Linguists identify mysterious tongue after 6 months of trying

Arizona Republic University of Texas linguists have discovered the language of a 23-year-old immigrant who has sat in jail while language experts for months tried to communicate with him. Octavio Luis Perez, accused of kidnapping and raping a 17-year-old girl in April in Mesa, speaks Northern Mam, court documents indicate. The ancient language is a Mayan dialect spoken by a few thousand people in Mexico and Guatemala, according to language experts.