Page Type: languageYucatec Maya Sign Language | Ethnologue

MSD ISO 639-3

Yucatec Maya Sign Language

A language of Mexico

ISO 639
msd
Alternate Names
Chican Sign Language, LSChicana, Lengua de Señas Chicana, Lenguaje Manual Maya, MSL, Maya Sign Language, Mayan Sign Language, Nohya Sign Language, “Lengua Mímica Maya” (pej.)
Population
400 (Escobedo Delgado 2012). 17 deaf and up to 400 hearing in Chican, the only location for which information is available (1999 H. Smith, Escobedo Delgado 2012, Zeshan et al 2013). Number of users elsewhere unknown. 17 monolinguals (Escobedo Delgado 2012).
Location:
Quintana Roo and Yucatán states: Carillo Puerto, Chican, Oxkutzcab, Tixméhuac, Xyatil. (1999 H. Smith, Zeshan et al 2013).
Language Status
6a (Vigorous).
Classification
Sign language, Shared sign language
Dialects
Dialect variation in the Yucatán outside of Chican has not been assessed. Part of a larger complex of dialects or related languages (called Meemul Tziij), used among indigenous populations in Guatemala and other parts of Mexico, which may have originated in precolonial times (Fox Tree 2009). Distinct from Mexican Sign Language [mfs] (1998 R. Johnson, Fox Tree 2009, Zeshan et al 2013). 68% potential cognates with Meemul Tziij of Nahualá, Sololá, Guatemala (Fox Tree 2009).
Language Use
Widely used by hearing people as well as deaf. Hearing people speak Yucatec Maya Sign Language and Spanish [spa]. Reportedly well integrated into local society, so presumably used in all domains in which deaf people participate. Used by all.
Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: 0%. Some deaf children from Chican attend a nearby special education school, which makes little use of signs.
Other Comments
Hereditary deafness. Chican, Yucatán was formerly called ‘Nohya’ in some publications, a pseudonym thought necessary at first to protect the deaf population. Other similar situations have been reported among Chatino, Zapotec, and Tzotzil communities (2021 A. Bickford).

Also Spoken in

Map

Location: Quintana Roo and Yucatán states: Carillo Puerto, Chican, Oxkutzcab, Tixméhuac, Xyatil. (1999 H. Smith, Zeshan et al 2013).