Mayan Languages Research Articles

Introduction to the special issue on the acquisition of Mesoamerican languages: The case of Mayan languages and Chatino sign language

Introduction to the special issue on the acquisition of Mesoamerican languages: The case of Mayan languages and Chatino sign language

Teaching the Mayan language through community language practices. An educational intervention Authors

Este estudio aborda una intervención educativa local para el mantenimiento y revitalización de la lengua maya, que surge de la tensión entre los modelos educativos oficiales y el desplazamiento de la lengua maya. Se propone un análisis de programas y estrategias para la enseñanza de lenguas indígenas, y se definen como fundamento de la intervención los modelos aditivos de mantenimiento y revitalización de la lengua (Feltes, 2017) y las prácticas lingüísticas socioculturales (Santos-Cano, 2015). La metodología utilizada fue la investigación-acción (Latorre, 2005), realizada a través de un enfoque cualitativo utilizando las siguientes técnicas: 1) observación participante y no participante, 2) entrevistas semiestructuradas, 3) análisis de documentos, y 4) triangulación de técnicas e investigadores para la recolección y análisis de los aprendizajes generados a través de la intervención. Los resultados indican una disposición y cambio de actitudes lingüísticas hacia el aprendizaje de la lengua maya, así como el desarrollo de incipientes habilidades comunicativas orales. Asimismo, se identificó la asociación de las prácticas comunicativas con contextos de la vida cotidiana de los estudiantes y el valor de la socialización generacional de la lengua maya (Chi-Canul, 2017) en espacios protegidos (Feltes, 2017).

Talking to children in Tsotsil Mayan: Interactional formats in child-directed communication across multigenerational caregivers

Research on the acquisition of Mayan languages has shown child-directed communication (CDC) to be low in frequency. Nevertheless, long-term linguistic-anthropological research with the Tsotsil Mayan in Southern Mexico has documented episodes in family life when children engage in interactional routines or interactional formats (IFs) with their multigenerational caregivers. These interactions are sequentially organized communicative acts (verbal and nonverbal) that call forth specific responses from the child in turn-taking episodes (e.g. muts’o la sate ‘close your eyes’, chibat, uto ‘say, good-bye’). This study analyzes IFs in four communicative events involving four children (11–17 months; M = 15) each from multigenerational families with a household average of 7.75 members. Three research questions are addressed: What types and functions of IFs characterize CDC experienced by Tsotsil children? How do IF types distribute across specific communicative events? How do IF types distribute across multigenerational caregivers? The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods. IFs were classified on the basis of their pragmatic function: directive, prompting, teasing, referential, regulatory, and evaluation. The six IF types and their relative frequencies reveal core language socialization practices among the Tsotsil Mayan of the study. Quantitative analysis makes clear a significant association between IFs and event, and IFs and caregivers’ CDC. A central finding is that non-parental input from multigenerational caregivers (i.e. grandmothers and sisters) is a more significant source of CDC than parental input.

The evidential BIN in the children’s environment of engagement: Reporting, evaluating, and engaging knowledge in Yucatec Maya

This article explores the role of the reportative BIN in Yucatec Maya language acquisition and socialization among children aged 4 years and above, focusing on their interactions during pretend play. Building upon prior research on caregivers’ strategic use of BIN, the study aims to elucidate the nuanced meanings and functions of the reportative in children’s language. Through a theoretical framework rooted in the theory of engagement, the article posits that BIN serves not only as a linguistic form but also as an interactive device conveying contextual and imaginative speech. Divided into six sections, the article progresses from theoretical underpinnings to interpreting children’s language in pretend play. By analyzing spontaneous speech data, the study uncovers novel insights into the dynamic nature of reportatives, emphasizing the creative ways children employ BIN to engage in games. The findings contribute to a broader understanding of reportatives and underscore the dynamic nature of children’s language usage and development.

