Jakaltek language
Mayan language of Mexico and Guatemala spoken by the Jakaltek people
The Jakaltek (Jacaltec) language, also known as Jakalteko (Jacalteco) or Poptiʼ, is a Mayan language from the Q’anjob’alan-chujean branch spoken by the Jakaltek people in some municipalities in the state of Chiapas, Mexico and the municipality of Jacaltenango in the department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala in the border between both countries. Jakaltek is closely related with the Q'anjob'al and Akatek language and more distantly related with the Tojol-ab'al, Chuj and Mocho'. In Mexico it is also known as Ab'xub'al.
History
Jakaltek was the language spoken by the population of the site of El Lagartero, in the present day municipality of La Trinitaria in Chiapas, Mexico, the site was inhabited from 300 AD to 1400 AD between the late classic and postclassic period of Mesoamerica.
Distribution
In Mexico, Jakaltek is mainly spoken in the state of Chiapas in the communities of Bienestar Social, Flor de Mayo, Guadalupe Victoria, Ojo de Agua, Pacayalito and Huixquilar from the municipality of Amatenango de la Frontera, in Los Pocitos from the municipality of Bella Vista, in El Mango, Frontera Comalapa and Sunzapote from the municipality of Frontera Comalapa and in El Vergel Dos, La Campana, La Gloria, El Colorado and Nuevo Villaflores from the municipality of La Trinitaria. There are also Jakaltek communities in Campeche in the municipalities of Campeche and Champotón.
Municipalities in Huehuetenango where Jakaltek is spoken include the following (Variación Dialectal en Poptiʼ, 2000).
Concepción Huista
Jacaltenango (including the following villages)
San Marcos Huista
San Andrés Huista
Yinhchʼewex
Nentón
San Antonio Huista
Santa Ana Huista
Buxup
Tzisbʼaj
Media
Jakaltek-language programming is carried by the INPI's radio station XEVFS, broadcasting from Las Margaritas, Chiapas.
Phonology
The Eastern Jakaltek language includes the following phonemes. The orthography used by the Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala is on the left, the other main orthography is on the right.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q33393. The Library of Congress control number is sh85069176. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1400 and 2000.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jakaltek language” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.