Mayan languages

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Mayan languages constitute a language family of related languages which are spoken in Mesoamerica, from southeastern Mexico to northern Central America, and as far south as Honduras. As a group of related languages, their collective origins can be reconstructed over at least some 5000 years of pre-Columbian habitation in the region. Although Spanish is an official language of the region's present-day countries (except for Belize, where English is official), many Mayan languages are still spoken as a primary or secondary language by more than 3 million indigenous Maya. As part of the 1996 Peace Accords, Guatemala recognized 21 Mayan languages by name.[1]

In pre-Columbian times, several forms and regional variants of Mayan languages were reflected in the writing system adopted and developed by peoples of the Maya civilization. Particularly from the period of Mesoamerican chronology known as the Classic period (c. 250-900 AD) and up to as late as the Spanish Conquest, this logosyllabic script was written on buildings, monuments, pottery and bark-paper codices.

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Note on terminology

In the field of linguistic studies, it has become conventional to use the form Mayan when referring to the languages, or an aspect of the language. In other academic fields, the form Maya is the preferred usage, serving both as a singular and plural noun, and for the adjectival form.

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Overview

In the Guatemalan highlands the Mayan language with the largest population, K'iche' (earlier spelled Quiché), is spoken by more than two million speakers (Ethnologue 2004). This language is the language in which the famous Maya mythological document the Popol Wuj was written. It is centered around the towns Chichicastenango and Quetzaltenango, and in the Cuchumatán Highlands. The K'iche' culture was at its pinnacle at the time of the Spanish conquest.

The most commonly spoken Maya language in Mexico is called Yucatec Maya by linguists but known simply as Maya to its speakers. It is currently spoken by approximately 900,000 people in the Yucatan Peninsula (Ethnologue 2004). It has a rich literature through the Spanish Colonial era, and remains common as the first language in rural areas in Yucatan today, where in many towns even Yucatecans of Spanish ancestry have a working knowledge of the tongue.

Another historically important Mayan language is Chol, formerly widespread, but only spoken today in pockets in Chiapas and Guatemala. A closely related language, Chorti, is spoken in a region around the boundaries of the nations of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. These particular languages are believed to be the most conservative in vocabulary and phonology, and are closely related to the language of the inscriptions of the ancient sites of the Classic era Central Lowlands.

The Classic Maya language is quite closely related to modern Chol and Yucatec, and the split between these two languages may be observed in Maya inscriptions.

In the Highlands of Guatemala are the Quichéan-Mamean Maya languages and dialects, including Quiché proper, Cakchiquel, K'ekchi, Tz'utujil, Poqomam, and Mam. In the western highlands around Huehuetenango, Jacaltec is spoken.

The Huastec language, spoken in east-central Mexico, is part of the Mayan language family, although it is distant both linguistically and geographically from the rest of the language family.

Poqomchi’ language is spoken in Purulhá, Baja Verapaz, and in the following municipalities of Alta Verapaz: Santa Cruz Verapaz, San Cristóbal Verapaz, Tactic, Tamahú and Tucurú.

Awakateko language is native only to 20,000 inhabitants of central Aguacatán, a municipality in the Department of Huehuetenango. It is also spoken by some immigrant Guatemalan households in Tuscarawas County, Ohio.

Sikapense language is spoken in Sipacapa, San Marcos (department).

Uspanteko language is native only in municipio Uspantán, in the department El Quiché.

Achi is spoken in Cubulco and Rabinal, two municipios of Baja Verapaz. Achi is one of Guatemala's 22 official languages. Linguist Raymond G. Gordon, Jr., considers the dialects spoken in Cubulco and Rabinal to be distinct languages, two of the eight languages of the Quiche-Achi family.[2]

Jakalteko language is also called Popti.[3] It is spoken in the following municipalities of Huehuetenango: Jacaltenango, La Democracia, Concepción, San Antonio Huista, Santa Ana Huista and in parts of Nentón. Gordon recognizes Eastern and Western dialects of Jakalteko.[4]

Akateko language is spoken in the following municipalities of Huehuetenango: San Miguel Acatán and San Rafael La Independencia.

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Language families

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Relation to Mesoamerican writing

The pre-Columbian Maya civilization developed and used an intricate and versatile writing system which, out of the various historical Mesoamerican scripts known, displays the highest degree of correspondence to a spoken language. Earlier-established civilizations to the west and north of the Maya homelands also had scripts which are recorded in surviving inscriptions, such as those of the Zapotec, Olmec, as well as the Zoque-speaking peoples of the southern Veracruz - western Chiapas area. There is however insufficent available evidence to demonstrate whether these earlier scripts were also able to fully record all, or only some, aspects of their languages (or even to be sure which language they are associated with). It is generally agreed that the Maya writing system was adopted from one or more of these preceding versions, many references (such as Schele & Freidel, 1990; Soustelle, 1984) identifying the Olmec script as the most likely precursor. The spoken language of the Olmec is unknown, and its relationship to early Maya spoken languages is still unclear.

The Maya writing system, known generally as Maya hieroglyphics, has however been confirmed as a fully-functioning writing system, in which it was possible to unambiguously express any statement of the spoken language. The script is a type best classified as logosyllabic, whose symbols (glyphs, or more formally graphemes) include both logograms and syllables. The script contains within it a complete syllabary (although not all possible syllables have been identified so far), and a Maya scribe could write an expression completely phonetically using these syllables. In practice however, almost all inscriptions of any length were written using a combination of logograms and syllabic signs.

Of the various Mayan languages, two major ones at least have been securely identified in the script, and at least one other is likely. An 'archaic' form known as Classic Maya appears predominantly, particularly in the Classic-era inscriptions of the southern and central lowland areas. This language is most closely related to the Cholan branch of the language family, whose modern-day descendants include Ch'ol, Chorti and Chontal. Inscriptions in an early Yucatecan language (antecedent to the prevalent surviving Yucatec language) are also known or proposed, particularly from the Yucatan peninsula region and from a later period; three of the four extant Maya codices are based on Yucatec. It has also been surmised that some inscriptions found in the Chiapas region are in a Tzeltalan tongue, whose modern forms are Tzeltal and Tzotzil. Apart from these, regional variations and dialects are also presumed to have been used, but so far not securely identified.

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See also

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External links

cs:Mayské jazyky da:Maya (sprog) es:Idioma maya fr:Langues mayas it:Lingua maya ja:マヤ語族 nl:Mayatalen sk:Mayské jazyky sv:Mayaspråk zh:馬雅語族

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