Prevalence of diabetes among Indigenous women in Guatemala: a retrospective chart review

ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to investigate the prevalence of diabetes in a clinical population of primarily Indigenous women in Guatemala.ResultsIn a retrospective chart review of a clinical program serving 13,643 primarily Indigenous women in Guatemala, crude diabetes prevalence was 8.3% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 7.8 to 8.7) and age-adjusted diabetes prevalence was 7.9% (95% CI: 7.3 to 8.5). Among those with diabetes, 37.9% (95% CI: 35.1 to 40.8) of women were undiagnosed. Diabetes prevalence rose significantly with increasing age and was significantly higher among women with obesity (risk ratio: 1.4 [95% CI: 1.1 to 1.8]) and among women least likely to be in poverty (risk ratio: 2.0 [95% CI: 1.5 to 2.6]). Diabetes prevalence was significantly lower among Indigenous women (risk ratio: 0.7 [95% CI: 0.6 to 0.9]) and among women who spoke Mayan languages rather than Spanish (risk ratio: 0.7 [95% CI: 0.6 to 0.9]). There was no significant difference in diabetes prevalence between women who lived in rural settings and women who lived in urban settings.

Competing constructions in Kaqchikel focus contexts

Abstract This study provides new data on the use of agent focus (AF) versus transitive constructions in Kaqchikel. This work follows up on a study done by Heaton et al. (Heaton, Raina, Kamil Deen & William O’Grady. 2016. An investigation of relativization in Kaqchikel Maya. Lingua 170. 35–46) which found that while questioning the subject of a transitive verb regularly requires the use of AF or an antipassive, relativizing the subject of a transitive verb does not. Present findings show that AF is only common in half of the six primary syntactic contexts that allow it, which is unexpected under the assumption that AF is a last resort strategy. I suggest that the differences between these syntactic contexts in Kaqchikel are related to the presence of a preverbal lexical NP element which is available to be interpreted as the agent. Comparative descriptive evidence is also compiled demonstrating that transitive verbs are possible in syntactic contexts that traditionally have been considered to require AF across Eastern Mayan languages.

Indigenous Latinx students and translanguaging: The possibilities and challenges of using K’iche’ in a kindergarten Spanish-English handwriting classroom

ABSTRACT Many Indigenous Latinx students in Spanish/English dual language programs in the US speak languages that are often not valued or taken advantage of in the process of learning Spanish and English. This participatory critical (collective) autoethnography explores the possibilities of handwriting lessons as a vehicle for the incorporation of K’iche’ (a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala) into the classroom. Findings reveal ways in which the activities helped to elevate the status of K’iche’ in the school and make students/families feel more valued, but also ways to improve the activities so that Indigenous Latinx families have a more central role.

Indexing Classic Mayan, Part 1

The Classic Mayan language was written for approximately 2,000 years, from 300 bce until around 1700 ce in the Colonial period, but there is a lack of information on how to index names in any ancient Mesoamerican language. This series of articles aims to remedy that situation. In order to set Classic Mayan in context, an overview of contemporaneous hieroglyphic scripts is provided, followed by an exploration of the development and use of Classic Mayan from the Late Preclassic onward. An examination of its orthography focuses on those aspects that can affect indexing, including the Maya numbering system and calendrics. A future article will consider naming conventions, marriage and kinship patterns, and examples of Late Classic period inscriptions. Finally, useful reference material for the indexer working on Maya-related manuscripts will be provided.

Using cognitive measures from linguistic relativity research to assess thinking in Yucatec Maya-Spanish bilingual children

This article uses cognitive measures previously developed within linguistic relativity research to explore the thinking patterns of Yucatec Maya-Spanish bilingual children in the Yucatan peninsula. These measures were designed to detect cognitive patterns associated with specific language patterns. Here, these measures are used to test whether 12 Yucatec Maya-Spanish bilingual children aged 9–11 years old differ cognitively from a similar sample of monolingual Maya children (nine Yucatec Maya-speaking and three Spanish-speaking). The study assesses cognitive associations for two language domains: number marking, a structure-based contrast, and spatial frames of reference, a usage-based contrast. For both number marking and spatial frames of reference, both bilingual and monolingual children provided cognitive responses more like Yucatec Maya monolingual speakers than like Spanish monolinguals. The study also assessed whether the results were affected by factors that have emerged in other studies of bilingual cognition: language status, social community, and language of assessment (‘language mode’). For number marking, there was an effect of the language of assessment, but not of social community or language status. For spatial frames of reference, there were effects of social community and language status but not of the language of assessment. Overall, the results suggest that Yucatec Maya's cognitive habits may continue for some time during the shift from Yucatec Maya monolingualism to bilingualism but with some sensitivity to these other factors. This study offers a positive outlook for efforts to maintain and revitalize the Yucatec Maya language in the Yucatan peninsula.

