Huastec language

The Huastec (also spelled Wasteko or Huasteco) language, now commonly known by the endonym Téenek, of Mexico is spoken by the Téenek people living in rural areas of San Luis Potosí and northern Veracruz. Though relatively isolated from them, it is related to the Mayan languages spoken further south and east in Mexico and Central America. Huastec is remarkable among Mayan languages for having tone, much like its Otomanguean and Totonac neighbors. According to the 2005 population census, there are about 200,000 speakers of Huasteco in Mexico (some 120,000 in San Luis Potosí and some 80,000 in Veracruz). The language and its speakers are also called Teenek, and this name has gained currency in Mexican national and international usage in recent years. The now-extinct Chicomuceltec language, spoken in Chiapas and Guatemala, was most closely related to Wasteko. The first linguistic description of the Huastec language in a European language was written by Andrés de Olmos, who also wrote the first grammatical descriptions of Nahuatl and Totonac. Huastec-language broadcasting is carried out by the CDI's radio station XEANT-AM, based in Tancanhuitz de Santos, San Luis Potosí.