Chiapanec is an extinct indigenous Mexican language of the Oto-Manguean language family once 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 (2012) and Carpio-Penagos and ÃÂlvarez-Vázquez (2014).
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.
Four vowels are noted as .
I [sic]
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
I [sic](repeated)
II
III
IV
(the four parts are repeated)