Yucatec Maya Sign Language
A language of Mexico
| Population | 16 deaf people out of a village of 500 in the primary location (1999 H. Smith). All use sign (Sacks 1989). |
| Region | Concentrated in south central Yucatán, sizeable concentration in northern Quintana Roo (1999 H. Smith). Chican, formerly called ‘Nohya’ (a pseudonym thought necessary at first to protect the deaf population), Yucatán. Isolated villages (at least 2 in Oxkutzcab, 4 in Xyatil, 1 in Carillo Puerto) throughout a wide portion of lowland Mayan region. Kinil is also mentioned (1997 H. Smith). |
| Alternate names | Nohya Sign Language |
| Dialects | Dialects of Yucatán and Quintana Roo probably differ, but users have no contact with each other. There is a report of a person in Guatemala who uses related signs. Not intelligible with Mexican Sign Language [mfs] used elsewhere in Mexico (R. Johnson and A. Bickford), and presumably not with any other sign languages. |
| Classification | Deaf sign language |
| Language use | 400 to 500 use it as L2 or L3 (1999 H. Smith). Deaf people reportedly well integrated in local society, so presumably the language is used in all domains in which deaf people participate. All ages. 100% monolingual within the deaf population; hearing native signers numbers unknown, but some of the deaf have married and thus may have natively bilingual hearing children. |
| Language development | Literacy rate in L2: 0%. |
| Comments | Congenital deafness. It is of some antiquity. |
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