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Map of Matlatzinca languages
Matlatzinca-Atzinca-Pirinda languages. Extension at the beginning of 20th century and earlier extension in 16th century

Ocuiltec is a moribund language of Central Mexico closely related to Matlatzinca and Pirinda. Ocuiltec is also known as Tlahuica, Atzinca, and Atzingo Matlatzinca. “Ocuiltec” is commonly used in English, while Tlahuica is the preferred name in Spanish. The autonym pjyɇkakjó or pjiekakjoo [3] is also used.[4] Ocuiltec and Matlatzinca are both endangered with less than 2,000 speakers, while Prinida went extinct in 1936.[5][6][7] There are revitalization efforts.[8]

Nomenclature

The names Ocuiltec and Ocuilteco are synonymous with Tlahuica, though more common in English, appearing in several English language dissertations[9], books[10], and other academic material. The name may derive from Nahuatl ocuiltecah which means “places of worms.”[11] Ocuilteco was used in colonial documents to refer to the Ocuilan region which later extended to the inhabitants, despite their differences.[12]

In Spanish, Tlahuica is more common and preferred. Tlahuica also derives from Nahuatl and means “people who work the land” and were called so because their highly productive agricultural society.[13] Linguist Aileen Martínez writes that the term Ocuilteco is offensive to the natives, who prefer that they be called Tlahuica or by their autonym, Pjyɇkakjó. Pjyɇkakjó [pjəkakhó] and Pjiekakjoo [phiekakhoː] are both variants of the same word and mean “what we are” or “what we speak.”[12][14][3]

Aztinca, Atzinteco, and Atzingo Matlatzinca are older regional terms that referred to the same language as spoken in San Juan Atzingo and San José el Totoc.[12][15]

Distribution

Ocuiltec was centered around San Juan Atzingo within the municipality of Ocuilan, and is spoken in the nearby communities of Cinco Caminos, Colonia Doctor Gustavo Baz, El Capulín, El Totoc (San José Totoc), Lomas de Teocaltzingo (Loma de Tecalzingo), Ocuilán de Artéaga, Santa Lucía, Santa Martha, and Santa María Nativitas.[16][17][18] Historically, it may have been spoken in the adjacent area of Morelos, though Matlatzinca could have also been spoken.[19]

The language is morbid with a conflicting numbers of speakers that has been declining since 1970. In 1970 only 400 speakers were recorded in the census; in 1987 there was 1,432 speakers, 804 recorded in 1990, 412 in 2000, and 719 in 2010.[20] It was reported in 2000 that were between 400 to 515 speakers whose ages ranged from 60 to 85.[12][5] The 2020 census recorded 2,238 speakers throughout Mexico, but this may just be indicator of those who identify as Ocuilteco or have some knowledge of the language.[21] The Secretariat of Economy recorded only 159 speakers in the Ocuilan municipality in 2020.[22] In 2025, only 50 fluent speakers, whom are all elderly, were identified, a majority of them in the community of Lomas de Teocaltzingo.[23]

Alphabet

The practical Ocuiltec alphabet was first designed in 1982 and notably consists of vowel letters with strokes. Some of these vowel letters can’t be displayed and instead their closest equivalents are used for this article. The alphabet is as follows:[4]

a e i o u ø ɨ b k ch d f g j l m n ñ p r s t w x y ts ds ? by dy ly py ty ky xy

The U with stroke was used in the Ocuiltec alphabet, but cannot reliably be displayed.

