Mayan Languages

1
Mayan Languages

• Oppression, Resilience, and Revitalization

2
The Mayan People

• Descendants of the ancient Mayan people who lived
  in pre-Columbian Meso-America
  
• High level of literary, scientific, artistic
  achievement
  
• Used hieroglyphic writing system
• Currently live in Guatemala, Southern and Central
  Mexico, and Belize.
  

3
Mayan Languages

• 6 million people in Guatemala
• 1 million in central and southern Mexico and
  Belize
  
• Many monolingual speakers
• 20 languages in Guatemala
• 9 languages in Yucatan, Mexico

4
Spanish Conquest

• Spanish arrival in 1500s exploitation of
  indigenous peoples
  
• Extensive Mayan literature destroyed
• Attempts to convert them to Catholicism
• Latin alphabet adopted by intellectual Mayan
  scribes, old texts adapted
  
• 4 surviving texts

5
ResilienceThe Mayans preserve their language
after half a millennium of successful resistance
to Spanish encroachment

• Spanish dominance over land ownership
• Mayans continue to speak their native languages
  and practice their culture.
  
• Extremely large numbers of monolingual speakers
  up until 1970
  
• Guatemalan Civil War- suffered violence and
  ethnocide
  

6
Language Shift

• Bilingualism- response to socio-economic and
  political forces
  
• Shifts occur by way of parents speaking the
  second language to offspring (note parents must
  be bilingual before this can occur.)
  
• Benefits of learning Spanish
• Widespread recognition of increased economic
  opportunity through Spanish acquisition
  
• Better ability to preserve indigenous language by
  understanding those who oppress it.
  

7
Language Shift (cont.)

• Domestic influence
• - Preparation for schooling
• - Naïveté regarding language acquisition
• - Unintentional negative effects
• Studies show the ages of the mother affects the
  proficiency in indigenous language
  

8
Why worry?

• Mayan languages are the primary means through
  which Maya philosophy and world view are
  transmitted as well as being an important part of
  identity.
• Many meanings cannot be represented in Spanish
• Of course we must deal with language first, and
  then with other matters.
  

9
Language Standardization

• Language not used for as many purposes as they
  used to be
  
• writing not as common
• Historically little agreement on standards for
  writing, presently an important issue in the
  revitalization movement
  
• No concept of prestige language, no consensus on
  which language would be mostly used in
  standardization
  
• Academy of Mayan Language est. 1991
• Convened 4 yrs before academy was approved to
  create a unified alphabet
  
• Non Maya not part of decision making process,
  linguistic self determination
  
• Rejected many Spanish orthographic principles-
  asserted that the importance of writing Mayan
  languages was solely for the value of literacy in
  Maya as language in itself

10
Bilingual Education

• PRONEBI (National Program for the Promotion of
  Bilingual Education)
  
• Soon after est., state intimidation through
  violent intervention
  
• Largely dependent on the standardization of the
  language
  
• Not affiliated with the Academy in that they
  print materials for schools without official
  approval
  
• Note Many of these teachers are merely orally
  proficient rather than literate so these
  materials may not be able to be utilized
  
• Many believe their policies are assimilationist
• Materials are not uniform because of the
  differences within the Maya languages
  
• The actual instruction in Mayan is typically
  minimal but bilingual education is on the rise