Maya, Inca and Aztecs – Do they still exist?
Maybe you know this, too? You’re talking to someone you might not know that well, and the person asks you, “So, what do you do in your spare time?” You tell her about learning languages, and yes, for most people that’s quite an unusual hobby. Then, when you’re totally into your subject and enthusiastically talking about indigenous languages like Náhuatl or Maya, how many times have you looked into questioning faces?!
Kind of like telling someone you’ve seen a mammoth or a sabre-toothed tiger.
Extinct. History.
Before I discovered indigenous languages, I honestly hadn’t given it that much thought either. We here in Europe tend to have little to no contact with indigenous languages and cultures. Unless you come into contact with them while travelling and only if you’re interested in them.
What we do know, however, are reports or documentaries about the ancient Aztecs, the great Maya civilization or the Inca empire.
All these reports tempt us to regard the history of these cultures as something closed. Something that belongs to the past.
In fact, a large number of these cultures still exist today – and with them a large part of their languages! Of course, these languages have changed a lot since the time of the Spanish conquest.
Globally, the indigenous population is only 6%. However, these 6% speak about 4000 of the total of about 7000 languages.
Indigenous languages are still spoken on every continent. In Latin America, there are currently about 560 different indigenous languages.
I would like to introduce you to 3 languages that you may have heard of because of the world’s famous civilisations:
Quechua, Maya and Náhuatl
Quechua
Quechua is known as the language spoken by the Incas in South America. It now extends across Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador and Colombia. Peru is considered the origin of the Inca culture, which stretched across the entire Andean region. As the empire spread, so did their language as a lingua franca. This is why Quechua, when all its varieties are included, is considered the most widely spoken indigenous language in South America, with about 8 million speakers.
As already indicated, it is not a single language but, strictly speaking, a series of different dialects.
For this reason, the Quechua languages are divided into the following groups – Quechua I and Quechua II, which in turn is divided into the groups Quechua IIa, Quechua IIb and Quechua IIc. Within this group, the dialects are generally mutually intelligible.
| Language | Region |
|---|---|
| Quechua I | Central Peru |
| Quechua IIa | Northern Peru |
| Quechua IIb | Ecuador, southern Colombia, northern Peru |
| Quechua IIc | Around Cuzco, Bolivia, Northern Argentina, Northern Chile |
Maya
Maya is not a single language, but the name for an entire language family. The Maya culture extended over large parts of Central America. Today, a total of 31 Maya languages (Ethnologue, 2018) are spoken by about 5 million people in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala.
The largest Maya language is K’iche’, which is spoken by about 1.9 million speakers in Guatemala. Yucatecan Maya (also called Maaya t’aan) follows in second place with about 740,000 speakers.
Náhuatl
Náhuatl is the language of the Aztecs. Its cultural centre was Tenochtitlan, where Mexico City is located today.
Today, Náhuatl is the most widely spoken indigenous language in Mexico, with about 1.8 million speakers. The speakers of Náhuatl are spread over various regions, mainly in central Mexico. The large area of distribution has given rise to numerous regional dialects, not all of which are mutually intelligible. Today, there are about 28 different varieties of Náhuatl.
Incidentally, some of the words we use every day are also derived from Náhuatl.
When previously unknown aliments were exported to Europe, the corresponding names were taken over at the same time.
| English | Náhuatl |
|---|---|
| avocado | ahuacatl |
| tomato | tomatl |
| chocolate | chocolatl |
| guacamole | ahuacamolli |
| chili | chilli |
I hope I was able to show you with the “big” indigenous languages that they are far from being extinct and are part of the everyday life of many millions of people, not only in Latin America, but all over the world. And they have also found their way into our everyday lives in the form of tomatoes, avocados and, of course, chocolate. Maybe you will remember this the next time you eat a piece of chocolate.
