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The Mixe language is closely related to the surrounding indigenous languages in the area such as Ayapaneco and Totozoquean. The overarching language family is Mixe-Zoquean. There are many dialects of Mixe and it is debated whether they are separate languages or not. Chuxnabán Mixe is one of the most documented Mixe language even though it only has around 900 speakers (3). There are about 290 communities that split up Mixe territory. Each community has a distinct dialect, most of which are mutually unintelligible. (Jany C) Pre-colonization Similar to other indigenous groups the Mixe named their world around them. The names were based off of their culture. During and after the Spanish conquest, the Mixe under the influence of the Spanish and catholic evangelicals changed their names. This started in the 16th century and is still happening today under the Mexican Republic after it created new conditions of registration. (2) Similar to other groups in Mexico the Mixe name their geographic locations by two separate names, one in their language and then one in usually spanish or náhuatl. The name in náhuatl comes from when náhuatl was like the official language, similar to how spanish is today. However the the Aztecs never conquered the Mixe, and náhuatl was used as a connection between the people.

Totontepecano Mixe is a Mixe dialect that is nearly mutually unintelligible the other dialects in the region. Its morphology is complex. It leans subject-object-verb word order, most inflection is in the verb-complex, and it is a head-marking language. One of the grammar points that differentiates it from other proto-mixe languages is the vowels. A split happened between Totontepecano Mixe and proto- mixe when proto-mixe vowels e, ü, u and o began alternate between a higher allophone [e, ü, u, ë] and a lower allophone [è, ë, ù, o]. The higher allophones are only used when there is a high or mid front vowel or a y, the lower allophones are used in all other contexts. (1)

Nouns in Chuxnabán Mixe do not have any inflectional morphology. Affixes are added onto nouns to signify the plural, possessive, the locative case and the diminutive. Sometimes they functions as heads in noun phrases, as arguments in verbal sentences or as predicates in nominal predication. Word order in noun phrases functioning as arguments is generally flexible. Adjectives and numerals can come before or after the noun, but demonstratives always come before. Noun phrases, however, in non-verbal predication usually go before the contrasted argument. The order of adjectives determines the meaning of the sentence. (3)


 * 1) Suslak, D. (2010). Battered Spanish, Eloquent Mixe: Form and Function of Mixe Difrasismos. Anthropological Linguistics, 52(1), 80-103. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40929739
 * 2) González, A., & Thiemer-Sachse, U. (2005). Nombres entre los ayuuk (ayuuk ja'ay) o mixes, Oaxaca, México. Anthropos, 100(1), 151-171. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40466479
 * 3) Jany, C. (2013). Defining Nominal Compounding as a Productive Word-Formation Process in Chuxnabán Mixe. International Journal of American Linguistics, 79(4), 533-553. doi:10.1086/671774

'The Mixe languages are languages of the Mixean branch of the Mixe–Zoquean language family indigenous to southern Mexico. According to a 1995 classification, there are seven of them (including one that is extinct). The four that are spoken in Oaxaca are commonly called Mixe while their two relatives spoken in Veracruz are commonly called "Popoluca", but sometimes also Mixe (these are "Oluta Popoluca" or "Olutec Mixe" and "Sayula Popoluca" or "Sayultec Mixe"). This article is about the Oaxaca Mixe languages, which their speakers call Ayuujk, Ayüük or Ayuhk.citation needed]'

'133,000 people reported their language to be "Mixe" in the 2010 census. A few thousand of the 41,000 who reported their language to be "Popoluca" are presumably Sayula Popoluca (Mixe).'

'Oaxaca Mixe languages are spoken in the Sierra Mixe of eastern Oaxaca. These four languages are: North Highland Mixe, spoken around Totontepec (the most divergent); South Highland Mixe, spoken around Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, Ayutla and Tamazulapan); Midland Mixe, spoken around Juquila and Zacatepec; and Lowland Mixe, spoken in San Juan Guichicovi (this language is also known as "Isthmus Mixe").'

The following classification is from Wichmann (1995:9). Wichmann (2008) adds Ulterior Mixe as an additional branch:
 * Mixe (Oaxacan Mixean)
 * North Highland Mixe (Totontepec)
 * South Highland Mixe (Tlahuitoltepec)
 * Core (Tlahuitoltepec, Ayutla, Tamazulapan)
 * Fringe (Tepuxtepec, Tepantlali, Mixistlán)
 * Midland Mixe
 * North Midland Mixe (Jaltepec, Puxmetacan, Matamoros, Cotzocón)
 * South Midland Mixe (Juquila, Cacalotepec)
 * Lowland Mixe (Camotlán, San José El Paraíso / Coatlán, Mazatlán, Guichicovi)
 * Mixe
 * Totontepec Mixe
 * Ulterior Mixe
 * Lowland – Midland Mixe – South Highland
 * Tlahuitoltepec Mixe
 * Lowland–Midland Mixe
 * Midland Mixe
 * Juquila Mixe
 * North Central Mixe
 * Lowland Mixe
 * Coatlán Mixe
 * Isthmus Mixe (Guichicovi)
 * Mazatlán Mixe