Classic Maya language

Classic Maya (or properly Classical Ch'olti') is the oldest historically attested member of the Maya linguistic family. It is the main language documented in the pre-Columbian inscriptions of the classical period of the Maya civilization. It is also a direct descendant of Proto-Mayan (as are Wastek and Yucatec) and the common ancestor of the Cholan branch of Mayan languages. Contemporary descendants of classical Maya include Ch'ol and Ch'orti'. Speakers of these languages can understand many Classic Mayan words. Classic Maya is quite a morphologically binding language, and most words in the language consist of multiple morphemes with relatively little irregularity. It shows some regional and temporal variations, which is completely normal considering the long period of use of the language. Even so, the texts make it clear that it is a single, uniform language. Classical Maya shows ergative alignment in its morphology, as well as syntactically in focus constructs. Although the descendant Cholan languages limit this pattern of ergative alignment to sentences in completive aspect, classical Mayan does not show evidence of divided ergativity. Its spoken form, the Ch'olti', from the Manche region, is known from a manuscript written between 1685 and 1695, first studied by Daniel Garrison Brinton. This language has become of particular interest for the study of Mayan glyphs, since most of the glyphic texts are written in the classical variety of Ch'olti', known as Classical Maya by epigraphers, which is believed to have been spoken as a prestigious language form throughout the Maya region during the classic period. During the Classic Period, the main branches of Proto-Mayan began to diversify into separate languages. The division between Proto-Yucatecan (in the north, the Yucatan Peninsula) and Proto-Cholan (in the south, the Chiapas highlands and the Petén Basin) had already occurred in the Classic, when most of the Mayan inscriptions existing were written.