The Mayan Connection

Language Module

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (aka the Whorfian hypothesis) is named after the two American linguists who first formulated it. They start from the view that we all have a basic need to make sense of the world. To make sense of it, we impose an order on it. The main tool we have for organising the world is language. As you can see from the two quotations above, their view is that the language we use determines how we experience the world and how we express that experience. Hence, their view is often referred to as linguistic determinism.

In support of this view, Sapir and Whorf looked at the differences between several languages and English. For example, in Eskimo there are different words for falling snow, snow on the ground, hard-packed snow etc; in Aztec, a single word is used for snow, cold and ice. Sapir and Whorf were concerned not simply with differences in vocabulary, but also with major differences in structures. For example, the Hopi language shows no evidence of any concept of time seen as a dimension. Whorf, realising how vitally important the concept of time is in Western physics (for, without it, there can be no velocity or acceleration) developed an idea of what a Hopi physics might look like. He claimed it would be radically different from English physics and that it would be virtually impossible for an English physicist and a Hopi physicist to understand each other.

We have few snow-words for the same reason we have few snowploughs - we don't need them. In fact those of us who do need them, invent them. Thus skiers can identify different 'grades' of snow. I can talk about dark blue, pale blue, sky blue and could maybe identify cyan, mauve and one or two other shades, but artists have names for a whole range of blues. And where they run out of names, they use numbers to identify their paints. Presumably, if there were another Ice Age, then Aztecs would find ways of talking about the cold.

Few linguists would accept the strong formulation of the Whorfian hypothesis today. In any case, the evidence on which it is based seems to be highly suspect. Ekkehart Malotki, an anthroplogist who made an extensive study of the Hopi, has shown that their language, contrary to Whorf's claims, contains a variety of tenses and words for units of time and that their culture has sophisticated methods for recording events. As far as Eskimos are concerned, experts can come up with maybe a dozen words for snow in their languages, which is around as many as we have in English. In any case, even if they had four hundred, that would not suggest that their language conditions their experience of the world any more than the availability of several hundred numbers for colors conditions ours. If anything, it suggests that our experience of the world shapes our language.

However, a rather watered-down version is generally accepted. Language influences the way we perceive and remember and, generally, it predisposes us to look at the world in a certain way.

The Mayan Connection

History

The Mayan civilization flourished in Central America from about 2000 B.C. to about 1000 A.D. These short, muscular built, people built great temples, made astonishing artifacts, tools and pottery, carved their history on slabs of stelae and made scholastic achievements that forever changed the world. They were great astronomers, created an efficient calendar, derived their own writing system and developed ingenious mathematical concepts including the concept of 0.

Among their greatest achievements was that they managed to devise a fantastic trade route throughout Central America from Mexico to as far off as Roatan Island, Honduras. It is believed that the first Mayan setters that occupied Ambergris Caye totaled 10,000, inhabited almost every part of the island and initially set up fishing villages. As their settlements progressed they converted their settlements into trading centers.

To better accommodate their trading, it is believed that the Mayans dug a narrow channel, less than a mile long and no wider than a few feet, at the northern most tip of the Caye. Actually, Ambergris Caye is not really a caye but rather the end of the Yucatan Peninsula. The channel separates Ambergris Caye from Mexico and allowed the Mayans to cut their travel time considerably, since they no longer had to travel all the way around the island to get to northern mainland Belize and Chetumal Bay. Today the channel is called Bacalar Chico and is a marine reserve.

Very scientifically advanced, the Maya had a system of mathematics more advanced than Europe and they had a detailed written language. This allows us to take a closer look at the Mayan languages spoken today and make some comparisons among them.  This is especially significant because we can look for evidence that supports or refutes the linguistic determinism hypothesis. 

The Mayan language was spoken in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. Maya languages were also formerly spoken in western Honduras, and western El Salvador. The Maya was sub-divided into the Huastec, Yucatec, Western Maya, and Eastern Maya groups. The most important eastern Maya languages are Quiche, and Cakchiquel, but there are also Mam, Teco, Aguacatec, Ixil, Uspantec, Sacapultec, Sipacapa, Pocomam, Pocomchi, and Kekchi. The largest Western Maya language is Tzeltal, spoken in Chiapas, Mex., but other Western Maya languages include Chontal, Chol, Chorti, Tzotzio, Tojolabal, Chuj, Kanjobal, Acatec, Jacaltec, and Motozintlec. Yucatec is the most important language spoken in Yucatan, northern Guatemala, and Belize.

Take a look at the following websites to become familiar with the extensive scope and beauty of the Mayan languages.

Mayan Languages and where they are spoken

A Mayan Glossary

Mayan Language Syllabary

Say 'hello' in Mayan language

Mayan symbols

Languages of Guatemala

Assignment/Activities

This website is a perfect place to begin to investigate the implications of linguistic determinism hypothesis in the Mayan languages.  After you have read and examined the information presented in the previous websites about the Maya and their culture and civilization, try to think of words that might be highly important in Mayan culture and everyday life (like the snow example for the Eskimos).  Go to the database located at the top of the website The Maya Site, type in your words, and take a look at the number and variability of the Mayan equivalents across several of the Mayan languages.  Answer the following questions and write a brief report on your findings.

Questions for your essay

1. What were the words you investigated?

2. What were your reasons for selecting these specific words?

3. Which of the Mayan languages did you search?

4. How many different Mayan words did you find for your words?

5. Based on your knowledge of the linguistic determinism hypothesis, how do your findings either support or refute the hypothesis?

Alternative Assignment/Activity

1. Make a poster that includes your words, their meanings and perhaps pictures or other visual representations. Present this to your class along with verbal answers to the essay questions.

2. Make up a story that includes the use of the words you selected, making sure that your story teaches something about the relationship between language and culture.