A prosodic account of complex predicate acquisition in Mam: A Mayan language

The Mayan language Mam uses complex predicates to express events. Complex predicates map multiple semantic elements onto a single word, and consequently have a blend of lexical and phrasal features. The chameleon-like nature of complex predicates provides a window on children’s ability to express phrasal combinations at the one-word stage of language development. The ubiquity of complex predicates in the adult language insures that children will produce complex predicates as some of their first words. The verb complex in Mam has obligatory inflections for aspect, person, and to a degree direction. The inflections vary in degree of attachment between syllable segments, affixes, and clitics. Inflections with vowels are phonologically free, while inflections without vowels attach as either syllable segments or affixes. The Mam verb complex requires the addition of a phrasal layer to prosodic models of lexical acquisition. The paper used this extended version of prosodic theory to make five predictions for the acquisition of the verb complex. The paper analyzes production data for three children between 2;0 and 2;8 acquiring the northern variety of Mam spoken in San Ildefonso Ixtahuacán, Guatemala. The children’s production data for both the intransitive and transitive verb complexes support all five predictions to some degree. The children produced prefixes more frequently on vowel-initial stems than on consonant-initial stems, and they produced imperative suffixes more frequently than prefixes on consonant-initial stems. The children exhibited developmental differences and produced phrasal contractions that the prosodic theory did not predict. The results underline the need to integrate prosody into models of morphosyntactic development, and highlight the significance of complex predicates for theories of language acquisition.

The acquisition of directionals in Q’anjob’al

This article evaluates the acquisition of directionals in Q’anjob’al, a Western Mayan language of Guatemala. The data come from a longitudinal study of two Q’anjob’al monolingual children of Santa Eulalia, Huehuetenango, Guatemala: Xhuw (1;9–2;5) and Xhim (2;3–3;5). The results show how these children acquire the morphological distribution of motion verbs and directionals in Q’anjob’al. They produce directionals parallel to motion verbs. Xhuw produced more motion verbs than directionals, while Xhim produced more directionals than motion verbs. Despite the omission of tense/aspect and agreement in the verb complex, these children produce two types of suffixes that distinguish motion verbs from directionals. The children acquired three groups of directionals in the following order: DIR3 (teq ‘toward X’, toq ‘away from X’) > DIR2 (el ‘out’ aj ‘up’ ok ‘enter, in’ ek’ ‘pass’ ay ‘down’) > DIR1 (kan ‘stay’).

Type-shifting in headless relative clauses

Research on the (in)definiteness of bare nouns has developed various proposals regarding which type-shifters exist in human language and which principles are needed to govern their distribution (Carlson 1977; Partee 1987; Chierchia 1998; Dayal 2004; i.a.). At the same time, literature on headless relative clauses (HRCs), primarily focusing on free relatives (FRs) in Indo-European languages, has also developed type-shifting principles (Jacobson 1995; Caponigro 2003, 2004). The type-shifting principles from the FR literature, however, are fundamentally different than those found in proposals for bare nouns. Here, we present case studies from two Mayan languages which diverge from one another in the behavior of bare nouns, and which possess several different kinds of headless relative clauses. We show that “super-free relative clauses” (Caponigro et al. 2021; Caponigro 2022), which lack a wh-word, pattern in ways parallel to bare nouns in the respective languages. We also demonstrate that HRCs headed by a wh-word—i.e., FRs—diverge from bare nouns; they pattern similarly to one another across the languages under investigation, and in ways similar to what has been reported for FRs crosslinguistically. We provide evidence that there is a dedicated FR type-shifter (FR-ι) used as a post-syntactic mechanism to repair a type-mismatch at the CP level, building on work by Caponigro (2004). Our novel contribution is that this type-shifter is available regardless of the presence or absence of other type-shifters in a language. This paper adds new data to our understanding of the range and applicability of different definiteness-related type-shifters as well as captures certain typological tendencies regarding HRCs.

