The Popolocan languages are a subfamily of the Oto-Manguean language family of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, spoken mainly in the state of

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

. The Popolocan languages should not be confused with the languages called

Popoluca Popoluca is a Nahuatl term for various Indigenous peoples of southeastern Veracruz and Oaxaca. Many of them (about 30,000

spoken in the state of

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

, which belong to the unrelated Mixe–Zoquean language family. The term comes from the

Nahuatl language Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

and means to speak unintelligibly, which is why Nahuatl speakers called several different unrelated languages "Popolōca". The Nahuatl term was later adopted by the Spanish. The convention now is that the Oto-Manguean languages are referred to as "Popoloca" and the Mixe–Zoquean languages are referred to as "Popoluca", although the latter term is falling into disuse.

Languages

The Popolocan languages are subdivided into: *the Chocho–Popolocan languages, including the

Chocho language Chocho (also Chocholtec, Chocholteco Chochotec, Chochon, or Ngigua) is a language of the Popolocan branch of the Oto-Manguean language family spoken in Mexico in the following communities of Oaxaca: San Miguel Chicahua (settlement of Llano Seco ...

and seven distinct varieties of Popoloca. *the

Ixcatec language } Ixcatec (in Ixcatec: ''xwja'' or ''xjuani'') is a language spoken by the people of the Mexican village of Santa María Ixcatlan, in the northern part of the state of Oaxaca. The Ixcatec language belongs to the Popolocan branch of the Oto-Mang ...

*the

Mazatecan languages The Mazatecan languages are a group of closely related Mesoamerican languages, indigenous languages spoken by some 200,000 people in the area known as the Sierra Mazateca, which is in the northern part of the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, ...

including a number of related languages called Mazatec

Proto-language

Fernández (1951) reconstructed Proto-Popolocan utilizing data from Chocho, Popoloca, Ixcatec, and

Mazatec The Mazatec are an Indigenous people of Mexico who inhabit the Sierra Mazateca in the state of Oaxaca and some communities in the adjacent states of Puebla and Veracruz. Some researchers have theorized that the Mazatec, along with Popoloca spea ...

(Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca).Fernández de Miranda, María Teresa. 1951. Reconstrucción del protopopoloca. ''Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropológicos'' 12: 61–93.

References

Endangered Oto-Manguean languages {{Oto-Manguean-lang-stub