page_title: Huave language
section_title: Dialects
hierarchical_section_title: Huave language / Dialects
context_page_description: Huave is a language isolate spoken by the indigenous Huave people on the Pacific coast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The language is spoken in four villages on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in the southeast of the state, by around 18,000 people.
context_section_description: Huave is spoken in the four coastal towns of San Francisco del Mar, San Dionisio del Mar, San Mateo del Mar and Santa Catarina del Mar. The most vibrant speech community is in San Mateo del Mar which was fairly isolated until recently. Negative speakers' attitudes towards their language and a strong social pressure from the dominant Spanish language are the main reasons for the endangerment of Huave.
  Although considered separate languages by SIL according to the needs of literacy materials, Campbell (1997) considers them dialects of a single language.  INALI distinguishes two varieties, Eastern (Dionisio and Francisco) and Western (Mateo and Maria).
caption: Location of the four Huave speaking towns within the state of Oaxaca
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