Cazcan, or Caxcan (Kaskán), was the language of the Caxcan, one of the Chichimeca peoples of Mexico. It is known only from a few word lists recorded in the 16th and 17th centuries. The language was definitely part of the

Uto-Aztecan Uto-Aztecan, Uto-Aztekan or (rarely in English) Uto-Nahuatl is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over thirty languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The na ...

family, probably related to

Huichol The Huichol or Wixárika are an indigenous people of Mexico and the United States living in the Sierra Madre Occidental range in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Durango, as well as in the United States in the states of California, ...

or possibly

Southern Tepehuan Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

. There appear to have been dialectical differences between the major Caxcan valleys, and it is likely that several other languages were spoken in Caxcan territory. Among the few words attested are ''cazcan'' "there isn't any" (the response to the first Spanish demand for food), ''yecotl'' "quemedor", ''aguano'' "war chief".Robert Barlow & George Smisor, eds. (1943), Faustino Galicia Chimalpopoca, ''Nombre de Dios, Durango: Two Documents in Náhuatl Concerning Its Foundation: Memorial of the Indians Concerning Their Services, C. 1563; Agreement of the Mexicans and Michoacanos, 1585''

References

Extinct languages of North America Indigenous languages of Mexico Languages attested from the 16th century Languages extinct in the 17th century {{Mexico-stub