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 toMexico
RegionOaxaca, one town in Veracruz
EthnicityChinantecs
Native speakers
7,400 (2000)[1]
Oto-Mangue
  • Western Oto-Mangue
Language codes
ISO 639-3cuc
Glottologusil1237
ELPUpper West-Central Chinantec
the register-tone inventory of Usila 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
  1. ^ Usila at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "Chinantec, Usila | Ethnologue".
  3. ^ 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.