Cholan languages

E1037975

branch of Mayan languages language group

Cholan languages are a branch of the Mayan language family spoken historically and presently in parts of southern Mexico and Central America, including by the Chol people.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Cholan languages canonical	3
Eastern Cholan languages	1
Western Cholan languages	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T13377214 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Cholan languages
Context triple: [Chol people, languageSubgroup, Cholan languages]

A. Chicham languages
The Chicham languages are a small family of closely related indigenous languages spoken by various Jivaroan peoples of the Amazonian regions of Ecuador and Peru.
B. Thagichu languages
The Thagichu languages are a subgroup of closely related Bantu languages of central Kenya that include Kikuyu and its nearest linguistic relatives.
C. Chamic languages
The Chamic languages are a branch of the Austronesian language family spoken primarily in mainland Southeast Asia and parts of Indonesia, notable for heavy contact influence from neighboring Austroasiatic and Tai-Kadai languages.
D. Chimakuan languages
The Chimakuan languages are a small family of now-extinct Indigenous languages once spoken in the Pacific Northwest of North America, particularly on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.
E. Chimuan languages
The Chimuan languages are an extinct group of pre-Columbian languages once spoken along the northern coast of Peru, most notably associated with the Chimú civilization.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Cholan languages
Target entity description: Cholan languages are a branch of the Mayan language family spoken historically and presently in parts of southern Mexico and Central America, including by the Chol people.

A. Chicham languages
The Chicham languages are a small family of closely related indigenous languages spoken by various Jivaroan peoples of the Amazonian regions of Ecuador and Peru.
B. Thagichu languages
The Thagichu languages are a subgroup of closely related Bantu languages of central Kenya that include Kikuyu and its nearest linguistic relatives.
C. Chamic languages
The Chamic languages are a branch of the Austronesian language family spoken primarily in mainland Southeast Asia and parts of Indonesia, notable for heavy contact influence from neighboring Austroasiatic and Tai-Kadai languages.
D. Chimakuan languages
The Chimakuan languages are a small family of now-extinct Indigenous languages once spoken in the Pacific Northwest of North America, particularly on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.
E. Chimuan languages
The Chimuan languages are an extinct group of pre-Columbian languages once spoken along the northern coast of Peru, most notably associated with the Chimú civilization.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	branch of Mayan languages ⓘ language group ⓘ
arealGrouping	Mesoamerican languages ⓘ
associatedEthnicGroup	Chol people ⓘ Chontal people of Tabasco ⓘ linked to: Chontal of Tabasco Chʼortiʼ people ⓘ
closelyRelatedTo	Cholan–Tzeltalan languages ⓘ linked to: Chʼolan–Tseltalan languages
geographicDistribution	lowland Maya area ⓘ
glottologClassification	Cholan branch of Mayan ⓘ
hasReconstructedAncestor	Proto-Cholan ⓘ Proto-Cholan–Tzeltalan ⓘ linked to: Chʼolan–Tseltalan languages
hasSubgroup	Eastern Cholan languages ⓘ linked to: Cholan languages Western Cholan languages ⓘ linked to: Cholan languages
historicalImportance	language of Classic Maya civilization ⓘ
historicallySpokenIn	Central America ⓘ southern Mexico ⓘ
includesLanguage	Chol language ⓘ Choltiʼ language ⓘ Chontal of Tabasco ⓘ Chʼortiʼ language ⓘ Classic Cholan ⓘ Classic Maya language ⓘ linked to: Classical Maya language
ISOClassification	part of ISO 639-3 Chol, Chʼortiʼ, Chontal codes ⓘ
languageFamily	Mayan ⓘ
morphologicalFeature	ergative–absolutive alignment ⓘ head-marking morphology ⓘ
partOf	Mayan language family ⓘ
phonologicalFeature	contrastive glottalization ⓘ vowel length distinctions ⓘ
region	Mesoamerica ⓘ
relevance	key to decipherment of Maya hieroglyphs ⓘ
spokenIn	Central America ⓘ Chiapas ⓘ Guatemala ⓘ Tabasco ⓘ southern Mexico ⓘ
status	some languages endangered ⓘ some languages extinct ⓘ some languages still spoken ⓘ
studiedInField	Mayan linguistics ⓘ
subclassOf	Mayan languages ⓘ
timeDepth	at least 2000 years ⓘ
typology	agglutinative language ⓘ
usedIn	Classic Maya inscriptions ⓘ linked to: Maya epigraphy
wordOrder	verb–object–subject ⓘ verb–subject–object ⓘ
writingSystem	Maya script ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Chol people → languageSubgroup → Cholan languages ⓘ

Tzeltalan languages → relatedTo → Cholan languages ⓘ

Proto-Mayan → ancestorOf → Cholan languages ⓘ

Cholan languages → hasSubgroup → Western Cholan languages ⓘ

linked to: Cholan languages

Cholan languages → hasSubgroup → Eastern Cholan languages ⓘ