Indeterminate pronouns in Kaqchikel

Abstract This paper investigates the morphology, syntax, and semantics of five non-interrogative constructions that involve wh-expressions in Kaqchikel, a Mayan language of the K’ichean branch spoken in Guatemala. We focus on the properties of maximal free relative clauses, existential free relative clauses, ever free relative clauses, free choice items and negative indefinites. We show that the interpretive properties of these constructions are strikingly similar to those found in a number of unrelated languages.

Typological characterization of beekeepers in Campeche state, Mexico

Background: Beekeeping is a livestock activity that brings multiple benefits to humanity, in addition to its cultural value; therefore, it requires focused intervention within the framework of rural extension projects to optimize economic resources and capacities. Objective: To characterize the typology of the beekeepers that make up the honey production chain in the municipalities of Campeche, Calkiní, and Hopelchén in the State of Campeche. Methods: Surveys were applied to 220 beneficiary producers, stratified in terms of subsistence without market linkage (E1) and subsistence with market access (E2). Twenty social, economic, and technological variables were studied by main component and cluster analyses. Results: Five variables explain 65.81% of the variance: schooling, production experience, number of hives, yield/hive, and production per year. Four beekeeper profiles were identified. Type I includes beekeepers with 10 years of experience, production of 107.80 kg per year, and yield of 6.7 kg. Type II beekeepers have higher technological index, ten more years of productive experience, and completed basic education. Type III includes young beekeepers with completed high school and with the highest production of honey and yield and the same technological index as Type II. Type IV, elderly beekeepers with work logic more linked to the social and solidarity economy, all speaker of Mayan language with traditional organization schemes that obtain better yields per hive and honey production than Type I and II. Conclusions: This proposal can be used to typify producers from other regions in the context of Rural Extension Programs with a focused and differentiated vision in which development routes are required. Type III beekeepers could be the focus of Rural Extension Projects.

Willingness to pay for urban solid waste integral system in Semi-urban populations.

In Yucatan, the transition from rural to semi-urban communities has occurred mainly in the municipality seats; this transition comes with the problems of waste management. The municipalities oversee the Integral Urban SolidWaste Management (IUSWM); but in recent years, the public-private partnership for waste management has proved to be an effective strategy. There are few studies on the IUSWM in rural or semi-urban areas and the users’ willingness to pay, information that would help public policymakers to design adequate plans and programs for its management. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the socioeconomic factors associated with the willingness to pay for the IUSWM of users in semi-urban municipalities of Yucatan. A total of 1,144 interviews were conducted in 6 semi-urban localities in Yucatan, and the data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with a Tobit regression econometric model. 69.75% of the surveyed users declared that they were willing to pay an average of 17.65 Mexican pesos (0.85 U.S. dollars) for the integral urban solid waste management. The willingness to pay decreases when the Mayan language predominates among the member of the household, and when they have fewer tangible assets and rooms. There are cultural and social factors rooted in solid waste collection, this integrated system may be accompanied by other types of economic incentives to modify consumers’ behavior towards something more beneficial for the environment, such as the homes’ income.

Lexico-semantic stability in the anatomical domain in the Mayan language family

Abstract This paper deals with lexico-semantic stability, specifically in the anatomical domain. The main goal is to develop a method for measuring semantic polysemy and shift, in order to address: (1) the validity of standardized vocabulary lists (e.g., Swadesh 1950, 1952, 1955; Holman et al. 2008; Haspelmath & Tadmor 2009a, 2009b) for investigating cross-linguistic stability; and (2) the difference between basic and stable vocabulary (Ratliff 2006; Matisoff 2009), and its implications for studying remote relationships between language families, on the one hand, and subgroup differentiation within language families, on the other. To study these problems, a total of 50 etyma from the anatomical domain were selected from the Preliminary Etymological Mayan Database (Kaufman with Justeson 2003), and these were then classified employing the novel metric, and further analyzed by means of statistical methods. The results point to: (1) no specific correlation with the stability rankings of the Swadesh and Leipzig-Jakarta lists; (2) support for the “basicness” of etyma from the anatomical domain; (3) several significant relationships between stability and polysemy scores and independent variables relevant to the anatomical domain; (4) evidence of lexico-semantic stability score affinities between Mayan subgroups; and (5) evidence supporting the utility of polysemies to investigate subgrouping and language contact. The paper also offers conclusions and areas for further research.

