Past Projects

In 2016, the Maryland Language Science Center opened the Guatemala Field Station near Lake Atitlán in the western highlands of Guatemala. The station addressed complex and locally relevant questions with an interdisciplinary range of expertise, in fields such as linguistics, nutrition, and business. This was the first of many planned global stations to assess regional needs and priorities, combine local and researcher expertise, and conduct relevant language research. 

The station was founded on connections with the community, as participants lived and engaged with local families. Access to local languages was crucial to create cultural and communal trust and link research areas. Visiting researchers could study any Mayan language and were trained in at least one local indigenous language. At summer field schools between 2016 and 2018, the chosen language was Kaqchikel, a widely spoken Mayan language in the area. 

Project outcomes included an annual summer field school, foundations for more research projects, and new relationships with local organizations and researchers. The field station maintained partnerships with the NGOs Wuqu' Kawoq, Renacimiento, and Kaqchi’ kem, an organization promoting literacy and digital knowledge in indigenous languages. With ties to Guatemala's Mayan communities, Dr. Mateo Pedro, the projects' Executive Director, provided logistical support to groups studying several Mayan languages, including Kaqchikel, Tz'utujiil, K'iche', Chuj, Awakateko, and Q'anjob'al.

The station also encouraged independent researchers to complete their interdisciplinary projects and data collection while working at the field station throughout the year while offering accommodations, local travel, workspace, language resources, and local contacts to help facilitate research. 

Structures of Mayan languages

Mayan languages are understudied and interest linguists due to their significant grammatical features. Improving our understanding of structure and use of Mayan languages was a major focus at the station. Excerpts from Pedro Mateo Pedro's book on Q'anjob'al Maya can be found here.

Child language development and assessment

Vocabulary is an ideal way to assess a young child's language development. The station worked in collaboration with Wuqu' Kawoq to develop a vocabulary assessment tool for children learning Kaqchikel as their native language. By creating these tools to assess a child's progress compared to peers, researchers aimed to offer ways for healthcare providers to identify children in need of language intervention.

Mayan language contact

There are around 30 Mayan languages. While researchers have studied and documented several, documentation of various Mayan languages is often done one language at a time. In practice, many of these languages have been in contact with each other, as well as Spanish, for extended periods. Investigating the interactions and resulting changes between these languages will improve documentation and resources for Mayan languages.

Publications, Projects, & Presentations Facilitated by the Field Station

2018 Field School - Researcher Presentations at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (June 2018)

Subject Preference and Ergativity (NSF grant), Maria Polinsky (UMD)

Investigating Endangered Language Contact for Awakateko and K'iche', two Mayan languages (NSF grant), Maria Polinsky (UMD)

Burukina, Irina, & Filiberto P. Majzul. 2018. Reflexive functional head, verbal and nominal predicates. Paper presented at the 36th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, UCLA, April 2018.

Pérez Pérez E., Mendoza Solís, J., Solís, M. V., Mendoza Méndez, R.E., Simón R.P. M, Santiz, L.M. R., Us Pu, A., Sis Iboy, M. J., Polinsky, M., Pedro Mateo Pedro, P. 2018. Palatalización en K’ichee’ y palatales en Awakateko. Paper presented at the Fifth International Conference “Form and Analysis in Mayan Linguistics” (FAMLi-5), Antigua, August 2018.