Mayan languages: the threads that articulate the identity and life of indigenous

Abstract

The language, in addition to the communicative functions that it fulfills, is also a marker of cultural identity and political struggle of the peoples; it is the bridge through which the culture, worldview and cognitive heritage of a people is transmitted. In Guatemala, as in the other countries of the Americas, indigenous languages have been exterminated, displaced or made invisible, first by the colony and then by linguistic extermination policies of the "national" states. The inclusion of state policies for the recovery, study and promotion of native peoples' languages is recent. The revitalization of indigenous languages depends mainly on the same members of the indigenous peoples, but also on the States, through favorable linguistic policies, especially for establishing their official rank and creating the conditions for their use in all areas of life, too, is important the planning of the linguistic body and the way of learning them from home and educational centers at all levels.