List of Mayan languages
Encyclopedia
The numbers above are based on Ethnologue
estimates. These are significantly out of date; most are nominally from around the year 2000, but some are based on extrapolation from data significantly before then. Since 2000, it can generally be assumed that the larger populations have grown and the smaller ones have shrunk. In the 1980s and early 1990s, there was also significant refugee movement of populations near the border from Guatemala into Mexico, so generally the Mexican numbers above for the cross-border populations are lower than reality. The numbers generally reflect a relatively broad definition of language speakers, leading to somewhat higher numbers than other contemporary estimates.
Overall, there are probably more Mayan speakers today than the sum of the numbers above, due to population growth.
Ethnologue
Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...
estimates. These are significantly out of date; most are nominally from around the year 2000, but some are based on extrapolation from data significantly before then. Since 2000, it can generally be assumed that the larger populations have grown and the smaller ones have shrunk. In the 1980s and early 1990s, there was also significant refugee movement of populations near the border from Guatemala into Mexico, so generally the Mexican numbers above for the cross-border populations are lower than reality. The numbers generally reflect a relatively broad definition of language speakers, leading to somewhat higher numbers than other contemporary estimates.
Overall, there are probably more Mayan speakers today than the sum of the numbers above, due to population growth.
See also
- Mayan languagesMayan languagesThe Mayan languages form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras...
- Mesoamerican languagesMesoamerican languagesMesoamerican languages are the languages indigenous to the Mesoamerican cultural area, which covers southern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize and parts of Honduras and El Salvador. The area is characterized by extensive linguistic diversity containing several hundred different languages and...
- Mesoamerican Linguistic AreaMesoamerican Linguistic AreaThe Mesoamerican Linguistic 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...
- Maya civilizationMaya civilizationThe Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
- Maya peoplesMaya peoplesThe Maya people constitute a diverse range of the Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America. The overarching term "Maya" is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term...