{"id":9293,"date":"2023-05-10T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/?p=9293"},"modified":"2023-05-10T16:09:43","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T15:09:43","slug":"yucatec-maya-an-ancient-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/yucatec-maya-an-ancient-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Yucatec Maya: An Ancient Language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Yucatec Mayan language, once spoken in the ancient sprawling cities of Chichen Itza and Mayapan will now be available on uTalk! That\u2019s right – history lovers, culture vultures and fans of Mesoamerica can now learn the Yucatec Mayan language (and yes – the language of Namor and the fictional underwater kingdom of Talokan from the latest Black Panther movie).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

A living, vibrant language \u2013 but for how much longer?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yucatec Mayan is spoken by over 800,000 people in Mexican states of Yucat\u00e1n, Quintana Roo and Campeche, all located in the lush Yucatan peninsula. It is a member of the Mayan languages, and has relatives spoken all across Mesoamerica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Yucatan peninsula, Yucatec Mayan, known by native speakers as M\u00e1aya\u02bc T\u02bc\u00e1an is still actively spoken by elders in many towns and villages but less and less among younger generations, who increasingly prefer speaking in Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this could one day spell the end of the language, there is hope. Some schools in the region now teach the language. Furthermore, uTalk is the first language-learning app<\/a> to offer subscribers a chance to learn this fascinating language FROM any language already available on the app!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, you do not have to be fluent in Spanish in order to learn Yucatec Mayan on uTalk! You can simply learn it directly from English or any of the 153 languages currently available on the app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some interesting features<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the benefits of learning a language with uTalk is the fact you can hear phrases and words spoken by native speakers. And you\u2019ll probably notice some interesting sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yucatec Mayan, like most Mayan languages has ejective consonants \u2013 written like P, T, K, TS and CH followed by an apostrophe. These sounds require you to \u201cpop\u201d the sounds out from your mouth while enunciating them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can hear an ejective K\u2019 and P\u2019 in the following sentence:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In k’\u00e1at jump’\u00e9el k\u00e1afe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(I\u2019d like a coffee, please.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you can hear it, courtesy of our amazing native voice talents, on the Yucatec Maya store page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tones<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yucatec Mayan is one the very Mayan languages that has tones. Like in Chinese and Vietnamese words pronounced with slightly different melodies can have totally different meanings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00edis basically pronounced like \u201cMEESE\u201d with a high falling tone \u2013 where your voice goes from high to low as you pronounce the word \u2013 means \u201cbroom\u201d or even, \u201cto sweep\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the same word pronounced with a low, flat tone \u2013 you keep your voice low and steady while pronouncing the word \u2013 means \u201ccat\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, in order to avoid confusing your cat with your broom, do pay attention to our voice talents and try to take note of this fascinating use of tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sadly the spectacular traditional Mayan Script, so ubiquitous on the walls of the great temples and pyramids, is no longer in use. Modern Yucatec Mayan is now written in the Latin alphabet, introduced centuries ago by Spanish missionaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is a pity because the old script was one of the most interesting forms of writing invented by humans. Imagine writing with a mixture of glyphs representing whole words \u2013 in combination with smaller ones that told us how they were pronounced!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Conveniently, the modern Yucatec writing system not only uses our ABCs, it\u2019s really consistent and every word is pronounced as it is written. Easy, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The five vowels in Mayan \u2013 A,E,I,O and U are pronounced like in Spanish. As long as care is taken to pronounce the long vowels really long, with the accompanying tones and the ejective consonants mentioned above \u2013 reading and speaking Yucatec Mayan is incredibly simple and straightforward. Also, \u201cX\u201d represents a \u201cSH\u201d sound like in \u201cship\u201d or \u201csharp\u201d. And as in Spanish, \u201cJ\u201d sounds more like a heavy \u201cH\u201d sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Counting in Mayan<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mayans traditionally counted in twenties. \u201cForty\u201d was \u201ctwo twenties\u201d, \u201csixty\u201d was \u201cthree twenties\u201d and \u201c100\u201d was \u201cfive twenties\u201d. But what\u2019s interesting is that modern Yucatec Mayans no longer use the numbers except when counting one to four!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For numbers above four, Spanish is more commonly used instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More fun facts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re wondering where the words \u201cYucatan\u201d and \u201cYucatec\u201d come from \u2013 don\u2019t worry because we don\u2019t either!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The origins of the word \u201cYucatan\u201d are disputed to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some historians believe that the first Spaniards to arrive in the region tried asking the locals what they called their land.  The local Mayans, unable to understand Spanish, said \u201cI don\u2019t understand\u201d or something similar. The Spaniards misheard it as \u201cYucatan\u201d and the name has been in use ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other historians believe \u201cYucatan\u201d is somehow related to the \u201cyuca\u201d or \u201ccassava\u201d plant that grows abundantly there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still others believe it might be a borrowing from a neighbouring tribe and it was a word they used to refer to Mayans and their language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wait, \u201cshark\u201d could be Mayan?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yucatec Mayan may have contributed a very common word into the English language. And that word might just possibly be \u201cshark\u201d!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One theory is that the word \u201cshark\u201d originated from the Yucatec Mayan word \u201cxoc\u201d (there\u2019s that X sound again \u2013 remember it sounds like SH) meaning \u201cfish\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you think?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what are you waiting for?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Language, history and culture go hand in hand and what better way to explore a region than to immerse oneself in its original ancient tongue. Whether you\u2019re planning to travel to Mexico (ever heard of Cancun, Tulum or Chichen Itza?) or are just an avid history buff or just happen to be curious, learning Yucatec Mayan might just be the thing for you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Yucatec Mayan language, once spoken in the ancient sprawling cities of Chichen Itza and Mayapan will now be available on uTalk! That\u2019s right – history lovers, culture vultures and fans of Mesoamerica can now learn the Yucatec Mayan language (and yes – the language of Namor and the fictional underwater kingdom of Talokan from … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":9294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1892],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9293"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9297,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9293\/revisions\/9297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}