Tojolabal language

Tojolabal language
Name	Tojolabal
States	Mexico
Region	Chiapas
Familycolor	American
Fam1	Mayan
Fam2	Tzeltalan

Tojolabal language Tojolabal is a Mayan language spoken in southeastern Mexico, notable in studies by scholars associated with University of Chicago, Harvard University, Smithsonian Institution, Max Planck Society, and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. It has been the subject of fieldwork linked to projects at Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, and El Colegio de México. Documentation efforts intersect with programs supported by UNESCO, Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, European Research Council, and British Academy.

Classification and Genetic Affiliation

Tojolabal belongs to the Mayan family alongside languages studied at Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, Pennsylvania State University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth College. Within Mayan it is classified in the Tzeltalan branch discussed in publications from Linguistic Society of America, Association for Linguistic Typology, Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas, American Anthropological Association, and Royal Anthropological Institute. Comparative work referencing data sets from Field Museum, British Museum, Biblioteca Nacional de México, Institute of Linguistics (Mexico), and Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico) situates Tojolabal with relatives such as languages appearing in research by Nicholas Evans, Marc Okrand, Noam Chomsky, Mary Laughren, and Terence Kaufman.

Geographic Distribution and Demographics

Tojolabal is concentrated in the state of Chiapas near municipalities referenced by San Cristóbal de las Casas, Comitán de Domínguez, La Trinitaria, Las Margaritas, and Ocosingo. Census and field surveys coordinated with Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, Secretaría de Salud (Mexico), Secretaría de Cultura (Mexico), Pew Research Center, and World Bank report speaker communities in towns documented by Miguel Hidalgo, Benito Juárez, Emiliano Zapata, José María Morelos, and Francisco I. Madero. Demographic studies cross-reference migration patterns to cities such as Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Tapachula, Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Los Angeles.

Phonology

Descriptions of Tojolabal phonology appear in works affiliated with Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, University of California, Los Angeles, University of British Columbia, University of Toronto, and Australian National University. Reports compare consonant inventories with examples from languages discussed at Linguistic Society of America meetings and features documented in studies by Peter Ladefoged, Kenneth Pike, William Bright, Alfred Kroeber, and Edward Sapir. Vowel systems are analyzed in the context of typologies presented by International Phonetic Association, Royal Society, National Science Foundation, Academia Mexicana de la Lengua, and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología.

Grammar and Syntax

Analyses referencing work from MIT Press, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Routledge, and John Benjamins Publishing Company describe ergativity and alignment patterns comparable to those discussed by Paul Kroskrity, Stephen Levinson, Diane Nelson, Lyle Campbell, and Judith Aissen. Morphosyntactic studies involve field data archived at LLACAN, PARADISEC, The Endangered Languages Archive, Library of Congress, and Bibliothèque nationale de France. Typological comparisons involve case studies from Quechua, Nahuatl, Tzotzil, K'iche', and Yucatec Maya cited in literature by R. M. W. Dixon, Michael Silverstein, Raymond W. Gibbs Jr., E. S. Bender, and Osvaldo Charaudeau.

Vocabulary and Dialects

Lexical surveys coordinated with Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas, Summer Institute of Linguistics, SIL International, Lexicon Project, and Ethnologue document regional variants near communities referenced in studies by Carlos Lenkersdorf, Agustín Guzmán, Rodrigo Medellín, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Miguel León-Portilla. Dialectal variation aligns with patterns observed in neighboring languages addressed by Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, and Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social publications.

Writing System and Orthography

Orthographic proposals have been discussed in reports produced with participation from Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas, Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas, Secretaría de Educación Pública, Unidad de Servicios Bibliotecarios y de Información, and Consejo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes de Chiapas. Standardization efforts reference precedents in codification processes involving Real Academia Española, Academia Mexicana de la Lengua, Universidad Iberoamericana, Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, and Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. Community orthographies reflect educational materials influenced by initiatives supported by UNICEF, Save the Children, Inter-American Development Bank, World Health Organization, and Médecins Sans Frontières.

Language Vitality and Revitalization Efforts

Vitality assessments employ frameworks from UNESCO, Ethnologue, Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, Endangered Languages Project, and SIL International and involve NGOs such as Fundación Alfredo Harp Helú, Centro de Desarrollo Comunitario, Asociación Civil, Comité Pro-Mejoramiento, and Colectivo Cultural. Revitalization programs partner with institutions like Universidad de la Sierra Juárez, Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and Secretaría de Cultura (Mexico) and are funded by agencies including UNESCO, Ford Foundation, Gates Foundation, Inter-American Foundation, and European Commission.

Category:Mayan languages