Mayan Sign Language ( or ''yucateca'') is a
sign language
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...
used in
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
by
Mayan communities with unusually high numbers of
deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
inhabitants. In some instances, both hearing and deaf members of a village may use the sign language. It is unrelated to the national sign languages of Mexico (
Mexican Sign Language
Mexican Sign Language (, LSM; also previously known by several other names), is a natural language that serves as the predominant language of the Deaf community
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical co ...
) and Guatemala (
Guatemalan Sign Language), as well as to the local spoken
Mayan languages
The Mayan languages In linguistics, it is conventional to use ''Mayan'' when referring to the languages, or an aspect of a language. In other academic fields, ''Maya'' is the preferred usage, serving as both a singular and plural noun, and a ...
and
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
.
Yucatec Mayan Sign Language
Yucatec Maya Sign Language, is used in the
Yucatán
Yucatán, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises 106 separate municipalities, and its capital city is Mérida.
...
region by both hearing and
deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
rural Maya. It is a natural, complex
language
Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
which is not related to
Mexican Sign Language
Mexican Sign Language (, LSM; also previously known by several other names), is a natural language that serves as the predominant language of the Deaf community
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical co ...
, but may have similarities with sign languages found in nearby
Guatemala
Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
.
As the hearing villagers are competent in the sign language, the deaf inhabitants seem to be well integrated into the community – in contrast to the marginalization of deaf people in the wider community, and also in contrast to Highland Mayan Sign Language.
The oral language of the community is the
Yucatec Maya language
Yucatec Maya ( ; referred to by its speakers as or ) is a Mayan languages, Mayan language spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula, including part of northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic community of Yucatec Maya speakers in San Fra ...
.
Highland Mayan Sign Language
In the highlands of Guatemala, Maya use a sign language that belongs to a "sign language complex" known locally in the
Kʼicheʼ language
Kʼicheʼ ( ; natively , also known as among its speakers), or Quiché, is a Mayan language spoken by the Kʼicheʼ people of the central highlands in Guatemala and Mexico. With over a million speakers (some 7% of Guatemala's population), Kʼi ...
as ''Meemul Chʼaabʼal'' and ''Meemul Tziij'', "mute language." Researcher Erich Fox Tree reports that it is used by deaf rural Maya throughout the region, as well as some traders and traditional storytellers. These communities and Fox Tree believe that ''Meemul Chʼaabʼal'' belongs to an ancient family of Maya sign languages.
Navigating North and South for Native Knowledge
by Patricia Valdata for DiverseEducation.com, 2005. Fox Tree claims that Yucatec Maya Sign Language is closely related and substantially mutually intelligible.
Footnotes
Further reading
*
*
*
*
* A 4-hour film documentary on the Yucatecan community with scenes of the deaf and their uses of sign.
* Smith, Hubert L. (1977–2006) A corpus of film and video expressly devoted to the Maya deaf and archived at The Smithsonian Institution.
*
*
External links
SIL overview of YMSLYucatec Maya Sign Language Documentation Project
{{sign language navigation
Village sign languages
Mesoamerican languages
Sign languages of Mexico
Sign languages of Guatemala
Language isolates of North America