Editing Yucatec Maya language (section)

== Etymology ==

According to the Hocabá dictionary, compiled by American anthropologist [[Victoria Bricker]], there is a variant name {{lang|yua|mayab tʼàan}} {{IPA|[majabˈtʼàːn]}}, literally 'flat speech'<ref name="Bricker 1998 181">{{cite book|last=Bricker|first=Victoria|year=1998|title=Dictionary Of The Maya Language: As Spoken in Hocabá Yucatan|publisher=University of Utah Press|page=181|isbn=978-0874805697}}</ref>). A popular, yet false, alternative etymology of Mayab is ''ma ya'ab'' or 'not many, the few', which derives from [[New Age]] spiritualist interpretations of the Maya. The use of "Mayab" as the name of the language seems to be unique to the town of [[Hocabá Municipality|Hocabá]], as indicated by the Hocabá dictionary<ref name="Bricker 1998 181"/> and is not employed elsewhere in the region or in Mexico, by either Spanish or Maya speakers. As used in Hocabá, "Mayab" is not the recognized name of the language, but instead a "nickname" derived from a common nickname for the region, the Mayab ("Mayab, the land of pheasant and deer"), the use of which emerged in the colonial period. This use may also derive from the title of a self-published book by a Yucatec scholar, [[:es:Santiago Pacheco Cruz|Santiago Pacheco Cruz]] (1969).<ref>PACHECO CRUZ, SANTIAGO
1969 Hahil Tzolbichunil Pan Mayab. Merida: the author.</ref> The meaning and origins of "Maya" as the name of the language (versus Mayab) and as the ethnic identity (ethnonym) are complex questions — see etymology and social history of the word as ethnic identity and name of the language in Restall (2004)<ref name="Restall, Matthew 2004">Restall, Matthew, 2004. "Maya Ethnogenesis" Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, vol. 9 (1): 64–8.</ref> and Restall and Gabbert (2017).<ref name="Restall 2017. pp. 91–130">Restall, Matthew and Wolfgang Gabbert, 2017. "Maya Ethnogenesis and Group Identity in Yucatan, 1500–1900." In "The Only True People" Linking Maya Identities Past and Present. Edited by Bethany J. Beyyette and Lisa J. LeCount. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, pp.91–130.</ref>

[[Linguist]]s have added ''Yucatec'' to the name in order to clearly distinguish it from all other Mayan languages (such as [[Kʼicheʼ language|Kʼicheʼ]] and [[Itzaʼ language|Itzaʼ]]). Thus, the use of the term Yucatec Maya to refer to the language is scholarly or scientific nomenclature.<ref name="profile">{{cite web |title=Maya or Mayans? Comment on Correct Terminology and Spellings |url=http://www.osea-cite.org/program/maya_or_mayans.php |access-date=12 March 2017 |website=OSEA-cite.org }}</ref> Native speakers do not qualify the language as ''Yucatec'', calling it "Maaya", "maayaʼ tʼàan", or "maasewal t'aan" (literally 'commoner language') in their language and simply ''(el) maya'' when speaking Spanish.

In the [[States of Mexico|Mexican states]] of [[Yucatán (state)|Yucatán]], some parts of [[Campeche]], [[Tabasco]], [[Chiapas]], and [[Quintana Roo]], Yucatec Maya is still the mother tongue of a large segment of the population in the early 21st century. It has approximately 800,000 speakers in this region. There were an additional 2,518 speakers of Yucatec Maya in Belize as of the 2010 national census.<ref>{{Cite report | author=The Statistical Institute of Belize | year=2013 | title=Belize Population and Housing Census Country Report | url=http://sib.org.bz/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Census_Report_2010.pdf | publisher=The Statistical Institute of Belize | page=82 | accessdate=August 16, 2021
}}</ref>