The analysis of language contact phenomena, as with many types of linguistic analysis, starts from the similarity and difference of linguistic systems. This dissertation will examine the consequences of linguistic similarity and the social construction of difference in the ‘Lowland Mayan linguistic area’, a region spanning parts of Guatemala, Southern Mexico, Belize and Honduras, in which related languages, all belonging to the Mayan language family, have been in intensive contact with each other over at least the past two millennia. The linguistic outcomes of this contact are described in detail in the dissertation. They include contact-induced changes in the phonology, morphology, and syntax of the languages involved of a type and degree that seems to contravene otherwise robust cross-linguistic tendencies. I propose that these cross-linguistically unusual outcomes of language contact in the Maya Lowlands result, in part, from an awareness of the inherited similarities between these languages, and in part from the role that linguistic features, but not languages as whole systems, appear to have played in the formation of community or other identities. This dissertation investigates two complementary questions about language contact phenomena that can be ideally explored through the study of languages with a high level of inherited similarity in contact with one another. The first is how historically specific, dynamic strategies and processes of constructing and asserting group identity and difference, as well as the role that language plays in these, can condition the outcomes of language contact. The second is more language internal: what role does (formal, structural) inherited similarity play in conditioning the outcome of language contact between related languages? These two questions are connected in the following hypothesis: that inherited linguistic similarity can itself be an important resource in the construction of identity and difference in particular social settings, and that the awareness of similarity between languages (mediated, as it is, by these processes of identity construction) facilitates contact-induced changes that are unlikely, or even unavailable without that perception of sameness. This proposal carries with it a call for more research on contact between related languages as related languages, and not as utterly separate systems. / text

Thesis (M.A.)--Kent State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed April 22, 2010). Advisor: Fred Smith. Keywords: Baby Jaguar; Chaak; Maya ceramic painting; Yum Cimil; Codex Vessels. Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-90).

Under lång tid har mayafolkets landskap, av arkeologer, ansetts vara homogent. Detta har bidragit till tolkningen att det förhållande som mayabefolkningen hade till sin urbana levnadsmiljö respektive omgivande topografi, likväl som förhållande till det kulturella livet har sett likadant ut oberoende av region. I realiteten är det naturliga landskapet i Mesoamerika heterogent, vilket då även resulterar i urbana och kulturella skillnader mellan regionerna. I denna uppsats kommer undersökas och diskuteras de skillnader som finns mellan de olika mayakulturerna och hur detta kan ha påverkat jordbruket inom regionerna. Dessutom kommer regionerna jämföras med avseende på potentiella skillnader i kultur likväl som rumsliga skillnader i topografi och det urbana landskapet. Den klassiska tidsepoken (250-950 e.Kr.) kommer vara i fokus, men som referenspunkter och med grund i att olika städer uppstod vid olika epoker kommer även andra tidsperioder att behandlas i uppsatsen. Denna uppsats är baserad på litteratur studier och är en kvalitativ undersökning.

The diploma thesis aims to find out what was the media image of the end of the Mayan calendar as the supposed end of the world in 2012. A a number of theories, reflections and predictions were made about what would probably happen on December 21, 2012. The apocalyptic predictions of the end of the world appeared most often. Probably due to deeper ignorance of the theme and attractiveness of catastrophic scenarios, the end of the Mayan calendar has become a widespread phenomenon that resonated across society and has become a frequent subject of media stories. The analysis of media content investigated the extent to which the 2012 phenomenon of the selected media was really devoted, what kind of approach to the topic the media took and whether it encouraged fear or uncertainty in society. The thesis provides a sufficient theoretical basis and historical context that the subsequent analysis can then rely on.

Essa é uma investigação do corpo do ator que visa explorar o mito e o ritual dentro das artes cênicas. Mito poéticas do corpo é uma busca da potencialização de um corpo múltiplo e despersonalizado. O objetivo é descobrir a poesia corpórea de cada ator criador. A terminologia despersonalização é um conceito aplicado pela cineasta de vanguarda Maya Deren, uma inspiração fundamental para minha investigação teórica e prática. O treinamento físico e vocal constou com uma série de abordagens corporais que transitam entrem princípios dança e do teatro. O foco primordial é trabalhar com os estados. Para isso, a observação dos orixás do candomblé em suas festas cerimoniais foram subsídios que vieram a contribuir determinantemente na investigação de algumas corporeidades. Esse processo de investigação exigiu um esvaziamento de energias pessoais uma despersonalização - para experienciar uma multiplicidade de estados gerados por motes arquetípicos e simbólicos. / This is an investigation of the actor\'s body which aims to explore the myth and ritual within the performing arts. Poetic myth of the body is a search for potentiation of a multiple body and despersonalized. The idea is to find the poetry body of each actor creator. The terminology depersonalization is a concept applied by the avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren, a key inspiration for my theoretical and practical research. The vocal and physical training consisted of a series of approaches body, passing entering principles of dance and theater. The primary focus is to work with \"states\". For this reason, the observation of the deities of Candomblé in their ceremonial festivities were subsidies that came to contribute decisively in the investigation of certain corporeities. This process of investigation required a \"emptying\" of personal energy - a depersonalization - to experience a multitude of states generated by arquetypal headings and symbolic.

