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Mayan Languages
The Mayan languages 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. form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica, both in the south of Mexico and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least six million Maya peoples, Maya people, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. In 1996, Guatemala formally recognized 21 Mayan languages by name,Achiʼ is counted as a variant of Kʼicheʼ by the Guatemalan government. 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 south Americas. 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 linguistic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and parts of Honduras, Nicaragua and northwestern part of Costa Rica. As a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures. In the pre-Columbian era, many Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous societies flourished in Mesoamerica for more than 3,000 years before the Spanish colonization of the Americas began on Hispaniola in 1493. In world history, Mesoamerica was the site of two historical transformations: (i) primary urban generation, and (ii) the formation of New World cultures from the mixtures of the indigenous Mesoamerican peoples with the European, African, and Asian peoples who were introduced by the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Mesoameri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Languages Of Mexico
The Constitution of Mexico does not declare an official language; however, Spanish is the '' de facto'' national language spoken by over 99% of the population making it the largest Spanish speaking country in the world. Due to the cultural influence of the United States, American English is widely understood, especially in border states and tourist regions, with a hybridization of Spanglish spoken. The government also recognizes 63 indigenous languages spoken in their communities out of respect, including Nahuatl, Mayan, Mixtec, etc. The Mexican government uses solely Spanish for official and legislative purposes, but it has yet to declare it the national language mostly out of respect to the indigenous communities that still exist. Most indigenous languages are endangered, with some languages expected to become extinct within years or decades, and others simply having populations that grow slower than the national average. According to the Commission for the Development of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rules, a subject that includes phonology, morphology (linguistics), morphology, and syntax, together with phonetics, semantics, and pragmatics. There are, broadly speaking, two different ways to study grammar: traditional grammar and #Theoretical frameworks, theoretical grammar. Fluency in a particular language variety involves a speaker internalizing these rules, many or most of which are language acquisition, acquired by observing other speakers, as opposed to intentional study or language teaching, instruction. Much of this internalization occurs during early childhood; learning a language later in life usually involves more direct instruction. The term ''grammar'' can also describe the linguistic behaviour of groups of speakers and writer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Preposition
Adpositions are a part of speech, class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various thematic relations, semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositions (which precede their complement) and postpositions (which follow their complement). An adposition typically combines with a noun phrase, this being called its complement (grammar), complement, or sometimes object (grammar), object. English language, English generally has prepositions rather than postpositions – words such as ''in, under'' and ''of'' precede their objects, such as "in England", "under the table", "of Jane" – although there are a few exceptions including ''ago'' and ''notwithstanding'', as in "three days ago" and "financial limitations notwithstanding". Some languages that use a different word order have postpositions instead (like Turkic languages) or have both types (like Finnish language, Finnish). The phrase form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Relational Noun
Relational nouns, or relator nouns, are a word class in many languages. They are characterized as functioning syntactically as nouns although they convey the meaning for which other languages use adpositions (prepositions and postpositions). In Mesoamerican languages, the use of relational nouns constitutes an areal feature of the Mesoamerican linguistic area, including the Mayan languages, Mixe–Zoquean languages, and Oto-Manguean languages. Relational nouns are also widespread in Southeast Asia (e.g. Vietnamese, Thai), East Asia (e.g. Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Lhasa Tibetan), Central Asia (e.g. the Turkic languages), Armenian, the Munda languages of South Asia (e.g. Sora), and in the Micronesian languages. A relational noun is grammatically speaking a simple noun, but because its meaning describes a spatial or temporal relation, rather than a "thing", it describes location, movement, and other relations, just like prepositions in the languages that have them. When used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sprachbund
A sprachbund (, from , 'language federation'), also known as a linguistic area, area of linguistic convergence, or diffusion area, is a group of languages that share areal features resulting from geographical proximity and language contact. The languages may be genetically unrelated, or only distantly related, but the sprachbund characteristics might give a false appearance of relatedness. A grouping of languages that share features can only be defined as a sprachbund if the features are shared for some reason other than the genetic history of the languages. Without knowledge of the history of a regional group of similar languages, it may be difficult to determine whether sharing indicates a language family or a sprachbund. History In a 1904 paper, Jan Baudouin de Courtenay emphasised the need to distinguish between language similarities arising from a genetic relationship (''rodstvo'') and those arising from convergence due to language contact (''srodstvo''). Nikolai Trub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesoamerican Language Area
