the villages where they are commonly spoken (with the exception of Puebla Mazatec): Chiquihuitlán Mazatec (2500 speakers in San Juan Chiquihuitlán. Quite divergent from other varieties.) Central Huautla Mazatec (50,000 speakers. The prestige variety of Mazatec, spoken in Huautla de Jiménez). Ayautla Mazatec (3500 speakers in San Bartolome Ayautla. Quite similar to Huautla.) Mazatlán Mazatec (13,000 speakers in Mazatlán and surrounding villages. Somewhat similar to Huautla.) Eloxochitlán Mazatec ( or Jerónimo Mazatec (34,000 speakers in San Jerónimo Tecóatl, San Lucas Zoquiapan, Santa Cruz Acatepec, San Antonio Eloxochitlán, and many other villages. Somewhat similar to Huautla.) Ixcatlán Mazatec (11,000 speakers in San Pedro Ixcatlán, Chichicazapa, and Nuevo Ixcatlán. Somewhat similar to Huautla.) Jalapa Mazatec (16,000 speakers in San Felipe Jalapa de Díaz. Somewhat similar to Huautla.) Soyaltepec Mazatec (23,000 speakers in San Maria Jacaltepec and San Miguel Soyaltepec. Somewhat similar to Huautla.) Puebla and Northeastern Mazatec (33,800 speakers in both Oaxaca and Puebla states.) Studies of mutual intelligibility between Mazatec-speaking communities revealed that most are relatively close but distinct enough that literacy programs must recognize local standards. The Huautla, Ayautla, and Mazatlán varieties are about 80% mutually intelligible; Tecóatl (Eloxochitlán), Jalapa, Ixcatlán, and Soyaltepec are more distant, at 70%+ intelligibility with Hautla or with each other. Chiquihuitlán is divergent. In 2020, there were 237,000 speakers of Mazatecan languages according to INEGI. Approximately 80% of the speakers know and use Spanish for some purposes. Many Mazatec children know little or no Spanish when they enter school. Dialect history The language is divided into many dialects, or varieties, some of which are not mutually intelligible. The western dialects spoken in Huautla de Jiménez, and San Mateo Huautla, Santa María Jiotes, Eloxochitlán, Tecóatl, Ayautla, and Coatzospan are often referred to as Highland Mazatec. The North Eastern dialects spoken in San Miguel Huautla, Jalapa de Díaz, Mazatlán de Flores, San Pedro Ixcatlán, and San Miguel Soyaltepec are referred to as Lowland Mazatec. The Highland and Lowland dialects differ by a number of sound changes shared by each of the groups, particularly sound changes affecting the proto-Mazatecan phoneme . Also, the high dialects of Huautla and Jiotes used "sh", along with the low dialects of San Miguel, Jalapa, and Ixatlán. The use of "sh" in both dialects corresponded with "ch," which was used in the high dialects of Tecoatl, Eloxochitlan, San Mateo, and the low dialects of Mazatlan and Soyaltepec. Linguists believe that "Sh" and "ch"