page_title: Chʼortiʼ language
section_title: Relationship to other Mayan languages
hierarchical_section_title: Chʼortiʼ language / Relationship to other Mayan languages
caption_attribution_description: A map showing the present-day locations of the Mayan Languages. The colours of the language names shows closely-related groups. The size of the name shows the relative number of speakers. Largest size = over 500,000 speakers. Large size = over 100,000 speakers. Medium size = over 10,000 speakers. Small size = under 10,000 speakers. Notes: the name colours are the same as used in the genealogy tree (Image:Mayan Language Tree in colour.png). The "source code" -- the original SVG file -- can be obtained at Image:Mayan Language Map.svg, but the SVG editor changes the sizes of the words.
context_page_description: The Chʼortiʼ language is a Mayan language, spoken by the indigenous Maya people who are also known as the Chʼortiʼ or Chʼortiʼ Maya. Chʼortiʼ is a direct descendant of the Classic Maya language in which many of the pre-Columbian inscriptions using the Maya script were written. This Classic Maya language is also attested in a number of inscriptions made in regions whose inhabitants most likely spoke a different Mayan language variant, including the ancestor of Yucatec Maya. Chʼortiʼ is the modern version of the ancient Mayan language Chʼolan.
context_section_description: Chʼortiʼ can be called a living "Rosetta Stone" of Mayan languages. The Chʼortiʼ language is an important factor to comprehend the contents of Maya hieroglyphic writings, some of which are not yet fully understood. Over several years, many linguists and anthropologists expected to realize the Chʼortiʼ culture and language by studying its words and expressions. Chʼortiʼ is spoken mainly in and around Jocotán and Camotán, Chiquimula department, Guatemala, as well as adjacent areas of parts of western Honduras near the Copán Ruins. Because the Classic Mayan language was ancestral to the modern Chʼorti, Chʼorti can be used to decipher the ancient language. For example, it was discovered that the Mayan language had distinct grammatical patterns, such as a consonant/vowel syllable aspect. Researchers realized that the ancient language was based more on phonetics than previously thought.
  The name Chortiʼ (with unglottalized <ch>) means 'language of the corn farmers', which references to the traditional agricultural activity of the Chʼortiʼ families.  The politicized spelling Chʼortiʼ was introduced later in an attempt to lessen associations between Chʼortiʼ speakers and stereotypical professions.
  Chʼortiʼ is one of the three modern descendants of Chʼolan language which is a sub-group of Mayan languages. Other two modern descendants are Chontal and Chʼol. These three descendants are still spoken by people. Chʼortiʼ language and Chʼolti language are two sub-branches belong to the Eastern Chʼolan. And Chʼolti language is already extinct today.
  Actually there are some debates among the scholars how the Chʼolan language should be classified. John Robertson considered the direct ancestor of colonial Chʼoltiʼ is the language of the hieroglyphs. The language of the hieroglyphs is realized as 'Classic Chʼoltiʼan' by John Robertson, David Stuart, and Stephen Houston. And then the language of the hieroglyphs in turn becomes the ancestor of Chʼortiʼ. The relationship shows as the chart below.
caption: A map showing the present-day locations of the Mayan Languages. The colours of the language names shows closely related groups. The size of the name shows the relative number of speakers.
exif: {}