Editing Uto-Aztecan languages (section)

{{Short description|North American language family}}
{{Infobox language family
| name          = Uto-Aztecan
| region        = [[Western United States]], [[Mexico]]
| familycolor   = Uto-Aztecan
| family        = One of the world's primary [[language families]]
| protoname     = [[Proto-Uto-Aztecan language|Proto-Uto-Aztecan]]
| child1        = [[Cahitan languages|Cahitan]]
| child2        = [[Corachol languages|Corachol]]
| child3        = [[Cupan languages|Cupan]] {{extinct}}
| child4        = ''[[Hopi language|Hopi]]''
| child5        = [[Nahuan languages|Nahuan]]
| child6        = [[Numic languages|Numic]]
| child7        = ''[[Opata language|Opata]]'' {{extinct}}
| child8        = [[Piman languages|Piman]]
| child9        = [[Serran languages|Serran]] {{extinct}}
| child10       = [[Tarahumaran languages|Tarahumaran]]
| child11       = ''[[Tübatulabal language|Tübatulabal]]'' {{extinct}}
| iso5          = azc
| glotto        = utoa1244
| glottorefname = Uto-Aztecan
| map           = Uto-Aztecan map.svg
| mapcaption    = Pre-contact distribution of Uto-Aztecan languages
| ancestor      = 
| glottoname    = 
| notes         = 
| map2          = Uto_Aztecan_in_Mexico_(current)_map_(colors_adjusted).svg
| mapcaption2   = Current extent of Uto-Aztecan languages in Mexico
| speakers      = 1,900,412
| date          = 2014
}}

The '''Uto-Aztecan{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˌ|j|uː|t|oʊ|.|æ|z|ˈ|t|ɛ|k|ə|n}} {{respell|YOO|toh|_|az|TEK|ən}}}} languages'''{{efn|or '''Uto-Aztekan languages''' or (rarely in English) '''Uto-Nahuatl'''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nahuatl Family|url=https://mexico.sil.org/language_culture/aztec|access-date=16 October 2020 |website=SIL International}}</ref>}} are a [[Language family|family]] of [[indigenous languages of the Americas|native American languages]], consisting of over thirty languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the [[Western United States]] and [[Mexico]]. The name of the language family reflects the common ancestry of the [[Colorado River Numic language|Ute language]] of [[Utah]] and the [[Nahuan languages]] (also known as Aztecan) of Mexico.

The Uto-Aztecan language family is one of the largest linguistic families in the Americas in terms of number of speakers, number of languages, and geographic extension.{{sfn|Caballero|2011}} The northernmost Uto-Aztecan language is [[Shoshoni language|Shoshoni]], which is spoken as far north as [[Salmon, Idaho]], while the southernmost is the [[Nawat language]] of [[El Salvador]] and [[Nicaragua]].<ref name="náwat sabores">{{cite journal |date=2013 |first=Rick |last=Mc Callister |periodical=Revista Caratula |title=Nawat – and not Nahuatl. Central American Nawat and its flavors: Nawat pipil and Nawat nicarao |url=https://www.caratula.net/nawat-y-no-nahuatl-el-nawat-centroamericano-y-sus-sabores-nawat-pipil-y-nawat-nicarao/}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref name="lenguas Gran Nicoya">{{cite journal |date=1994 |first=Adolfo |last=Constenla Umaña |pages=191–208 |periodical=Revista Vínculos |publisher=Museo Nacional de Costa Rica |title=Las lenguas de la Gran Nicoya |volume=18–19}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Nicarao|title= Nicarao}}</ref> ''[[Ethnologue]]'' gives the total number of languages in the family as 61, and the total number of speakers as 1,900,412.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/statistics/family|title=Summary by language family|access-date=July 2, 2014|author=Ethnologue|publisher=SIL International|date=2014}}</ref> Speakers of [[Nahuatl]] languages account for over 85% of these.

The internal classification of the family often divides it into two branches: a northern branch including all the languages of the US and a southern branch including all the languages of Mexico, although it is still being discussed whether this is best understood as a genetic classification or as a geographical one. Below this level of classification the main branches are well accepted: [[Numic languages|Numic]] (including languages such as [[Comanche language|Comanche]] and [[Shoshoni language|Shoshoni]]) and the Californian languages (formerly known as the [[Takic languages|Takic]] group, including [[Cahuilla language|Cahuilla]] and [[Luiseño language|Luiseño]]) account for most of the Northern languages. [[Hopi language|Hopi]] and [[Tübatulabal language|Tübatulabal]] are languages outside those groups. The Southern languages are divided into the [[Tepiman languages]] (including [[Oʼodham language|Oʼodham]] and [[Tepehuán language|Tepehuán]]), the [[Tarahumaran languages]] (including [[Tarahumara language|Raramuri]] and [[Guarijio language|Guarijio]]), the [[Cahitan languages]] (including [[Yaqui language|Yaqui]] and [[Mayo language|Mayo]]), the [[Coracholan languages]] (including [[Cora language|Cora]] and [[Huichol language|Huichol]]), and the [[Nahuan languages]].

The homeland of the Uto-Aztecan languages is generally considered to have been in the [[Southwestern United States]] or possibly Northwestern Mexico. An alternative theory has proposed the possibility that the language family originated in southern Mexico, within the [[Mesoamerican language area]], but this has not been generally considered convincing.