Terrence Kaufman

The Xinkan language family is the only pre-colonial, non-Mayan language group in Mesoamerica. This is a truly multilingual dictionary, offering forms, functions, and information in four Xinkan languages (Chiquimulilla, Guazacapán , Jumaytepeque, and Yupiltepeque), Spanish, and English, alongside brief grammar sketches in both English and Spanish. This dictionary will be useful for scholars of Mesoamerica and language learners, and an invaluable resource for the Xinkan community.

Ten years of research back up the bold new theory advanced by authors Thomason and Kaufman, who rescue the study of contact-induced language change from the neglect it has suffered in recent decades. The authors establish an important new framework for the historical analysis of all degrees of contact-induced language change.