The Mesoamerican language area is a ''sprachbund'' containing many of the languages natively spoken in the cultural area of Mesoamerica. This sprachbund is defined by an array of syntactic, lexical and phonological traits as well as a number of ethnolinguistic traits found in the languages of Mesoamerica, which belong to a number of language families, such as Uto-Aztecan, Mayan, Totonacan, Oto-Manguean and Mixe–Zoque languages as well as some language isolates and unclassified languages known to the region. History of Mesoamerican areal linguistics The similarities noted between many of the languages of Mesoamerica have led linguistic scholars to propose the constitution of a sprachbund, from as early as 1959. The proposal was not consolidated until 1986, however, when Lyle Campbell, Terrence Kaufman and Thomas Smith-Stark employed a rigid linguistic analysis to demonstrate that the similarities between a number of languages were indeed considerable, with the conclusion that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chʼolan Languages
The Chʼolan languages form a branch of the Mayan family of languages, comprising four languages, namely, Chʼol, Chʼoltiʼ, Chʼortiʼ, and Chontal. Notably, the language of Mayan hieroglyphs is now deemed the ancestor of one or more of the Ch’olan languages. Classification The Ch’olan languages are split into two branches, namely, the Eastern and Western Ch’olan languages, each of which comprises two languages. Chʼortiʼ and Chʼoltiʼ are the two Eastern Ch’olan languages, while Chʼol and Chontal are the two Western Ch’olan languages. The inclusion of the Ch’olan languages within the Chʼolan–Tseltalan, Western Mayan, and Core Mayan families is the most widely accepted classification as of 2017. Nonetheless, while it is generally accepted that the Western Mayan family comprises Ch’olan–Tseltalan and Greater Q’anjob’alan languages, this has never been completely confirmed. Furthermore, some linguists formerly grouped Huastecan, Cholan–Tse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mamean Languages
The (Greater) Mamean family is a branch of the Eastern Mayan language group. Mamean languages include Aguacateco, Ixil, Mam, Tacaneco, and Tektiteco (Teko). Languages *Mamean proper: Mam (478,000 speakers), Tektiteko (5,000 speakers) *Ixilan: Ixil (135,000 speakers), Awakatek (11,607 speakers) Phonology Vowels Consonants See Mayan languages#Mamean for details. References Mayan languages Long stubs with short prose {{IndigenousAmerican-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qʼanjobʼal Language
Qʼanjobʼal () (also Kanjobal) is a Mayan language from the Q'anjobalan branch spoken primarily in Guatemala and part of Mexico. According to 1998 estimates compiled by SIL International in ''Ethnologue'', there were approximately 77,700 native speakers, primarily in the Huehuetenango Department of Guatemala. In Chiapas, Mexico, municipalities where the Qʼanjobʼal language is spoken include Catazajá, Amatenango de la Frontera, La Trinitaria, Bella Vista, Frontera Comalapa, Las Margaritas and Maravilla Tenejapa. In Huehuetenango, the municipalities where the language is spoken are San Juan Ixcoy (''Yich Kʼox''), San Pedro Soloma (''Tzʼulumaʼ ''), Santa Eulalia (''Jolom Konobʼ ''), Santa Cruz Barillas (''Yalmotx''), San Rafael La Independencia, and San Miguel Acatán (Pedro Mateo Pedro 2010). Qʼanjobʼal is taught in public schools through Guatemala's intercultural bilingual education programs. Classification Qʼanjobʼal is a member of the Qʼanjobʼalan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yucatecan Languages
The Yucatecan languages form a branch of the Mayan family of languages, comprising four languages, namely, Itzaj, Lacandon, Mopan, and Yucatec. The languages are presently extant in the Yucatán Peninsula, encompassing Belize, northern Guatemala, and southeastern Mexico. Classification The Yucatecan languages are split into two branches, namely, Mopan–Itzaj and Yucatec–Lacandon. This subdivision, and the inclusion of the Yucatecan languages within the Core Mayan family, is ‘the most widely accepted classification’ as of 2017. However, some linguists formerly grouped Huastecan, Cholan–Tseltalan, and Yucatecan languages together, but this is now deemed erroneous. History Yucatecan speakers are thought to have first settled the Maya Lowlands some 400 years after the diversification of Core Mayan, which has been glottochronologically dated to around 1900 BC. There, they were joined by Ch’olan–Tseltan speakers sometime during 1000–800 BC, though only Ch’olan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kʼicheʼ Language
Kʼicheʼ ( ; natively , also known as among its speakers), or Quiché, is a Mayan language spoken by the Kʼicheʼ people of the central highlands in Guatemala and Mexico. With over a million speakers (some 7% of Guatemala's population), Kʼicheʼ is the second most widely-spoken language in the country, after Spanish language, Spanish. It is one of the most widely-spoken Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous American languages in Mesoamerica. The Central dialect is the most commonly used in media and education. Despite a low literacy rate, Kʼicheʼ is increasingly taught in schools and used on the radio. The most famous work in the Classical Kʼicheʼ language is the ''Popol Vuh'' (''Popol Wuʼuj'' in modern spelling). The second most important work is ''Título de Totonicapán, The Title of Totonicapán.'' Dialects Kaufman (1970) divides the Kʼicheʼ complex into the following five dialects, with the representative municipalities given as well (quoted in Par S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