Tracing Eastern Mayan Perfect ‐maχ: Outcomes of Direct Affix Borrowing in the Sacapulas Corridor

AbstractSeveral Eastern Mayan languages of central highland Guatemala have an innovative perfect participle suffix ‐maχ, whose distribution suggests that it diffused areally. This article describes the innovation of ‐maχ in Poqom and argues that it spread to other Mayan languages in a newly proposed contact area called the ‘Sacapulas Corridor’. I explore three case studies where the distribution of the perfect participle ‐maχ changed in the recipient language: functional change to a general passive in Uspantek, matter replication without pattern replication in Sakapultek and Sipakapense, and contact‐induced multiple exponence in Northern Mam. The diffusion of ‐maχ exemplifies how structural similarity and bilingualism between the source and recipient language can facilitate direct affix borrowing.

Vowel Deletion as Grammatically Controlled Gestural Overlap in Uspanteko

Abstract: Uspanteko is an endangered Mayan language spoken in Guatemala. Unstressed vowels in Uspanteko often delete, though deletion is variable within and across speakers. Deletion appears to be phonological: it is sensitive to foot structure, morphology, and certain phonotactics, and it occurs in slow, careful speech. But deletion also has characteristics more typical of a phonetic process: it is intertwined with a pattern of gradient vowel reduction and is insensitive to most phonotactics. Electroglottography data shows that even 'deleted' vowels may contribute voicing to [inline-graphic 01] intervals when flanked by voiceless consonants. This suggests that 'deleted' vowels are represented in the input to speech production, even when they are acoustically masked by articulatory overlap with adjacent segments. We conclude that vowel deletion is grammatically controlled gestural overlap, consistent with the claim that phonological representations encode information about the relative timing and coordination of articulatory gestures (e.g. Browman & Goldstein 1986, Gafos 2002). At a minimum, language-specific phonetic processes must have access to more fine-grained, abstract grammatical information than is usually assumed.

Ritual Relationships with Copal Incense

Copal, an aromatic tree resin, has long been harvested and offered as incense in Indigenous communities of Mesoamerica. In contemporary academic contexts copal and other non-human materials and entities are often conceived of through objectifying ontologies. However, metaphysical frameworks grounded in life forces such as teotl (Nahuatl) and ch’ulel (various Mayan languages) offer alternative insights to human relationships with other-than-human worlds. Copal can be traced temporally and spatially, across thousands of miles and millennia. Specifically, we can follow copal from Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica across the northern border of Mexico into contemporary rituals in Denver, Colorado where copal continues to burn in Danza ceremonies. Beyond these ritual spaces, copal also moves in neoliberal and new age contexts as a market commodity and is stored in museum collections as ‘artifact’. Centering Mesoamerican metaphysics offers a counternarrative to these versions of settler-colonial objectification. Ultimately, precolonial and decolonial kinship practices can inform reinterpretations and reimagining of copal in the processes of museum and market appropriation.

To Make Known in Order to Recognize: Schools as Vehicles for Constructing Identity for the Maya Peoples

Although the Guatemalan population is made up of 53% Indigenous peoples, there is a certain belief according to which Indigenous peoples are still currently associated with underdevelopment, inferiority, submission, and exploitation, causing the belief that, for many, being Mayan is not synonymous with identity, but with poverty, neglect, and inferiority. Through a biographical–naturalist study, we delve into how Guatemalan teachers experienced not only their Mayan being, but also how the construction of their identity was gestated in schools. After carrying out the data analysis process, we underline and describe how the Mayan culture, worldview, and language still constitutes a difficulty and an obstacle to the construction of the personal identity of Indigenous peoples in Guatemala. We describe the experience lived in monolingual and monoethnic schools in which not only is the Mayan culture not recognized, but the use of the language and its expression are prohibited. We review the repercussions that the actions of the political agendas have on the key of recognition, highlighting how, beyond the legislative indications, it is the involvement and personal actions of teachers that is making it possible to make known and recognize the Mayan culture.