Chiapanec language
Chiapanec is a presumably extinct indigenous Mexican language of the Oto-Manguean language family believed to have been spoken by the Chiapanec people in the Central Depression of the Mexican state of Chiapas, especially in Chiapa de Corzo. It is closely related to the Mangue language spoken further to the south in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
The 1990 census reported 17 speakers of the language in southern Chiapas out of an ethnic population of 32, but later investigations failed to find any speakers. There are, however, a number of written sources on the language. Vocabularies and grammars based on these materials include Aguilar Penagos and Carpio-Penagos and Álvarez-Vázquez.
History
The Chiapanec people probably arrived in the Central Depression of Chiapas between the ninth and tenth centuries, taking over the previously Zoque city of Chiapa for which they are named. Chiapa became one of the most significant urban centers in what is now Chiapas, and was the capital of a state that came to control most of the Central Depression during the postclassic period. The Chiapanec people generally had bad relations with neighboring Zoque, Tzotzil, Tzeltal and Cabil communities, possibly owing to conflict over the trade route to Tehuantepec. Besides Chiapa, other Chiapanec settlements included Acala, Suchiapa, Chiapilla, Villaflores and Villa Corzo, and likely Venustiano Carranza and Totolapa. Judging from a 1656 document, Huixtla spoke a language similar to Chiapanec.Phonology
Consonants
Vowels
Four vowels are noted as /i, a, o, u/.Samples
Alabado de la Santísima Cruz
ISea vendito y alavado
El Santísimo Sacramento.
II
Anamandiní ya camo,
Tula meja sig mimo.
III
Loju mejá londo mume
Musutá nembon dini yeme yegu
IV
Bati chilijá y peja,
Cupatalá me tiche.
V
Numandimiyire y luju
pusa tangu
Pani memo.
VI
Muju llilaco
Tiché mupatmo
Santísimo coruce.
VII
Luju me londo mume,
Luju me londo mume,
Musutá cupango ume.
VIII
Chasi juluñacaji
Chasi juluñacaji
NAMEN JESOSE
I
Vendito y alavado sea el
Santísimo Sacramento.
II
Pozotá coyumbo chememo
Naviñen cleme
Navilla sigue reyna santa Elena
III
Copo Pa Chememo,
Muñun indiosis,
Ungutá Jesús de Nazareno
IV
Andilu ta chinda
Gua tiliji,
y pame cojime
''Techi no mallarilú''