ABSTRACT
Otomanguean is a language family of Mesoamerica with a time depth of approximately 6,000 years. This large and diverse family consists of eight major subgroups: Mè’phàa-Subtiaba, Chorotegan, Otopamean, Chinantec, Mixtecan, Amuzgo, Zapotecan, and Popolocan. The following topics are addressed in the chapter: the syllable, tone and phonation, tonal morphology, tone sandhi, stress, word order, possessed noun phrases, body part locatives, compounding, classifiers, the number system, and verbal inflection. Resources are provided for proto-Otomanguean as well as reconstructions for the major subgroups. Additional resources are listed for alphabetic manuscripts written in Otomanguean languages in the 1500s–1700s. Finally, I provide references to some current examples of Otomanguean-language literature and poetry.
