Yucatecan languages

The Yucatecan languages form a branch of the Mayan family of languages, comprising four languages, namely, Itzaj, Lacandon, Mopan, and Yucatec. The languages are presently extant in the Yucatán Peninsula, encompassing Belize, northern Guatemala, and southeastern Mexico.

Yucatecan
Yukatekan
Geographic distribution	Belize, Guatemala, Mexico / former, now
Ethnicity	Maya peoples
Native speakers	(720,600 cited 1990–2006)
Linguistic classification	Mayan Core Mayan Yucatecan
Proto-language	Proto-Yucatecan
Subdivisions	Mopan–Itzaj Yucatec–Lacandon
Language codes
Glottolog	yuca1252
Current extent of Yucatecan languages in Belize, Guatemala, Mexico
Notes	Classification, subdivisions, former distribution per Aissen, England & Zavala Maldonado 2017, pp. 44–45, 64. Speakers, current distribution per Lewis 2009, pp. 233, 265–266, 274.

Classification

The Yucatecan languages are split into two branches, namely, Mopan–Itzaj and Yucatec–Lacandon.^[1] This subdivision, and the inclusion of the Yucatecan languages within the Core Mayan family, is ‘the most widely accepted classification’ as of 2017.^[1] However, some linguists formerly grouped Huastecan, Cholan–Tseltalan, and Yucatecan languages together, but this is now deemed erroneous.^{[2][note 1]}

History

Yucatecan speakers are thought to have first settled the Maya Lowlands some 400 years after the diversification of Core Mayan, which has been glottochronologically dated to around 1900 BC.^{[3][note 2]} There, they were joined by Ch’olan–Tseltan speakers sometime during 1000–800 BC, though only Ch’olan speakers remained after about 200 BC.^[4] By the third century AD, Yucatecan speakers would form part of an area of heightened language contact, centred on the Lowlands, which saw significant linguistic diffusion across Mayan and non-Mayan languages.^[5] By the ninth century AD, their language would start appearing in Classic Mayan hieroglyphic texts.^[6]

The Yucatecan languages began to diversify perhaps a millennium ago and have had repeated contacts with one another since. The first split in this group was Mopan, followed by Itzaj after 1200, Northern Lacandon and Southern Lacandon after 1700, with Yucatec Maya remaining.

— CH Hofling, The Mayan Languages.^{[7][note 3]}

Presently, Itzaj is spoken in Peten (Guatemala), Lacandon in Chiapas (Mexico), Mopan in Cayo, Stann Creek, Toledo (Belize) and Peten (Guatemala), and Yucatec in Corozal, Orange Walk (Belize) and Campeche, Yucatán, Quintana Roo (Mexico).^[8]

See also

• Mesoamerican Linguistic Area
• Itza people