Zapotec language (Jalisco)
Zapotec (Spanish: zapoteco) is an extinct, unclassified Mesoamerican language formerly spoken in Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco, Mexico.[2] The existence of Zapotec is known from a relación geográfica made in 1580 by Gerónimo Flores, alcalde mayor of the province of Tuspa, Tamatzula and Zapotlán (now Tuxpan, Tamazula de Gordiano and Ciudad Guzmán, respectively).According to Flores: [In Zapotlán] they have four languages which they formerly used and use, which are called Mechoacan [Purépecha], Zayulteca, Zapoteca, and Naguas, which is Mexican [Nahuatl], which they all generally speak.[4] Nahuatl had become a lingua franca in the pre-Columbian era, being used as the administrative language of the Aztec Empire and as a trade language beyond the empire's borders, and was subsequently also promoted by the Spaniards after the Spanish conquest.[5] Nearby languages that went extinct in similar circumstances include Sayultec (which was also spoken in Ciudad Guzmán alongside Zapotec), Cochin, Otomi, Tiam, and Tamazultec.