In our time extensive studies have been made as to it by Squier, Behrendt, and Brasseur de Bourbourg. It resembles the Otomi in monosyllabism and tones; it has six gutturals which are extremely rough; it lacks the sounds of d,f, g, r, s; its words are not inflected. The plural is formed by ob, the comparative by il; thus: che-ob, woods; tib-il, better. There are four conjugations. The language abounds in elisions. As spoken in a district of Valladolid, it is praised for elegance and conciseness. By many the Chontal is supposed to have been the language of Cuba and Hayti, the tongue which has given us the earliest words that were adopted into European languages, tobacco, canoe, etc. - The Mixteca-Zapoteca language has several dialects: the Chocho in Puebla, Oajaca, and Guerrero; the Yope in the two latter states; the Popo-loco or Teca in Michoacan, Jalisco, and Guatemala; the Amuchco in Guerrero; the Zapoteca and Cuicateco in Oajaca. A Mixteca grammar by Antonio de los Reyes and a vocabulary by Alvarado were printed at Mexico in 1593; a grammar of the Zapoteca by Cordova was printed there in 1564, and a vocabulary by the same author in 1578. The Matlaltzinea or Pirinda is spoken in Michoacan; the Ocuilteca in the state of Mexico seems related to it.

Of this grammars were written, but none have been published. The Tarasco prevails in Michoacan, Guerrero, Guanajuato, and Jalisco. In this language f and l are wanting; and b, d, g, i, and r never begin a word. Nouns are divided into rational, irrational, and inanimate. There are absolute and inseparable pronouns. In conjugating the inseparables are suffixed: Pa, to carry; pa haca,I carry; pangahaca, I am carried; panstahaca, I am always carrying; pacata, that which is carried, a burthen. There is a Tarasca grammar by Baselenque (Mexico, 1714), of which a sketch is given in the "Transactions of the American Ethnological Society," vol. i., pp. 245, etc. - The Opata-Tarahumara-Pima family embraced a number of dialects spoken by tribes in Sonora, California, and Arizona; the Opata and Eudeve in Sonora; the Jova in Sonora and Chihuahua; the Pima with its dialects, the Papago, Sobaipuris, Yuma, and Cahuenche, in Sonora; the Tarahumara in Chihuahua, with dialects in Durango and Sonora; and the kindred Tepehuan in Durango, Jalisco, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Sina-loa. This family also includes the Cahita, Cora, and Colotlan. A grammar of the Pima or Nevome (New York, 1862) shows it to lack the sound of a in fate, f, l, and z; b and p, d and t, c and g are easily confounded; contractions are numerous.

There is but one conjugation of the verbs, and the verbal form in each remains the same in each tense, the pronoun and prefixes varying with the persons. The active verb is simple compared to the passive: ant haqumrida, I count; ani haqniaridcada, I counted; ni vusi vointad' am' rigui, I was assisted. Verbs of possession are made from nouns: hunu, maize; humtga, to have maize. See too "A Sketch of the Heve (Eudeve) Language," by Buckingham Smith (New York, 1861). - The Seris, including the Upanguaima and Guaima, were in Sonora. In Lower California were two families: the Guaicuru, with five dialects, the Cora, Uchita, Concho, and Laymon; and the Cochimi, with three, North Cochimi, Edu, and Didu. Of the Guaicuru our best notice is in Begert's Nachrichten (Mannheim, 1772), of which Rau has given a translation. - In Central America, besides the Maya and Mexican already noticed, there were families which Squier supposes affiliated with the Guaranis and Caribs. For the study of these we have Cotheal and Henderson's " Grammatical Sketch of the Mosquito" (New York, 1846), Scherzer on the Valientes and Tala-mancos, Squier's vocabularies, and his monograph of authors on the languages of Central America (London, 1861).

II. South American. The Caribs (whose vernacular name was Calina or Galibi) once dwelt on the shores of Colombia, in Guiana, and on the Lesser Antilles. They speak about 30 dialects, which are very harmonious, but of a weak utterance, so that l and r, b and p, g and k are almost alike. Nearly all words end in vowels. Conjunctions conclude the sentence; animate and inanimate things have different forms of expression. Terminations of cases: dative va, accusative pona, ablative ta. Persons: masc. au, inara, fern, nucuya, niuro, I; nana, we; amoro, iburra, amenle, thou; hocoya, you; likia, he; moscan, they. Possessives: prefix e, my; a, thy; suffix o, his. Verbal pronouns: prefix s, 1st person; m, 2d; n, 3d; plural, nanan, etc. Of the principal Caribbean dialects, the Chaymas is spoken in Cumana. The Tamanaca has more verbs obtained by means of prefixes than perhaps any other language; it lacks f, s, and g, has six conjugations, many tenses (a preterite of yesterday, another of two weeks ago, a third of six months and more ago), and forms for near, others for distant objects; the auxiliary of the passive is uocciri, to be; brother and sister are distinguished as to age, as in Magyar and other Urale Altaic tongues.

The Arrawak, on the banks of the Berbice and Surinam, has many remarkable peculiarities, such as the formation of the passive voice by changing the final n of the infinitive active into hun, and many prefixes and suffixes. Caribbean grammars were published by Fathers Tauste, Ruiz Blanco, R. R. Breton, and Gilj, and dictionaries by the first and last named (1665-'7), and an anonymous one (Paris, 1763). Some writers represent the Caribbean language as a branch of the Guarani, which they divide into the southern or Guarani proper, the middle or Tupi of Brazil, from the island of Santa Catarina to the mouths of the Amazon, and the northern or Caribbean. - The following seven languages are worth notice, viz.: 1. That of the Mozcas (Muyscas), who before the advent of Europeans inhabited the table land of Bogota, and who in consequence of a culture higher than that of their neighbors extended their idiom among them. It once prevailed in the city of Bogota, but is now extinct. It counted by 20, had a negative conjugation, and many excellent pecularities; it lacked d and z, and had an indistinct l. 2. Of the Saypures, on the upper Orinoco. 3. Of the Salivis. between the Meta and Guaviare, afflu-ents of the Orinoco, and in the Venezuelan prov-ince of Casanare; full of nasal sounds. 4. Of the Ottomacas, between the Apure and Sina-rucu, spoken with the utmost rapidity. 5. Of the Yaruras, between the Meta and the Casanare; it lacks s, abounds in the Spanish aspirate j, and uses the substantive verb as auxiliary of all others. 6. Of the Betois, on the Casanare, without p. 7. Of the Mainas, in the province of that name, differing from its neighbors.