L’objectif premier de cette thèse est de contribuer à la documentation et à la description d’une langue indigène en danger de disparition au Mexique et parallèlement, à sa revitalisation, en apportant aux locuteurs de cette langue des outils pour l’enseignement et la transmission de la langue.La langue étudiée dans cette thèse est le tének (parfois écrit teenek ; connu également comme le huastèque/wastek) – une langue maya parlée dans l’Etat de San Luis Potosí au Mexique. Bien qu’elle ne soit pas officiellement reconnue comme étant en danger d’extinction à court terme, le destin du ténekdemeure toutefois incertain dans le moyen terme. Ce fait est dûment démontré dans la première partie de lathèse, où l’on remet en question la classification des langues dites en voie de disparition, en révélant l’étendue du risque encouru par beaucoup d’autres langues indigènes.Les locuteurs de maya tének sont séparés des autres locuteurs de langues mayas par plus de 700km,tout en étant en contact avec des locuteurs de langues indigènes d’autres familles de langues mésoaméricaines(notamment uto-aztèque et otomangue). Cette situation ambivalente d’isolement endogène etde contact exogène fait de la documentation du tének contemporain un sujet d’étude particulièrement intéressant du point de vue typologique. Son isolement par rapport aux autres langues mayas contribue àfaire du tének une langue conservatrice maintenant certains liens privilégiés avec le proto-maya, mais par ailleurs, ce même isolement, associé au contact avec d’autres langues méso-américaines non maya, a conduit le tének à innover et à évoluer de manière originale, par rapport aux tendances typologiques de son groupe phylogénétique. Un exemple d’une innovation marquante de ce genre est, sur le plan morphosyntaxique, le système de l’inverse, fondé sur une hiérarchie de marqueurs personnels – un paramètre typologique original, qui a été développé par le tének comme une innovation périphérique, et qui s’avère unique à l’intérieur de la famille maya. Un autre exemple est la classification des substantifs, qui diffère de celle des autres langues mayas. La complexité de la structure verbale tének nous fournit également de nombreux traits intéressants : elle se manifeste par des marqueurs d’aspects primaires(accompli, inaccompli, etc.) et également d’aspects secondaires (exhaustif, intensif, résultatif, etc.), plusieurs marqueurs antipassifs (dont un est utilisé pour exprimer la réciprocité, ce qui est un phénomène plutôt inhabituel pour une langue maya), et plus d’un moyen pour exprimer le passif et la voix moyenne.Toutes ces caractéristiques sont examinées en détail dans la deuxième partie de cette thèse, en fondant l’argumentation sur des données de première main, collectées sur le terrain dans le cadre de ce projet, à la fois sous forme d’élicitation, de collecte et de transcription de mythes et textes oraux.La troisième et dernière partie de la thèse est dédiée à la présentation de certains outils et méthodes de documentation originaux et participatifs, qui ont servi non seulement pour le travail de terrain, mais également dans des ateliers organisés afin de collecter des données pour ce projet aussi bien que pour fournir aux locuteurs et/ou aux enseignants du tének des moyens de lutter contre la disparition de la langue et la détresse pédagogique due au manque de moyens pour se former sur leurs langues autochtones.Certains des résultats obtenus grâce à ces méthodes sont également présentés ici. Cette partie de la thèse examine aussi la façon dont l’éducation bilingue et interculturelle au Mexique travaille à la protection des langues natives mexicaines. / The principal objective of this thesis is to document and describe an endangered indigenous language of Mexico and, in parallel, to provide tools to its speakers for the teaching and transmission of said language, thereby contributing to efforts for its revitalisation.As documented within the thesis, Tének (sometimes written Teenek; also known by thename Huastec/Wastek) is a Mayan language spoken in the state of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, and although it is not officially recognised as being in any particular danger of extinction, its destiny is quite uncertain in the mid-term. This is duly demonstrated within the first part of the thesis, thereby questioning the classification of endangered languages, and revealing the extent to which manymore languages are at risk than apparent.The Maya Tének are separated from the other Mayan language speakers by more than 700km, but are in close contact with indigenous language speakers of other origins (namely Uto-Aztec and Otomanguean). This configuration of isolation/contact creates, typologically speaking, aparticularly interesting object of study. Its isolation from the other Mayan languages means thatTének is and has remained a conservative language displaying close links with the proto-language,yet this same situation of isolation, coupled with its contact with languages of other origins, hasforced Tének to innovate and to evolve in other ways. One such example is the classification of nouns which differs from other Mayan languages. Another Tének development is its morphological inverse system based on a hierarchy of person markers which is unique within the Mayan family.The complex verb structure of Tének also presents some interesting features : it has both primary aspect markers (completive, incompletive, etc.) and secondary aspect markers (exhaustive,intensive, résultative, etc.), several antipassive markers (one of which is used to express reciprocity,which is in itself unusual for a Mayan language), more than one way to express the passive as well as the middle voice. All of these features are examined in detail within the second part of this thesis based on original materials collected in the field within the framework of this project both via elicitation and the collection and transcription of stories.The third and final part of the thesis is dedicated to the presentation of some of the original and creative documentation methods and tools used both for fieldwork and in organised workshop sessions in order to collect data for this project as well as to provide means by which the speakersand/or teachers of Tének can fight against the loss of the language. Some of the results of the work accomplished via these methods are presented here too. This part of the thesis also takes a look at how bilingual and intercultural education in Mexico is shaped and the actions taken toward protecting Mexican native languages.This thesis was developed as an experimental project in documentary linguistics; this particular paradigm of linguistics is revealing itself to be more and more important as languages continually disappear but remains as yet a little explored domain within the field of linguistics inFrance.