The Maya languages (code ISO 639 -2: myn) is a Famille of Amerindian languages spoken by 5 million people, primarily in the Maya zone , which extends from the south of the Mexico until the Honduras. The majority of the speakers go down from the Anciens Mayas; it is not rare however that, in certain areas, the Spanish descendants have a functional knowledge of the indigenous language.

The most spoken about these languages is the Quiché with more: 2300000 speakers with the Guatemala. It is followed yucatèque Maya (: 750000 speakers), extending on Peninsula from Yucatán to the Mexico, then Mam, cakchiquel and Kekchi with each one approximately a half-million of Guatemalan speakers. The other notable languages are the Tzotzil and Tzeltal spoken each one by more: 300000 people in the Chiapas with the Mexico.

Period précolombienne

The proto-Maya was divided into five linguistic groups between: 1600 and 700 before the common era. The first branches to be separated are the Huaxtèques and the Yucatèque in north. Then, the tzeltal-chol groups, kanjobal-chuj, quiche-mam group follow.

Separation in linguistic zones is attested during the Maya traditional Period: the ideophonographic writing found in the epigraphy (monuments, objets d'art) made it possible to find sound shifts and grammatical in three zones: the yucatèque one in north, the Western chol in the west (ancestor of the chol and chontal) and the Eastern chol (ancestor of chortí and choltí) in the east, with possible a fourth zone tzeltal (ancestor of the tzeltal and tzotzil) in the extreme west. It seems that separation between the branches is and western chol group occurred during the traditional period, in the neighborhoods of 650.

With the increase in the phonetic differences during this period, the share of the signs of phonetic nature in the hieroglyphic writing grew in a regular way. Moreover, it was more important in the most distant area, linguistically, of the traditional Maya, in the north of the peninsula.

Colonial time

Post-independence

Phonology

At the consonant level , the Maya languages have the effect - sight of an Indo-European - of having nonpulmonary consonants, namely the éjectives : those are carried out by closing the glottis at the time of the articulation.

The system of Voyelle S includes/understands a typical provision of a great number of languages, namely five vowels which optimize the cover of the diagram aperture-point of articulation: /a/ opened, /e/ and /o/ half-open, and /o/ and /u/ closed. There is in general an opposition of quantity at the phonological level: /a/ and /a: /, /e/ and /e: /, etc In certain languages, for example in yucatèque Maya, there exist moreover of the vowel glottalized long, /a? has, /e? E, /e: /which is opposed to long /a: /, /e: /, etc and with short /a/, /e/, etc These vowels are carried out with a Glottal stop in the middle of their articulation.

Radical of the consonant-vowel-consonant type.

Morphology and grammar

The Maya languages are generally polysynthetic, namely that intervene a great number of Lexème S by Mot.

At the point of considering grammatical, one notes the presence of many Classificateur S, particles fitting between numeral and the quantified word; these classifiers specify the type of quantified object (geometry, lexical field, etc)

The Maya languages present to a certain degree a ergatif character , i.e. when the Direct object of a transitive Verb and the prone of a intransitive Verb are treated same manner, in opposition with the subject of a transitive verb.

The Maya languages tend to present the order verb-object-subject in a transitive proposal.

Geographical distribution

• Mexico: Southern (Peninsula of Yucatán, Chiapas); small islands with San Luis Potosí and Santa Cruz
• Guatemala: together territory
• Belize
• Honduras
• El Salvador

Writing

Pre-conquest

See also: Maya writing

Before the conquest, the hieroglyphic written form was of idéo-phonographic nature .

Post-conquest

See also: alphabetical Transcription of the languages Maya

The Maya languages are written using the Latin alphabet. The system of transcription is inspired by the Spanish with additional diacrites to note the non-existent sounds in Castilian.

List Maya languages

One on the whole counts 71 languages gathered in six main categories: tzeltal-chol, huastèque, kanjobal-jacaltèque, quiche-mam, yucatèque. It should be noted that less recent studies separated the quiche and the mam, and classified this last with the largeone

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