Editing Classic Maya language (section)

{{Short description|Oldest attested Mayan language family member}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Classic Maya
| region           = [[Maya Lowlands]]
| era              = 200–900
| familycolor      = Mayan
| fam1             = [[Mayan languages|Mayan]]
| fam2             = Western
| fam3             = [[Chʼolan languages|Cholan–Tzeltalan]]
| fam4             = Cholan
| fam5             = Ch'olti'
| iso3             = emy
| linglist         = emy
| lingname         = Epigraphic Mayan
| glotto           = epig1241
| glottoname       = Epigraphic Mayan
| image            = Palenque glyphs-edit1.jpg
| imagecaption     = Part of an inscription at [[Palenque]]
| script           = [[Maya script| Lowland Maya Hieroglyphs]]
| nativename       = {{lang|emy|Chʼoltiʼ}}
| ethnicity        = [[Maya civilization|Mayans]]
}}

'''Classic Maya''' (or properly '''Classical Chʼoltiʼ''') is the oldest historically attested member of the [[Mayan languages|Mayan language family]]. It is the main language documented in the [[pre-Columbian]] inscriptions of the classical period of the [[Maya civilization]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Houston|first1=Stephen|last2=Robertson|first2=John|last3=Stuart|first3=David|date=2000|title=The Language of Classic Maya Inscriptions|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/300142|journal=Current Anthropology|volume=41|issue=3|pages=321–356|doi=10.1086/300142|jstor=10.1086/300142|pmid=10768879|s2cid=741601|issn=0011-3204|url-access=subscription}}</ref> It is also the common ancestor of the [[Chʼolan languages|Cholan branch]] of the Mayan language family. Contemporary descendants of classical Maya include [[Chʼol language|Chʼol]] and [[Ch’orti’ language|Chʼortiʼ]]. Speakers of these languages can understand many Classic Mayan words.

Classic Maya is quite a morphologically [[Agglutination|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 [[split ergativity]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Stuart|first1=David|last2=Law|first2=Danny|title=Classic Mayan: An overview of language in ancient hieroglyphic script|url=https://www.academia.edu/34169418|journal=In: Aissen, Judith, Nora C. England and Roberto Zavala Maldonado (Eds.) the Mayan Languages. Routledge Language Family Series. New York: Routledge.|date=2017 |page=128 |language=en}}</ref>

Its spoken form, the [[Chʼoltiʼ language|Chʼoltiʼ]], from the [[Manche Chʼol]] region, is known from a manuscript written between 1685 and 1695,<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2024-11-19 |language=es |title=Arte en lengua Cholti que quiere decir lengua de milperos |url=https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/p15999coll16/id/53802 |website=contentdm.lib.byu.edu}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> 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 Chʼoltiʼ,<ref>{{cite web|title=Vocabulary in the Chꞌoltiꞌ language |url=http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/dictionary/boot/cholti_moran1695_revised.pdf}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> known as Classical Maya by [[Epigraphy|epigraphers]],<ref>Houston, Robertson & Stuart (2000).</ref> which is believed to have been spoken as a prestigious language form throughout the [[Maya Region|Maya region]] during the [[classic period]].<ref>Kettunen & Helmke (2006) p. 12.</ref>