The letters a e i o u are all pronounced the same as in Spanish with vowels particular to Ocuiltec being ɇ ɨ ø ʉ. These letters respectively represent the sounds /ə ɨ ʌ ʉ/. Outside of academic material, modern writing does not use the vowels with strokes, except for ɇ and ø.[24][25][26]

The alphabet were revised in 1998 and another was drafted by community members and linguists in 2019, which consists of 42 consonants and 9 vowels.[27]

Phonology

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
plain lab.
Nasal m n (ɲ) (ŋ)
Plosive p t k kʷ ʔ
Affricate t͡s t͡ʃ
Fricative β s ʃ h
Rhotic ɾ
Approximant l j w
  • /n/ is heard as velar [ŋ] when before velar stops.
  • Sounds /m, n, (ɲ), l, j, w/ all become voiceless [m̥, n̥, (ɲ̊), l̥, j̊, w̥] when in groups with /h/.
  • Stop sounds /p, t, t͡s, t͡ʃ, k, kʷ/ are voiced as [b, d, d͡z, d͡ʒ, ɡ, ɡʷ] when following nasals.
  • /l/ may be heard as voiceless [l̥] in word-final or syllable-final positions.
  • /w/ may be heard as a labialized fricative [ɣʷ] in intervocalic positions.
  • Sounds /p, (b), m/ may also be heard as labialized [pʷ, (bʷ), mʷ] when preceding /ɨ/.
  • Sounds /t, (d), l, n/ may tend to palatalize as [tʲ, (dʲ), lʲ, nʲ~ɲ] when before high vowels /i, ɨ, u/.
  • Other sounds such as /f, r/, are heard from Spanish loanwords.

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i iː ɨ ɨː u uː
Mid ɛ ɛː ə əː ɔ ɔː
Open a aː
  • /i/ is heard as [ɪ] in closed syllables.
  • Vowels may also be heard as nasalized [Ṽ] when preceding nasal consonants.[28]

Sample Text

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Ocuiltec (Tlahuica) translation: Ndumø 1: Ndyetso ñebet’a milndañe nlibre jo miplañe benye pa mulo pima jo ñelderechu jo, ligt’eñe ndityefbiñe nrazon mbi pima jo nkonciencia, legt’eñe ndujɇñe ñeluju pima benye ndyetso ñebet’a.[29]

English translation: Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[30]