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Background. The Maya are one of the largest Mesoamerican groups. The decline of the classic Maya society, the subsequent Colonial domination and the current national economic policies has had a severe biological and social impact on the Maya across several generations. Accumulated evidence suggests that conditions and environments experienced by one generation can affect the health, growth and development of the next generation (Emanuel, 1986). Historical evidence of political, educational and socioeconomic deprivation suffered by the Maya from Yucatan, Mexico, provides us with the opportunity to test the intergenerational influence hypothesis and ascertain the impact of the biosocial background of urban Maya grandmothers (first generation) and mothers (second generation) on the growth and nutritional status of their children (third generation). Aims. The main objective is to assess the impact of socioeconomic and intergenerational factors on the growth of Maya children, in a sample of children, their mothers and maternal grandmothers. The specific objectives are: 1) to assess the nutritional status and nutritional dual burden prevalence in participants, 2) to identify the pre and postnatal biosocial and economic factors that relate to the nutritional status of the children, and 3) to assess the intergenerational influences on the growth of participants: from grandmothers to mothers and from grandmothers and mothers to children. Methods. The sample is composed of 109 triads of Maya children (6-8 years old), their mothers and their maternal grandmothers from the city of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. From September 2011 to June 2012 we collected anthropometric, body composition and socioeconomic data on the three generations. We also assessed parameters about living conditions of maternal and grand-maternal childhood. Nutritional status was assessed by comparing the participants against the Comprehensive Growth References published by Frisancho (2008) and based on the NHANES III. Pre and postnatal biosocial and economic factors were analysed through multiple regression models. Intergenerational influences were assessed through: 1) bivariate and partial correlations in anthropometric and derived variables between participants, 2) path analysis to identify the direction and magnitude of direct and indirect causal effects between the three generations, and 3) multiple regression models to identify the effect of anthropometric and socioeconomic intergenerational factors on the growth of mothers and children. Results. Eleven percent of the children were categorized as stunted and 36% met the criteria of risk for abdominal obesity. Only 1% of children exhibited the combination of stunting and abdominal obesity. Mothers and grandmothers showed very low average heights and high levels of abdominal obesity. The combination of maternal abdominal obesity and child stunting was present in the 6% of mother-child dyads. It was found that preeclampsia and cigarette smoke exposure during pregnancy and household overcrowding impacted negatively the linear growth of the children. Maternal education and the presence of grandmothers at home predicted healthier values of BMI, waist circumference, body fat and body lean mass percentages on children. Maternal height and leg length (LL = height sitting height) were positively associated with the linear growth of children. These associations were not modified by the grand-maternal size, in terms of very short stature. In contrast, associations in weight, body mass index, sum of skinfolds and fat mass were stronger in grandmother-child pairs than in mother-child pairs. The birth weight of the children was positively associated with maternal head circumference and negatively associated with the absence of a toilet at home during maternal childhood (i.e. when the mother was growing up). Grand-maternal intergenerational predictors of children s height, leg length, body mass index, waist circumference and skinfolds were: index of household characteristics, family size and school attendance during childhood. Family size and paternal job loss during maternal childhood were the maternal intergenerational factors that influenced significantly the body mass index, waist circumference and skinfolds of children. Conclusions. Growth and nutritional status of the children, mothers and grandmothers reflect the effects of chronic deprivation and poverty that are a constant among the Maya in the Yucatan. Under and-overnutrition coexisted in this sample of three generations. Pre-and-postnatal biosocial and economic factors impacted the growth and nutritional status of children. Harsh living conditions experienced by mothers and grandmothers during their childhood influenced the prenatal and postnatal growth of children. We suggest that disadvantaged conditions experienced by mothers and grandmothers during their first years of life impacted their own growth and this in turn is influencing the growth of children of the third generation. Substantial reductions in poverty levels and increase educational levels of the mothers are required to overcome the intergenerational traces on the future generations.

The accusation by some villagers that I was an Anti-Christ provides an opportunity to reflect on the production of anthropological knowledge. The production of knowledge by anthropologists must not only take into account the personal characteristics of the anthropologist but also the ways in which the culture the anthropologist studies classifies that anthropologist, thereby making available to him or her certain ways of knowing. I my case, as an unmarried man with no visible means of economic support, I appeared similar to others, like Earthlords, and priests, who offered villagers Faustian bargains. The deals' dangers lay in the fact that the exchanges occurred outside of the moral and social frameworks which undergird the community. Thus, their accusation of me as antithetical to the community opens an opportunity to consider the nature of that community.