Mayan languages

E28875

indigenous languages of the Americas language family

Mayan languages are a family of indigenous languages spoken primarily in southern Mexico and Central America, known for their ancient hieroglyphic writing and continuity from the Classic Maya civilization to modern Maya communities.

Observed surface forms (7)

Surface form	Occurrences
Yucatec Maya	6
Classic Maya language	2
Kʼicheʼan languages	1
Mayan language family	1
Proto-Mayan	1
Tzotzil Maya	1
Western Mayan languages	1

Statements (66)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	indigenous languages of the Americas ⓘ language family ⓘ
arePartOf	Mesoamerican linguistic area ⓘ
continuityFrom	Mayan languages self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Classic Maya language
estimatedNumberOfSpeakers	several million ⓘ
hasFeature	ergative–absolutive alignment ⓘ glottalized consonants ⓘ rich aspectual morphology ⓘ verb–initial basic word order ⓘ vowel length distinctions ⓘ
hasSubfamily	Chujean branch ⓘ Chʼolan branch ⓘ Huastecan branch ⓘ Kʼichean branch ⓘ Mamean branch ⓘ Poqom branch ⓘ Qʼanjobalan branch ⓘ Tzeltalan branch ⓘ Huastec ⓘ surface form: Wastek (Huastec) branch Yucatecan branch ⓘ
hasWritingSystem	Latin alphabet ⓘ surface form: Latin script Maya script ⓘ
historicallyAssociatedWith	Maya civilization ⓘ surface form: Classic Maya civilization
includesLanguage	Akatek ⓘ Jakaltek ⓘ surface form: Awakatek Huastec ⓘ surface form: Chontal Maya Chuj ⓘ Chʼol ⓘ Itzaʼ ⓘ Ixil ⓘ Jakaltek ⓘ Kaqchikel ⓘ Kʼicheʼ ⓘ Lacandon ⓘ Mam ⓘ Mochoʼ ⓘ Poqomam ⓘ Poqomam Maya ⓘ surface form: Poqomchiʼ Qʼanjobʼal ⓘ Qʼeqchiʼ ⓘ Uspantek ⓘ surface form: Sakapultek Sipakapense ⓘ Tektitek ⓘ Tojolabal ⓘ Tzeltal ⓘ Tzotzil ⓘ Uspantek ⓘ Huastec ⓘ surface form: Wastek (Huastec) Mayan languages self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Yucatec Maya
recognizedAs	national languages of Guatemala ⓘ
recognizedBy	Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala ⓘ
region	Central America ⓘ southern Mexico ⓘ
spokenIn	Belize NERFINISHED ⓘ El Salvador NERFINISHED ⓘ Guatemala NERFINISHED ⓘ Honduras NERFINISHED ⓘ Mexico ⓘ
status	many languages endangered ⓘ some languages vigorous ⓘ
subclassOf	Mesoamerican languages ⓘ Native American languages ⓘ
usedBy	Huastec ⓘ surface form: Maya peoples
usedFor	hieroglyphic inscriptions ⓘ
usedIn	Maya codices ⓘ
writingSystemUsedSince	Late Preclassic period ⓘ

Referenced by (20)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Mayan languages → continuityFrom → Mayan languages self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Classic Maya language

Kʼicheʼ → hasAncestor → Mayan languages ⓘ

this entity surface form: Proto-Mayan

Mexican Spanish → hasInfluenceFrom → Mayan languages ⓘ

Copán → hasLanguage → Mayan languages ⓘ

this entity surface form: Classic Maya language

eastern Mexico → hasLanguage → Mayan languages ⓘ

subject surface form: Eastern Mexico

Indigenous peoples of North America → hasLanguageFamily → Mayan languages ⓘ

Belizean Creole → hasVocabularySource → Mayan languages ⓘ

Mayan languages → includesLanguage → Mayan languages self-linksurface differs ⓘ