Content deleted Content added
No edit summary Tags: Reverted Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
No edit summary Tags: Reverted Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
||
Line 8:
{{infobox language family
|name=Mayan
|region= [[Mesoamerica]]: Southern [[Mexico]]; [[Guatemala]]; [[Belize]];
|familycolor=American
|family = One of the world's primary [[language family|language families]]
Line 21:
|child5=[[Quichean languages|Quichean]]
|child6=[[Mamean languages|Mamean]]
|child7=[[Matagalpan languages|Matagalpan]]
|iso2=myn
|iso5=myn
Line 30 ⟶ 31:
The '''Mayan languages'''<ref group=notes>In [[linguistics]], it is conventional to use ''Mayan'' when referring to the languages, or an aspect of a language. In other academic fields, ''Maya'' is the preferred usage, serving as both a singular and plural [[noun]], and as the [[adjective|adjectival]] form.</ref> form a [[language family]] spoken in [[Mesoamerica]], both in the south of Mexico and northern [[Central America]]. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million [[Maya peoples|Maya people]], primarily in [[Guatemala]], [[Mexico]], [[Belize]], [[El Salvador]], [[Honduras]], and [[Nicaragua]]. In 1996, Guatemala formally recognized 21 Mayan languages by name,{{sfn|Spence|Dye|Worby|de Leon-Escribano|1998}}<ref group=notes>Achiʼ is counted as a variant of Kʼicheʼ by the Guatemalan government.</ref> and Mexico [[Languages of Mexico|recognizes]] eight within its territory.
The Mayan language family is one of the best-documented and most studied in the [[Americas]].<ref name="Campbell 1997, p.165">{{harvtxt|Campbell |1997|p=165}}</ref> Modern Mayan languages descend from the [[Proto-Mayan language]], thought to have been spoken at least 5,000 years ago; it has been partially [[historical linguistics|reconstructed]] using the [[comparative method (linguistics)|comparative method]]. The proto-Mayan language diversified into at least six different branches: the [[Huastecan languages|Huastecan]], [[Kʼicheʼ language|Quichean]], [[Yucatecan languages|Yucatecan]], [[Matagalpan languages|Matgalpan]], [[Qʼanjobʼal language|Qanjobalan]], [[Mamean languages|Mamean]] and [[Chʼolan languages|Chʼolan–Tzeltalan]] branches.
Mayan languages form part of the [[Mesoamerican language area]], an [[sprachbund|area of linguistic convergence]] developed throughout millennia of interaction between the peoples of Mesoamerica. All Mayan languages display the basic diagnostic traits of this linguistic area. For example, all use [[relational noun]]s instead of [[preposition]]s to indicate spatial relationships. They also possess [[grammar|grammatical]] and [[linguistic typology|typological]] features that set them apart from other languages of Mesoamerica, such as the use of [[Ergative–absolutive language|ergativity]] in the grammatical treatment of verbs and their subjects and objects, specific inflectional categories on verbs, and a special [[Lexical category|word class]] of "positionals" which is typical of all Mayan languages.
| |||