Akatek language

Infobox language | name = Akateko | altname = Acateco | states = GuatemalaMexico | region = HuehuetenangoChiapas | ethnicity = 66,000 Akateko in Guatemala (2019 census) | speakers = in Guatemala | date = 2011 – 2019 census | ref = e24 | speakers2 = in Mexico (2020 census) | familycolor = American | fam1 = Mayan | fam2 = Qʼanjobalan–Chujean | fam3 = Qʼanjobalan | fam4 = Kanjobal–Jacaltec | minority = | iso3 = knj | glotto = west2635 | glottorefname = Akateko | notice = IPA | nativename = Kuti, q'anub'al | agency = Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala | script = Latin Akateko (Acateco) is a Mayan language spoken by the Akateko people primarily in the Huehuetenango Department, Guatemala in and around the municipalities of Concepción Huista, Nentón, San Miguel Acatán, San Rafael La Independencia and San Sebastián Coatán. A number of speakers also live in Chiapas, Mexico. It is a living language with 58,600 speakers in 1998, of which 48,500 live in Guatemala and the remaining in Mexico. Akateko stems from the Q'anjob'alan branch, making it closely related to Q’anjob’al and Chuj. Akateko was regarded as a dialect of the Qʼanjobʼal language until the 1970s, when linguists realized that it has a distinct grammar from that of Qʼanjobʼal. That it has been thought a dialect of Qʼanjobʼal is reflected in the many names Akateko has had through time. One of its primary names before it was named Akateko was Ti Western Qʼanjobʼal, but it has also been called Conob and various names including Qʼanjobʼal and the municipality where it is spoken. Akateko is closely related to the two Mayan languages, Qʼanjobʼal and Jakaltek. The three languages together form the Qʼanjobʼal-Jakaltek sub-branch, which together with the Mochoʼ language form the Qʼanjobʼalan sub-branch, which again, together with the Chujean languages, Chuj and Tojolabʼal, form the branch Qʼanjobalan–Chujean. It is believed that Qʼanjobʼal–Jakaltek split into Akateko, Qʼanjobʼal and Jakaltek some 500 to 1,500 years ago.