Yokotʼan (self-denomination), also known as Chontal Maya, is a Maya language of the Cholan family spoken in 2020 by around 60 thousand Chontal Maya people of the Mexican state of Tabasco.[1] According to the National Catalog of Indigenous Languages of Mexico-INALI, Yokotʼan has at least four dialects: Nacajuca (Central), Centla (Northern), Macuspana (Southern) and Tamulte (Eastern).

Distribution

The Chontal Maya are concentrated in 159 settlements in 5 municipalities of Tabasco (Brown 2005:122).

• Centla
• Centro
• Jonuta
• Macuspana
• Nacajuca (comprising more than 50% of the Chontal Maya population)

Some Chontal settlements near the town of Nacajuca include (Brown 2005:116):

• El Tigre
• Saloya
• Guatacaloa
• Olcuatitan
• Tucta
• Mazatehuapa
• Tapotzingo
• Guaytalpa
• San Simón
• Tecoluta
• Oxiacapue
• Guadalupe
• El Sitio
• Tamulte

Some Chontal settlements in the northeastern Centla region include (Brown 2005:116):

• Cuauhtemoc
• Vicente Guerrero
• Allende
• Simón Sarlat
• Quitin Arauz (on the Río Usumacinta)

Chontal settlements near Macuspana include Benito Juárez and Aquiles Serdan (Brown 2005).

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

[2]

References

Brown, Denise Fay. 2005. "The Chontal Maya of Tabasco." In Sandstrom, Alan R., and Enrique Hugo García Valencia. 2005. Native peoples of the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

• Keller, Kathryn C. and Plácido Luciano G., compilers. 1997. Diccionario Chontal de Tabasco.

Knowles, Susan Marie. 1984. "A descriptive grammar of Chontal Maya (San Carlos dialect)." Thesis (Ph. D.)--Tulane University, 1984.

"La lengua maya-chontal de Tabasco / [selección de textos y edición, Tomás Pérez Suárez]." 1984. Emiliano Zapata, Tabasco, Mexico : Editora Municipal, H. Ayuntamiento Constitucional (1983–1985), 1984.

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