Notes

  1. ^ [1].
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ a b Catálogo de las Lenguas Indígenas Nacionales: Variantes Lingüísticas y sus Autodenominaciones [Catalog of National Indigenous Languages: Linguistic Variants of Mexico—With Their Autonyms and Geostatistical References] (PDF) (in Spanish). Secretaría de Cultura – Gobierno de México. 2020. p. 163.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  4. ^ a b Muntzel, Martha C.; Martínez, Aileen (2014). “El Alfabeto Práctico Pjɇkakjo”. Estudios de Cultura Otopame (in Spanish). 9. Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas.
  5. ^ a b “Peligran lenguas indígenas del Estado de México”. El Universal. April 5, 2008. Archived from the original on January 15, 2015.
  6. ^ León, Nicolás (1944). Origen, estado actual y geografía del idioma pirinda o matlatzinca en el estado de Michoacán (in Spanish).
  7. ^ Indígenas, INPI | Instituto Nacional de los Pueblos. “Lenguas indígenas en riesgo de desaparecer”. gob.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-04-15.
  8. ^ “IMPARTEN EL TALLER RENOVANDO VOCES. INFANCIAS Y JUVENTUDES POR LA REVITALIZACIÓN DE LAS LENGUAS INDÍGENAS, EN LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO”. inali.gob.mx. INALI. June 17, 2025.
  9. ^ Muntzel, M. C (2003). The structure of Ocuilteco (PhD). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
  10. ^ Zamarrón, José Luis Moctezuma; García, Bárbara Cifuentes (2025-10-11). Hidalgo, Margarita G. (ed.). “Mexican Indigenous Languages and the national censuses: 1970-2000. 2006”. Mexican Indigenous Languages at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century. Mouton de Gruyler.
  11. ^ “ocuillotl. | Nahuatl Dictionary”. nahuatl.wired-humanities.org. Retrieved 2026-04-15.
  12. ^ a b c d Martínez Ortega, Aileen Patricia. Clases Verbales, Transitividad Y Valencia Verbal En El Pjyekakjó, Tlahuica De San Juan Atzingo. , 2012. [3]
  13. ^ “Tlahuica. | Nahuatl Dictionary”. nahuatl.wired-humanities.org. Retrieved 2026-04-15.
  14. ^ Fabela, Reyes Luciano Álvarez (2006). Tlahuicas (in Spanish). Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas. ISBN 978-970-753-055-3.
  15. ^ Soustelle, Jacques (1937). “El matlaltzinca (pirinda) y el ocuilteca”. La Familia otomí-pame del México central (in Spanish). 1. Paris: 337–367.
  16. ^ “Tlahuica”, Catálogo de las lenguas indígenas nacionales: Variantes lingüísticas de México con sus autodenominaciones y referencias geoestadísticas (PDF), Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indigenas, 14 January 2008, p. 105 – via Diario Oficial de la Federación
  17. ^ Lenguas indígenas y hablantes de 3 años y más, 2020 Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine INEGI. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020.
  18. ^ Palancar, Enrique L (2016), Oto-Pamean
  19. ^ Maldonado, Druzo (1990), Cuauhnáhuac y Huaxtepec (tlahuicas y xochimilcas en el Morelos Prehispánico), p. 25, En relación a la lengua que probablemente se hablaba en Morelos antes de la llegada del náhuatl, Smith sugiere en base a inferencias arqueológicas y documentales que, matlatzinca [y/o ocuilteca] se hablaba en el oeste, y mixteco y/o popoloca al este (1983:21)
  20. ^ Muntzel, Martha C.; González Nestor, Natividad (2017). “tlahuica de san juan atzingo, ocuilan, estado de méxico” (PDF). archivo de lenguas indígenas de méxico (1). Mexico City: El Colegio de México, A.C.
  21. ^ “Hablantes de lengua indigena”. cuentame.inegi.org.mx. Retrieved 2026-04-15.
  22. ^ “Ocuilan: Economy, employment, equity, quality of life, education, health and public safety”. Data México. Retrieved 2026-04-15.
  23. ^ Ramírez‐Carbajal, Elisette; Martínez‐Reyes, Magdalena; Ayala‐Vásquez, Olivia; Fabiola, Rodríguez‐Evangelista; Lagunes Reyes, Mayra; Hernández‐Santiago, Faustino; Rangel Villafranco, Mónica; Yu, Fuqiang; Pérez‐Moreno, Jesús (2025-03-17). “Revitalizing endangered mycocultural heritage in Mesoamerica: The case of the Tlahuica‐ Pjiekakjoo culture”. PLANTS, PEOPLE, PLANET. doi:10.1002/ppp3.70014. ISSN 2572-2611.
  24. ^ Sabino Nava, Rocío (2009). “Prontuario en Tlachuica / Español”. inali.gob.mx (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 2026-04-15.
  25. ^ Tlahuica or Pjiekakjo (PDF). Mexico: Gobierno de México. 2024.
  26. ^ Guía para la Atención de Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas y Afromexicanas ante la emergencia sanitaria generada por el virus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Versión en tlahuica (PDF) (in Ocuiltec). Instituto Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas (INPI). May 21, 2020.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  27. ^ “La Comunidad Pjiekakjo (Tlahuica) entregó su alfabeto al INALI y a la UIEM”. inali.gob.mx. Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas (INALI). December 18, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2025.
  28. ^ Muntzel, Martha C.; Nestor, Natividad González (2017). Tlahuica de San Juan Atzingo, Ocuilan, Estado de México. México: El Colegio de México.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  29. ^ Olvera García, Jorge; Montero de Alba, José Raúl (2020). Lara Torres, Gabriela E. (ed.). La Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos del Estado de México y de Guanajuato (PDF) (in Spanish) (1 ed.). Toluca, Mexico: Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Estado de México. p. 35.
  30. ^ Nations, United. “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. United Nations. Retrieved 2026-04-15.