Usila is a Chinantec language of Mexico. It is most similar to Tlacoatzintepec Chinantec, with which it has 50% intelligibility (intelligibility in the reverse direction is 85%, presumably due to greater familiarity in that direction).[2]
| Usila | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Mexico |
| Region | Oaxaca, one town in Veracruz |
| Ethnicity | Chinantecs |
Native speakers | 7,400 (2000)[1] |
Oto-Mangue
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cuc |
| Glottolog | usil1237 |
| ELP | Upper West-Central Chinantec |
Like other Chinantecan and Mazatec languages, Usila Chinantec is a tonal language noted for having whistled speech. Its tone system is unusually finely graded, however, with five register tones and four contour tones.[3]
References
edit- ^ Usila at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ "Chinantec, Usila | Ethnologue".
- ^ Edmondson, Jerold A. & Gregerson, Kenneth J. (1992). On Five-level Tone Systems. In Shin Ja J. Hwang & William R. Merrifield (Eds.), Language in Context: Essays for Robert E. Longacre (pp. 555-576). Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics.