The Location

Totonac-Tepehua languages are spoken in an area of East-Central Mexico encompassing parts of the states of Veracruz and Puebla, and spilling over into the neighbouring state of Hidalgo. Historically, the area was known as Totonacapan and corresponds to the territory of the Totonac Empire, which at its height constructed the impressive pre-Columbian city of El Tajin. The Totonacs themselves are divided between Lowland (speakers of Misantla and Papantla Totonac) and Highland cultures, the latter occupying the Northern Sierra of Puebla and the adjacent foothills of Veracruz.

Upper Necaxa Totonac is spoken by about 3,400 people in the valley of the Necaxa River due east and a little south of Xicotepec de Juarez, Puebla, a two hour bus ride (mostly down) on winding mountain roads. The largest centre of the language is Chicontla which has about 5,000 people, not all of whom speak the language. The next biggest village, and the first you come to on the road, is Patla, which has around 1,600 people; the language is doing a bit better here as Chicontla has become a centre of trade and has attracted more outsiders. A few hundred speakers also live in Cacahuatlán and a few more in San Pedro Tlaolantongo. There are some notable dialect differences even among these four villages, and speakers readily identify each other's origins based on particular lexical choices and variant pronunciations. Cacahuatlán is said to have been settled by people from Patla and so their speech is more Pateco, while San Pedro has been influenced other Totonacan languages to the east and south. The region suffered from severe flooding in October 1999 which devastated large parts of the four Upper Necaxa communities.