What is Mayan languages?
[[File:Dresden Codex p09.jpg|thumb|270px|right|Page 9 of the [[Dresden Codex]] showing the classic Mayan language written in Mayan [[hieroglyphs]] (from the 1880 Förstermann edition)]] The '''Mayan languages''' ares a group of languages spoken in [[Central America]] and [[Mesoamerica]].<ref>In [[linguistics]], it is usual to use ''Mayan'' when talking about the language</ref> Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million [[Maya people|native Maya]]. Most of them are in [[Guatemala]], [[Mexico]] or [[Belize]]. In 1996, Guatemala formally recognized 21 Mayan languages by name,<ref>{{cite web |author= Spence, Jack |author2= David R. Dye, Paula Worby, Carmen Rosa de Leon-Escribano, George Vickers, and Mike Lanchin |date= 1988 |title= Promise and Reality: Implementation of the Guatemalan Peace Accords |url= http://hemisphereinitiatives.org/promise.htm#accord |publisher= Hemispheres Initiatives |accessdate= 2006-12-06 |archive-date= 2007-09-28 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070928074326/http://hemisphereinitiatives.org/promise.htm#accord |url-status= dead }}</ref> and Mexico recognises eight others. The Mayan languages are some of the best documented and most studied in the [[Americas]].<ref>{{Cite book |author= Campbell, Lyle |year=1997 |title=American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America (Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics, 4) |url= https://archive.org/details/americanindianla0000camp |publisher=Oxford University Press |location= New York |isbn=0-195-09427-1}} p.165.</ref> Modern Mayan languages come from [[Proto-Mayan]], a language that was probably spoken at least 5000 years ago. It has been partly reconstructed. == References == {{reflist}} {{-}} {{North-America-stub}} [[Category:Languages of North America]] [[Category:Maya civilization]]