MIXE-ZOQUE LANGUAGES

family of North American Indian languages spoken in southern Mexico. There are seven languages in the family, divided into two branches, or divisionsZoquean and Mixean. Zoque is spoken in the Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco, and Oaxaca. Sierra Popoluca and Texistepec Popoluca, spoken in Veracruz, are the other Zoquean languages. Mixe, spoken in eastern Oaxaca, and Sayula and Oluta (both sometimes called Popoluca), spoken in Veracruz, are Mixean languages. An extinct language, Tapachultec, formerly spoken along the southeast coast of Chiapas, is also classified as a Mixean language.