Ngu he Mixe–Zoque la mot ngu he gom nhung thu tieng đuoc noi o trong va quanh eo đat Tehuantepec, Mexico. Chinh phu Mexico cong nhan ba ngon ngu Mixe–Zoque: Mixe (ayook) voi 188.000 nguoi noi, Zoque (o'de put) voi 88.000 nguoi noi, va Popoluca (ma thuc ra la ten goi chung cho nhung ngon ngu Mixe va Zoque nho khac nhau) voi 69.000 nguoi noi. Tren thuc te, su đa dang ben trong cua he la kha lon: Ethnologue liet ke đen 17 ngon ngu khac nhau, con he thong phan loai cua Wichmann (1995) xac đinh 12 ngon ngu va 11 "phuong ngu". Co mot ngon ngu tuyet chung hien đuoc xep vao he Mixe–Zoque la tieng Tapachultec, tung co mat o vung bo bien đong nam Chiapas.


Lich su Ve lich su, he Mixe–Zoque tung phan bo rong hon nhieu so voi ngay nay, lan đen tan bo Thai Binh Duong cua Guatemala (tuc vung Soconusco). Terrence Kaufman va Lyle Campbell lap luan (dua tren mot so tu muon pho bien trong cac ngon ngu Trung Bo chau My) rang nhieu kha nang nguoi Olmec, chu nhan cua nen van hoa noi troi đau tien cua Trung Bo chau My, noi ngon ngu Mixe–Zoque. Kaufman va John Justeson cung cho biet rang ho đa giai dich đuoc mot phan chu Epi-Olmec tren La Mojarra Stela 1, dua tren quan điem cua ho rang ngon ngu tren ban khac la mot thu tieng Mixe–Zoque co.
Ca hai đieu tren đeu bi phan bac: Michael D. Coe va David Stuart cho rang phan con sot lai cua nhung ban khac Epi-Olmec it oi la chua đu đe dung len co so cho qua trinh giai dich. Them nua, khi ho ap dung phuong phap giai dich cua Kaufman va Justeson vao nhung ban khac Epi-Olmec khac thi chang thu đuoc thu gi co the hieu noi ca. Wichmann (1995) neu bat len rang mot so tu muon goc Mixe–Zoque trong nhung ngon ngu Trung Bo chau My khac thuc ra chi co goc Zoque (vang mat trong nhanh Mixe), đieu nay nhat đinh phai đay thoi điem muon lui ra sau thoi ky ngon ngu Mixe–Zoque nguyen thuy - luc ma van minh Olmec o đinh cao. Tuy vay, sau đo, cac hoc gia xac đinh thoi điem hai nhanh Mixe va Zoque tach nhau ra la som hon so voi suy nghi ban đau cua ho; do vay, lap luan cua Wichmann tro nen kem thuyet phuc hon ban đau.
Kaufman (2001), lai dua tren co so tu muon Mixe–Zoque trong ngon ngu lan can, đe xuat rang tung co mot ngon ngu Mixe–Zoque hien dien tai Teotihuacan, đong thoi cho rang ngu he Mixe–Zoque đa đong vai tro lan rong mot vai đac điem ngon ngu ma co the coi la "đac trung" cho cac ngon ngu Trung Bo chau My.
Ngu he Mixe–Zoque hien khong đuoc coi la co quan he phat sinh voi ngu he nao, du vao đau the ki XX Edward Sapir gop no vao sieu he Penuti cua ong; gan đay hon, co đe xuat ve mot moi quan he voi ngu he Totonac, tao nen lien he Toto-Zoque.


Phan loai = Wichmann (1995) =
He thong phan loai trong hinh sau la cua Søren Wichmann (1995).


= Kaufman & Justeson (2000) =
He thong phan loai sau la cua Kaufman & Justeson (2000), do Zavala (2000) cong bo. Chu in nghieng la ten ngon ngu con.

Mixe-Zoque
Mixe
Tapachultec
Olutec
Mixe "loi"
Sayultec
(tach nhanh)
Mixe đat thap
Mixe đat cao
Zoque
Zoque Vinh
Zoque Soteapan (Sierra Popoluca)
(tach nhanh)
Zoque Texistepec
Zoque Ayapanec
Zoque
Zoque Chiapas
Zoque Oaxaca


Ngu am He thong am vi cua ngon ngu Mixe–Zoque nguyen thuy do Wichmann (1995) phuc dung co the xem la kha đon gian, nhung nhieu ngon ngu con đa bien đoi he thong ban đau nay: mot so phat trien mot he thong nguyen am kha phuc tap, mot so lai nay sinh su phan biet giua phu am tac fortis va lenis.
Du am canh luoi /l/ co mat o vai ngon ngu, nhieu kha nang no co nguon goc tuong thanh.

*ɨ *ɨː cung đuoc phuc dung la *ə *əː.


= Am tiet =
Ngon ngu Mixe–Zoque nguyen thuy noi bat voi cau truc loi am tiet ma co the tao nen tu viec ket hop nguyen am, cong voi am tac thanh hau hay am /h/. Nhung cum phu am cuoi am tiet phuc tap đien hinh cho cac ngon ngu con cung co the đuoc phuc dung nguoc ve ngon ngu me.
Loi am tiet o ngon ngu Mixe–Zoque nguyen thuy co the la:

V – nguyen am ngan
V' – nguyen am ngan voi am tac thanh hau theo sau
VV – nguyen am dai
V'V – nguyen am dai voi am tac thanh hau chen giua
VV' – nguyen am dai voi am tac thanh hau theo sau
Vh – nguyen am ngan cong h


Chu thich Tai lieu Campbell, L., and T. Kaufman (1976), "A Linguistic Look at the Olmecs", American Antiquity, 41 pp. 80–89.
Justeson, John S., and Kaufman, Terrence, (1997),"A Newly Discovered Column in the Hieroglyphic Text on La Mojarra Stela 1: a Test of the Epi-Olmec Decipherment", Science, 07/11/97, Vol. 277 Issue 5323, p. 207.
Justeson, John S., and Kaufman, Terrence (2001) Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing and Texts Luu tru ngay 25 thang 5 nam 2011 tai Wayback Machine.
Kaufman, Terrence, (2001) Nawa linguistic prehistory, published at website of the Mesoamerican Language Documentation Project Luu tru ngay 3 thang 3 nam 2016 tai Wayback Machine
Wichmann, Søren (1995). The Relationship Among the Mixe–Zoquean Languages of Mexico. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. ISBN 0-87480-487-6.
Wichmann, Søren (1998). "A conservative look at diffusion involving Mixe–Zoquean languages". Trong Roger Blench and Matthew Spriggs (bien tap). Archaeology and Language, vol. II: Correlating archaeological and linguistic hypotheses. One World Archaeology series, no. 29. Luan Đon va New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-11761-5. OCLC 35673530.
Brigham Young University press release on behalf of Brigham Young University archaeologist Stephen Houston and Yale University professor emeritus Michael Coe disputing Justeson/Kaufman findings.


Lien ket ngoai Mixe–Zoque language family