What Is the Difference Between Maya Languages?

The Maya of the present day do not speak a single language. They speak more than thirty distinct languages, organized into six major branches, and a Yucatec Maya from Mérida is no more able to converse with a K’iche’ speaker from Totonicapán than an Italian is able to converse with a Portuguese. The differences among the languages are not just differences of dialect or accent; they are differences of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, of the kind that the comparative method of historical linguistics recognizes as the products of millennia of independent development.

This pages describes the major branches of the Mayan family and the kinds of differences that distinguish them. The page on Maya languages from Classic to modern treats the history of the family in detail. The page on Maya writing, language, and books sets the broader context. The page on scribes, literacy, and education in Maya society treats the cultural and educational context.

The major branches of the Mayan family

The Mayan language family is conventionally divided into six major branches, each of which contains one to several living languages. The branches are:

Huastecan, a single language (Huastec / Wastek) and its now-extinct sister Chicomuceltec. The branch is geographically separated from the rest of the family, spoken in the Huasteca of northern Veracruz and San Luis Potosí.
Yucatecan, including Yukatek (Yucatec Maya), Itzá, Mopán, and Lakantún. These languages are spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula, the Petén, and adjacent parts of Belize and Guatemala.
Cholan-Tzeltalan, a large and diverse branch that contains both Cholan and Tzeltalan, with Tzeltalan sometimes called “Greater Tzeltalan.” The Cholan sub-branch includes the modern Ch’ol, Chorti’, and the extinct Ch’olti’an. The Tzeltalan sub-branch includes Tzeltal, Tzotzil, and Tojol-ab’al.
K’iche’an, a large branch that includes K’iche’, Kaqchikel, Tz’utujil, Sakapultek, Sipakapense, and several other languages of highland Guatemala.
Mamean, including Mam, Awakatek, Teko, and Ixil. These languages are spoken in the western highlands of Guatemala and adjacent parts of Chiapas.
Q’anjob’alan, including Q’anjob’, Akatek, Popti’, and Chuj. These languages are spoken in the Cuchumatanes and adjacent areas of highland Guatemala and Chiapas.

The relationships among the six branches are not all fully resolved. The Cholan-Tzeltalan branch is sometimes grouped with Huastecan to form a “Greater Huastecan” branch, on the basis of shared innovations. The position of the Yukatecan branch is also uncertain: it is sometimes grouped with the Cholan-Tzeltalan branch, sometimes treated as a separate primary branch. The most widely accepted classification is that of Terrence Kaufman (1974) and of Lyle Campbell, in which the six branches are treated as primary.

The Yukatecan branch

The Yukatecan branch is the branch of the modern Yucatec Maya. The branch contains four living languages: Yukatek (Yucatec Maya), Itzá, Mopán, and Lakantún. The four are mutually intelligible to a high degree. Yukatek is by far the most widely spoken, with roughly 800,000 speakers in the Yucatán Peninsula, and is the most familiar of the Mayan languages to outside observers. The language is the source of the autonym Maya that is now applied to the family as a whole.

The Yukatecan branch is also the branch of the family with the longest colonial documentation. The first dictionaries of a Mayan language were the colonial dictionaries of Yukatek, including the Calepino de Motul and the Diccionario de Viena. The dictionaries are a key source for the reconstruction of the historical phonology of the family.

A characteristic feature of Yukatekan phonology is the so-called “Yukatekan clusivity,” in which the first-person plural pronoun is distinguished in the singular and the plural forms. The feature is shared with the Cholan-Tzeltalan branch but is not found in the K’iche’an, Mamean, or Q’anjob’alan branches. The feature is reviewed in the page on Maya languages from Classic to modern.

The Cholan-Tzeltalan and Greater Tzeltalan branches

The Cholan-Tzeltalan branch of the Mayan family is a large and diverse group of languages, spoken in the lowlands and highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala. The branch contains two main sub-branches: Cholan, which includes the modern Ch’ol, Chorti’, and the extinct Ch’olti’; and Tzeltalan, which includes Tzeltal, Tzotzil, and Tojol-ab’al. The two sub-branches are sometimes grouped together as “Greater Tzeltalan,” on the basis of a number of shared innovations.

