Usila is a Chinantec language of Mexico. It is most similar to Tlacoatzintepec Chinantec, with which it has 50% intelligibility (intelligibility in the reverse direction is 85%, presumably due to greater familiarity in that direction).[2]
Phonology
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Chinantec.png/200px-Chinantec.png)
Like other Chinantecan and Mazatec languages, Usila Chinantec is a tonal language noted for having whistled speech. Its tone system is unusually finely graded, however, with five register tones and four contour tones.[3]
References
- ^ Usila at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ "Chinantec, Usila | Ethnologue".
- ^ Edmondson, Jerold A. & Gregerson, Kenneth J. (1992). On Five-level Tone Systems. In Shin Ja J. Hwang & William R. Merrifield (Eds.), Language in Context: Essays for Robert E. Longacre (pp. 555-576). Dallas, TX: Summer Institute of Linguistics.