A Brief Introduction

The indigenous Mayan Indians of Central America are settled in locations such as Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Belize – extending all the way into Mexico and the Yucatan peninsula. While most of the Maya’s records have been destroyed by their Spanish colonizers, the remaining artifacts indicate that the Mayan people were not only highly advanced for their time period, but also made great leaps in many fields such as astronomy, business, and language. The Mayas were innovative in their trade systems – which mainly consisted of bartering crops, preservatives, or rocks - such as salt, cacao, and mineral obsidian. These indigenous people even developed a formal government hierarchy, allowing them the ability to invade and overthrow surrounding villages. Their hieroglyphics show us their development of linguistics, making them one of the first early people to have recorded both their speech patterns and its evolution. The Mayan people also knew how to hunt, fish, and build. The ruins found in all the aforementioned regions are testaments to a once great civilization. The mystery of the Mayas disappearance in 900-1000 A.D is something that baffles many researchers today. Our blog’s purpose is to share with the public some of the interesting facts about the lifestyles and traditions of the indigenous Mayan Indians.

Reference:

2010 Maya Civilization, Ruins and Culture In Central America. Electronic document,
http://www.globalsherpa.org/mayan-civilization-ruins-sites-culture-calendar-2012

Friday, July 12, 2013

Language

 Mayan Language
The Mayan language is considered to be a mixture of over 60 related languages and is spoken by over 6 million people in central American. The Mayan empire lasted about 3,500 years before it was taken over by the Spanish. The Mayan language is said to be so diverse because they were spread over a large region; therefore, it is normal for Mayan people from different regions to not understand each others dialects and pronunciation.
The Mayan language is derived from Proto-Mayan, an old Mayan language spoke about 5,000 years ago. Those who currently speak Mayan commonly reside in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico. In the different areas where the language is spoken, it is split into five groups. Those groups consist of Cholan-Tzeltalan, Huastecan, Q’anjobalan-Chujean, Quichean-Mamean, and Yucatecan. For many years Mayan speaking citizens of the central America were against integrating into the English language; however, they are now open to learning and speaking the English language. 
This picture illustrates some of the Mayan hieroglyphic syllabary.

References
Thompson, Irene
     2013   Mayan Language Family. Electronic document,
          http://aboutworldlanguages.com/mayan-language-family

 2013   Mayan Language Resources. Electronic document,
         http://www.languagecourse.net/mayan-language-resources.php  

Fooksman, Leon 
2013   Mayan Languages: Our Diverse Culture. Electronic document,
          http://www.guatemalanmaya.org/index.php?q=featured/mayan-languages-our-diverse-culture 


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1 comment:

  1. UnknownJuly 22, 2013 at 6:09 PM

    REFLECTION: After viewing this three articles I understood that most languages are not as complex as the Mayan language. It is astounding that one language encompasses so many different languages and is so wide spread. It is amazing that the Mayan language used in so many countries, and the fact that the Mayan language is used by over 6 million people in central America is surprising because there are so many other languages that could be used. It shows that the Mayan culture still survives. However, it is nothing like the English language because it is spoken by over 275 million people. Also, in thinking about the English language you don't really think about the culture and values of the people while in the Mayan language is built on their culture and has so many different pronunciations.

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