Tapachultec is a Mixean language spoken in Chiapas, Mexico, in the town of Tapachula. It is now extinct.
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History
In the 16th century, according to the testimony of Spanish friar Alonso Ponce, it was allegedly spoken along much of the Chiapas coast, including Tonalá, Pijijiapan, Mapastepec, Huixtla, Huehuetán, and Ayutla. Ponce did not give a name for this language, but described it as similar to Zoque, but possessing some Yucatec Maya vocabulary. This has been equated with Tapachultec by Lyle Campbell. At this time, Nahuatl was used by the speakers of said language to communicate with Spanish authorities. Tapachultec seems to have been termed Vebetlateca by Palacio in 1576, which probably refers to Huehuetán given that it was the chief town of the region in that era. By the 17th century, the Mam people had migrated to the area after the original population had declined due to epidemics, and the Mam language replaced Tapachultec in a few places.[1]
Little is known about the language. However according to Otto Shuman, a researcher of linguistics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the language was lost in the 1930s, during the reign of Chiapan Governor Victorico Grajales. Grajales banned the use of indigenous languages in order to attempt to create a stronger bond between Chiapas and the rest of Mexico.
The presence of Mixe-Zoque languages in Soconusco is speculated to go back to Izapa and the Mokaya culture. Tapachultec thus is possibly descended from languages spoken by those cultures, and may have been related to extinct varieties of the Pacific coast of Guatemala.
References
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