Popoluca is a Nahuatl term for various indigenous peoples of southeastern Veracruz and Oaxaca. Many of them (about 30,000[1]) speak languages of the Mixe–Zoque family. Others speak the unrelated Mazatecan languages, in which case the name in English and Spanish is generally spelled Popoloca.
The Mixe–Zoque languages called Popoluca are,
Among the Oto-Manguean languages, there are,
The reason for the terms' widespread usage for naming indigenous languages is that they are derogatory words from the Nahuatl language, meaning "to speak unintelligibly" or "babble".[2] When the Spanish invaders asked their Nahuatl-speaking allies what language was spoken in a particular locality, the Nahuas would reply "popoloca" meaning in essence "not Nahuatl". The Nahuas used the term "popolōca" much in the same way the Greek used the term "barbaros", also meaning "gibberish", to refer to non-Greek speaking strangers.[3]
The name however stuck to many languages and has caused some confusion even among linguists working with Native American languages. This confusion prompted some kind of distinction between Popoluca languages and the spelling "Popoluca" with an "u" became used for certain Mixe–Zoque languages, while the spelling "Popoloca" with an "o" became used for certain languages of the Popolocan family of Oto-Manguean languages. Note that the name "Popolocan" is also used by linguists to refer to these languages, which include varieties of Mazatec. In Nicaragua, the Nahua-speaking Nicarao used the term "Popoluca" for the speakers of the Matagalpa language.[4] Although "Popoluca" and "Popoloca" are derogatory and confusing terms, they are still being used, even in academic literature and official publications of the Mexican government.[5]