The Mixe-Zoque languages are a language family spoken in and around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. It is apparently unrelated to any other language group, although in the early 20th century Edward Sapir included it as a member of the Penutian languages superfamily.

The branches of the Mixe-Zoque languages are as follows:

1. Mixe languages -- an estimated 90,000 native speakers
   • Eastern Mixe

   An estimated 72,000 native speakers

   Dialects: Coatlán (mco), Istmo (mir), Quetzaltepec (mve), Juquila (mxq), and Mazatlán (mzl)

   • 1. Veracruz Mixe

An estimated 4,000 native speakers

Dialects: Oluta (plo) nearly extinct - only 100 speakers, Sayula (pos)

Sometimes classified as Popoluca languages

• 1. Western Mixe

An estimated 10,000 native speakers

Dialects Totontepec (mto), Tlahuitoltepec (mxp)

An estimated 4,500 native speakers

Dialect: Chimalapa (zoh)

• 1. Veracruz Zoque

An estimated 30,000 native speakers

Dialects: Highland (poi), Texistepec (poq) nearly extinct - only 450 speakers, Tabasco (zoq) nearly extinct - only 40 speakers

Both Highland and Texistepec are sometimes classified as Popoluca languages

Highland is also known as Sierra

The codes after the dialect names are from ISO/DIS.

Extinct languages classified as Mixe-Zoquean include Tapachultec, formerly spoken along the southeast coast of Chiapas. Some linguists believe the Olmec people spoke a Mixe-Zoquean language.

References

1. Campbell, L., and T. Kaufman, 1976, "A Linguistic Look at the Olmecs", American Antiquity, 41 pp. 80-89.
2. Mixe-Zoque entry at Ethnologue.com
3. http://www.native-languages.org/fammix.htm

Indigenous languages of the Americas stubs | Indigenous languages of Mesoamerica | Penutian languages