Mayan language

Mayan language

What it sounds like, its unique perspective, and how it is written

Objetivos de aprendizaje

Meta - Today, I will be able to describe the writing and speech of Yucatec Maya.

¿Por qué? - So that I can examine the history and use of Yucatec Maya.

¡Éxito! - I am successful when I write my name in my own made up script and compare it to Yucatec Maya.

Multiple Choice

Bell work

Where can we traditionally find Maya people?

• Guatemala

• Chile

• Brazil

• Perú

Multiple Select

What are some of the things for which the Mayan are known?

• Giant ruins hidden in the forest

• Fighting and defeating the Spanish

• Mixing with the Spanish to create a new culture

• Having an advanced writing system

• Creating a calendar that was only 17 seconds different from today's calendar

Multiple Select

What are some of the contributions that the Maya people have made to our world civilization?

• Invention of the number 0

• Codices of their language and history

• How to take care of jaguars

• Helping to ensure civil rights of marginalized communities

• Building hidden cities in the Andes

Open Ended

Name 3 topographical features of Guatemala.

Multiple Select

Why is corn so important to Maya? Select all that apply.

• It is from where mankind came.

• It is their staple food.

• It is the crop that brings in the most money.

• It is a crop that grows well in their area.

• It is a crop that arrived in 1850 and brought a lot of opportunity with it.

Open Ended

Class work

What are some of the things that you noticed about Yucatec Maya speech? Be specific.

Open Ended

What are we talking about when we discuss "tense" in a language?

Open Ended

What are we talking about when we talk about "mood" in a language?

Multiple Select

What is a way that Yucatec Maya understands time? Select all that apply.

• By the aspect/context of their speech.

• By using words like, "before, after, and then".

• By the mood they are in.

• By adding in things like, "yesterday, today, and tomorrow".

• By the irrealis (something not based in fact).

Open Ended

What are some benefits to having a tenseless language? Name two.

Open Ended

What are some drawbacks of having a tenseless language? Name two.

Please open a note taking app or get out a piece of paper.

Please pay attention to the next video by writing out 10 words in Mayan.

Open Ended

What are the ways in which our written language communicates the sounds it makes?

Multiple Select

What are some of the ways that Mayan script communicates the sounds it makes?

• Each syllable has its own shape to communicate its own sound.

• They use only vowels at the end of words.

• You can use pictures with syllable sounds.

• It doesn't communicate sounds so much as pictures of what they are talking.

Multiple Choice

What is something that Maya script can do that many other languages cannot?

• Represent the word in picture form as well as syllable symbols or a combo.

• Add in a lot of different detail that makes the writing more beautiful but takes a lot longer.

• Invent new images for words whenever they want or need something new.

• The syllable symbols allow the words to be said any way you wish, but reading it allows you to know the right way.

Please use a piece of paper to write out your name in a different way. How do your shapes, letters, syllable symbols, etc. convey the sound of your name?