The Popolocan languages are a subfamily of the Oto-Manguean language family of Mexico , spoken mainly in the state of Puebla .
6-524: The Popolocan languages should not be confused with the languages called Popoluca spoken in the state of Veracruz , which belong to the unrelated Mixe–Zoquean language family. The term comes from the Nahuatl language and means to speak unintelligibly, which is why Nahuatl speakers called several different unrelated languages "Popolōca". The Nahuatl term was later adopted by the Spanish. The convention now
12-542: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Popoluca Popoluca is a Nahuatl term for various indigenous peoples of southeastern Veracruz and Oaxaca . Many of them (about 30,000 ) speak languages of the Mixe–Zoque family . Others speak the unrelated Mazatecan languages , in which case the name in English and Spanish is generally spelled Popoloca . The Mixe–Zoque languages called Popoluca are, Among
18-539: Is that the Oto-Manguean languages are referred to as "Popoloca" and the Mixe–Zoquean languages are referred to as "Popoluca", although the latter term is falling into disuse. The Popolocan languages are subdivided into: Fernández (1951) reconstructed Proto-Popolocan utilizing data from Chocho , Popoloca , Ixcatec , and Mazatec (Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca). This Oto-Manguean languages -related article
24-480: The Oto-Manguean languages , there are, The Xincan languages have also historically been referred to as Popoluca. The reason for the terms' widespread usage for naming indigenous languages is that they are derogatory words from the Nahuatl language, meaning "to speak unintelligibly" or "babble". When the Spanish invaders asked their Nahuatl-speaking allies what language was spoken in a particular locality,
30-550: The Nahuas would reply "popoloca" meaning in essence "not Nahuatl". The Nahuas used the term "popolōca" much in the same way the Greek used the term " barbaros ", also meaning "gibberish", to refer to non-Greek speaking strangers. The name however stuck to many languages and has caused some confusion even among linguists working with Native American languages. This confusion prompted some kind of distinction between Popoluca languages and
36-543: The spelling "Popoluca" with an "u" became used for certain Mixe–Zoque languages , while the spelling "Popoloca" with an "o" became used for certain languages of the Popolocan family of Oto-Manguean languages . Note that the name "Popolocan" is also used by linguists to refer to these languages, which include varieties of Mazatec . In Nicaragua , the Nahua-speaking Nicarao used the term "Popoluca" for
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