Mayan
Sign in to savelanguage family spoken in Mesoamerica
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Mayan is a family of languages spoken by millions of people in Mesoamerica, primarily in Mexico and Central America. It matters because it represents one of the world's major indigenous language groups with a rich cultural heritage spanning thousands of years.
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The Mayan languages are a language family spoken in Mesoamerica, both in the south of Mexico and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least six million Maya people, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. In 1996, Guatemala formally recognized 21 Mayan languages by name, and Mexico recognizes eight within its territory.
The Mayan language family is one of the best-documented and most studied in the Americas. Modern Mayan languages descend from the Proto-Mayan language, which has been partially reconstructed using the comparative method. The proto-Mayan language diversified into at least six different branches: the Huastecan, Quichean, Yucatecan, Qanjobalan, Mamean and Chʼolan–Tzeltalan branches.