The Cholan-Tzeltalan branch is the branch of the family that is most directly relevant to the inscriptions, since the language of the inscriptions is a member of the Cholan sub-branch. The reconstructed ancestor of Chorti’ and Ch’ol is now conventionally called Classic Ch’olti’an, a name that reflects its relationship to the historical Ch’olti’ language of the colonial period, and to the modern Chorti’ of highland Guatemala. The reconstruction of Classic Ch’olti’an is described in detail in the page on Maya languages from Classic to modern.

The languages of the Cholan-Tzeltalan branch are spoken by roughly 1.5 million people, the largest group of Mayan-language speakers in Mexico. The Tzeltalan languages are the second most widely spoken Mayan languages in Mexico, after Yukatek. The Cholan languages are the third. The Cholan-Tzeltalan branch is also the branch of the family that is most directly relevant to the inscriptions, since the language of the inscriptions is a member of the Cholan sub-branch.

The K’iche’an branch

The K’iche’an branch is the largest branch of the Mayan family by number of speakers, with roughly 1.1 million speakers of K’iche’ alone. The branch contains at least seven living languages and several extinct ones. The most important of the K’iche’an languages for the history of the family is K’iche’ itself, which was the language of the K’iche’ kingdom of highland Guatemala in the Postclassic period.

K’iche’ is the language of the Popol Vuh and the Maya creation myth, and is the most thoroughly documented of the K’iche’an languages. The K’iche’ of the late twentieth century preserved a tradition of glyphic divination in which a ajq’ij (day-keeper) would consult the 260-day Tzolkin and the 365-day Haab’ to determine the ritual obligations of a given day. The convention is reviewed in detail in the page on scribes, literacy, and education in Maya society.

Other K’iche’an languages include Kaqchikel, the language of the Kaqchikel kingdom of highland Guatemala; Tz’utujil, the language of the Tz’utujil kingdom on the shore of Lake Atitlán; Sakapultek, Sipakapense, and others. The K’iche’an branch is the branch of the family with the most colonial documentation in the highland Maya area, and the colonial and post-colonial traditions of the K’iche’an languages are an important source for the survival of the Maya scribal tradition in the highlands.

The Mamean branch

The Mamean branch of the Mayan family is the second largest by number of speakers, with roughly 800,000 speakers of Mam and its close relatives. The branch contains four living languages: Mam, Awakatek, Teko, and Ixil. Mam is by far the most widely spoken, and is the language of the western highlands of Guatemala and adjacent parts of Chiapas.

The Mamean branch is the branch of the family with the most speakers in the western highlands of Guatemala. The Mam language is the most widely spoken, and the language is the principal source for the reconstruction of the historical phonology of the Mamean branch. The Mamean branch is also the branch of the family with the most contact with the Mexican languages of the Pacific coast, and the Mamean languages have a number of loanwords from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec, and from the other Mexican languages of the region.

The Q’anjob’alan branch

The Q’anjob’alan branch of the Mayan family is the third largest by number of speakers, with roughly 200,000 speakers of Q’anjob’, Akatek, Popti’, and Chuj. The branch contains four living languages, all spoken in the Cuchumatanes of highland Guatemala and adjacent parts of Chiapas. Q’anjob’ is the most widely spoken, and is the language of the Q’anjob’ communities of the Cuchumatanes.

The Q’anjob’alan branch is the branch of the family with the most speakers in the Cuchumatanes. The Q’anjob’ language is the most widely spoken, and the language is the principal source for the reconstruction of the historical phonology of the Q’anjob’alan branch. The Q’anjob’alan branch is also the branch of the family with the most contact with the Mamean languages, and the Q’anjob’alan and Mamean languages share a number of innovations.

The Huastecan branch

The Huastecan branch of the Mayan family is the most divergent of the six branches, and is sometimes thought to have been spoken continuously in the Huasteca of northern Veracruz and San Luis Potosí since the Formative period. The branch contains two languages: Huastec / Wastek, with roughly 200,000 speakers in the modern Huasteca, and Chicomuceltec, a now-extinct language that was spoken in the Chiapas highlands until the late twentieth century.

The Huastecan branch is geographically separated from the rest of the Mayan family, and the divergence of the branch from the rest of the family is thought to date to the earliest period of Mayan linguistic diversification, perhaps as early as 2200 BCE. The Huastecan branch is the only Mayan branch that is spoken outside of the Maya area as conventionally defined, and the languages of the branch are the only ones that are not part of the broader Mesoamerican linguistic area.

