Why Last Two Speakers of Obscure Mexican Language Don't Talk to Each Other Avedis Hadjian - IBTimes
go to original December 14, 2013

AYAPA, Mexico - Don Manuel and Don Chilo, the last fluent speakers of Ayapaneco – a native Mexican language – are not on speaking terms. For them, love lost between neighbors has proved a more formidable communication barrier than obscure linguistics. Don Manuel says his neighbor is a bitter man; Don Chilo hints, with a wink, that Manuel resents sharing the limelight. To make matters worse, Don Manuel is hard of hearing and Don Chilo tends to speak in barely audible mumbles.

The legend of Don Manuel and Don Chilo has somehow leaked out well beyond the little pueblo in which they live, and locals are now used to directing foreign visitors to one house or the other on either side of the square in this town in the Mexican state of Tabasco. The Tower of Babel would dwarf the bell tower of Ayapa’s church, yet local tales are aware of the biblical echoes of confounded speech and brotherly feuds. Both men vehemently deny to others that they refuse to talk to one another. But no one has heard them exchange conversation in quite some time, and this reporter failed to persuade either to pay a visit to the other fellow Ayapaneco-speaker for a little chat.

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