Xinca, also spelled Xinka, Sinca or Szinca, is a small extinct family of Mesoamerican languages once spoken by the Indigenous Xinca people of southeastern Guatemala and parts of El Salvador and Honduras. It was formerly regarded as a single language isolate, and has also historically been called Popoluca or Popoluca-Xinca, Popoluca being a Nahuatl term for unintelligible speech.
Facts
Disputed
Proto-Language StatusXincan has no demonstrated affiliation with any other family. A proposed link to Lencan (Lehmann 1920) was never demonstrated, and a later automated lexical comparison found similarities that could reflect borrowing rather than common descent. 2 Browse and compare
Classification Confidence RegionSoutheastern Guatemala, with adjoining parts of El Salvador and Honduras 2 Compare
Number of Languages In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Sources
1. Glottolog: Xincan (languoid record)
GlottologLanguoid record: child_language_count
"child_language_count": 5
Languoid record: level and category
"level": "family", "bookkeeping": false, "category": "Family"
View the Source 2. Wikipedia: Xincan languages
WikipediaIntroduction, second sentence
Xinca was once spoken by the Indigenous Xinca people in southeastern Guatemala, parts of El Salvador, and Honduras.
Classification section, first sentence
The Xincan languages have no demonstrated affiliations with other language families.
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