium dulce
ɨncipéʔɬu	Charamasca	Tanacetum annuum
puɬɨʔmelpɨmɨ	Nanche, hogberry	Byrsonima crassifolia
ɬɨmʃíli; ʃemɨʔʃilí	Tololote	Andira inermis
ʃiɬiʔá	Tepemesquite	Lysiloma divaricatum
wíhci	Chupandia	Cyrtocarpa procera
yóʔo	White leadtree	Leucaena leucocephala
mɨnɨmɨli	Gliricidia	Gliricidia sepium''

Placenames

Cuitlatec	English
ʃamigéli	San Miguel Totolapan
ʃiʃmɨwɨ	Ajuchitlán
pulkúʔwɨ	Mexico City

Body Parts

Cuitlatec	English
kwérpu	body
íhcɨ	arm
ɨmté	head
úli	hair
kúʔbe	neck
ʃuwéʔe	nose
ʃúhpe	mouth
kahcíʔdi	ears
ihpɨléla	stomach
puɬké	back
álmɨ	heart
ehtɨʔi	tongue
díʃci	leg
iʃkélɨ	foot
dehpɨlkoyó	ankle
ihtalói	waist
daʃíʔi	knee
daʃilapɨ	elbow
gɨléwɨ	face
enhkeyáta	the whole face

Numerals

Cuitlatec	Numbers
tɨʔɨ, tɨwɨlɨ, téʔɬi	1
káɬɨ	2
kalíɬɨ	3
páɬa	4
puwáɬɨ	5
daʃíɬa	6
wɨʃíɬɨ	7
puhtalíɬa	8
nɨɬɨ	9
ʃɨɬɨ	10
pɨli	11
méɬi	20
kɨɬmɨli	30
kaltɨwɨlméɬi	40
puhmé	100

References

^ Greenberg, Joseph; Ruhlen, Merritt (2007-09-04). "An Amerind Etymological Dictionary" (PDF) (12 ed.). Stanford: Dept. of Anthropological Sciences Stanford University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-25. Retrieved 2008-06-27. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ ^a ^b Escalante Hernández, Robert (1962). El Cuitlateco. México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
^ Valiñas Coalla, Leopoldo; Cortina Borja, Mario; Mireles Padilla, Miguel (2010-03-11). "Notas sobre el cuitlateco". Anales de Antropología (in Spanish). 21 (1). doi:10.22201/iia.24486221e.1984.1.15915 (inactive 11 July 2025). ISSN 2448-6221.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)

Bibliography

Susana Drucker, Roberto Escalante, & Roberto J. Weitlaner. 1969. The Cuitlatec. In Evon Z. Vogt, ed., Handbook of Middle American Indians, Ethnology: Vol 7, Chapter 30. University of Texas Press, Austin: 565–575
McQuown, Norman A. 1945. Fonémica del Cuitlateco. El México Antiguo 5: 239–254.
Weitlaner, Roberto J. 1939. Notes on the Cuitlatec language. El México Antiguo 4: 363–373.
Escalante Hernández, Robert (1962). El Cuitlateco . Mexico City: National Institute of Anthropology and History.==External links==

Cuitlatec word list on Wiktionary

[1] Greenberg, Joseph; Ruhlen, Merritt (2007-09-04). "An Amerind Etymological Dictionary" (PDF) (12 ed.). Stanford: Dept. of Anthropological Sciences Stanford University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-25. Retrieved 2008-06-27. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

[Hern-2] Escalante Hernández, Robert (1962). El Cuitlateco. México, D.F.: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.

[3] Valiñas Coalla, Leopoldo; Cortina Borja, Mario; Mireles Padilla, Miguel (2010-03-11). "Notas sobre el cuitlateco". Anales de Antropología (in Spanish). 21 (1). doi:10.22201/iia.24486221e.1984.1.15915 (inactive 11 July 2025). ISSN 2448-6221.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)

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