Manguean languages in the context of "Oto-Manguean languages"

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⭐ Core Definition: Manguean languages

The extinct Manguean languages were a branch of the Oto-Manguean family. They were Chorotega of Costa Rica and Nicaragua (where it was called Mangue or Monimbo), and Chiapanec of Mexico. According to Kaufman (1974), linguistic evidence points to a separation between these two languages around AD 600-700. Based on archaeological and linguistic evidence, it is often theorized that these languages originated in what is now the Mexican state of Puebla before migrating southeast to Chiapas in the late Classic period.

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👉 Manguean languages in the context of Oto-Manguean languages

The Oto-Manguean or Otomanguean (/ˌtˈmæŋɡən/ OH-to-MANG-ghee-ən) languages are a large family comprising several subfamilies of indigenous languages of the Americas. All of the Oto-Manguean languages that are now spoken are indigenous to Mexico, but the Manguean branch of the family, which is now extinct, was spoken as far south as Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Oto-Manguean is widely viewed as a proven language family.

The highest number of speakers of Oto-Manguean languages today are found in the state of Oaxaca where the two largest branches, the Zapotecan and Mixtecan languages, are spoken by almost 1.5 million people combined. In central Mexico, particularly in the states of Mexico, Hidalgo and Querétaro, the languages of the Oto-Pamean branch are spoken: the Otomi and the closely related Mazahua have over 500,000 speakers combined. In the linguistic world of Mesoamerica, the Otomanguean family stands out as the most diverse and extensively distributed.

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