How the languages differ: a quick comparison

A few examples will illustrate the kinds of differences that distinguish the languages. The word for “water” in the modern Mayan languages is ja’ in Yukatek, ya’ in Ch’ol, ja’ in Tzeltal, ja’ in K’iche’, ya’ in Mam, and ha’ in Q’anjob’. The word for “house” in the same set of languages is na in Yukatek, na in Ch’ol, na in Tzeltal, ja in K’iche’, na in Mam, and na in Q’anjob’. The word for “maize” is ixiim in Yukatek, ixiim in Ch’ol, ixiim in Tzeltal, ixiin in K’iche’, shiim in Mam, and ixiim in Q’anjob’.

The differences in the sound systems are also important. Yukatek has a five-vowel system (a, e, i, o, u) and a set of glottalized consonants (p’, t’, k’, ch’, ts’, k’ahk’). The Cholan languages have a similar system, with the addition of a vowel-length distinction. The K’iche’an languages have a similar system, with the addition of a series of “explosive” consonants (b’, t’) that are not present in Yukatek. The Mamean and Q’anjob’alan languages have a similar system, with the addition of a number of distinctive features.

The grammar of the languages is also distinctive. Yukatek and the Cholan-Tzeltalan languages use a system of ergative-absolutive alignment, in which the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb are marked in the same way, while the subject of a transitive verb is marked differently. The K’iche’an, Mamean, and Q’anjob’alan languages use a different system, more closely related to the nominative-accusative alignment of the European languages. The feature is reviewed in the page on Maya languages from Classic to modern.

The modern languages and the inscription tradition

The relationship between the modern languages and the inscription tradition is a topic of ongoing research. The modern K’iche’ of highland Guatemala preserved, into the late twentieth century, a tradition of glyphic divination in which a ajq’ij (day-keeper) would consult the 260-day Tzolkin and the 365-day Haab’ to determine the ritual obligations of a given day. The conventions of the day-keeper are consistent with the conventions of the ancient inscriptions, and the day-keeper is a living example of the survival of the ancient Maya scribal tradition.

The colonial and post-colonial Maya traditions also preserve a number of conventions of scribal education. The K’iche’ of highland Guatemala preserved a tradition of training the ajq’ij in a curriculum that included the reading and writing of the script, the calculation of the calendar, and the recitation of ritual and mythological texts. The convention is reviewed in detail in the page on scribes, literacy, and education in Maya society.

The modern languages are also an important source of evidence for the conventions of the inscription tradition. The values of a small number of important signs in the inscriptions have been confirmed by their values in the modern K’iche’ and Ch’ol traditions, and the conventions of the day-keeper have been used to reconstruct the conventions of the ancient inscriptions. The convention is reviewed in the page on how do scholars read Maya hieroglyphs today.

The differences among the modern Maya languages have political and social implications. The languages are not just a matter of academic interest; they are the principal means of communication for millions of people, and they are an important part of the cultural identity of the modern Maya. The languages have been the object of government policies of suppression in the colonial and post-colonial periods, and the languages are now the object of government policies of support in the modern period.

The languages are also an important part of the cultural heritage of the modern Maya. The ajq’ij of highland Guatemala preserves a tradition that is, in effect, a living museum of the ancient Maya scribal tradition, and the conventions of the ajq’ij are an important source of evidence for the conventions of the ancient inscriptions. The convention is reviewed in detail in the page on scribes, literacy, and education in Maya society.

Sources

Coe, M. D. & Van Stone, M. (2005). Reading the Maya Glyphs (2nd ed.). Thames & Hudson. — link
Houston, S. D. (2004). The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process. Cambridge University Press. — link
Martin, S. & Grube, N. (2008). Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens (2nd ed.). Thames & Hudson. — link
Boot, E. (2009). The Updated Preliminary Classic Maya–English / English–Classic Maya Vocabulary of Hieroglyphic Readings. Wayeb. — link
Knorozov, Y. V. (1952). Ancient writing of Central America. Sovetskaya Etnografiya, 3. — [link](https://www.worldcat.org/title/sovet skaia-etnografiia/oclc/60638864)
Proskouriakoff, T. (1971). Commoners in Classic Maya sculpture. In Memoirs of the Peabody Museum vol. 6. Peabody Museum, Harvard. — link