Mam language

Mam is a Mayan language spoken by about half a million Mam people in the Guatemalan departments of Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango, San Marcos, and Retalhuleu, and the Mexican states of Campeche and Chiapas. Thousands more make up a Mam diaspora throughout the United States and Mexico, with notable populations living in Oakland, California and Washington, D.C. The most extensive Mam grammar is Nora C. England's A grammar of Mam, a Mayan language (1983), which is based on the San Ildefonso Ixtahuacán dialect of Huehuetenango Department.

Classification

Mam is closely related to the Tektitek language, and the two languages together form the Mamean sub-branch of the Mayan language family. Along with the Ixilan languages, Awakatek and Ixil, these make up the Greater Mamean sub-branch, one of the two branches of the Eastern Mayan languages (the other being the Greater Quichean sub-branch, which consists of 10 Mayan languages, including Kʼicheʼ).

Dialects

Because contact between members of different Mam communities is somewhat limited, the language varies considerably even from village to village. Nevertheless, mutual intelligibility, though difficult, is possible through practice.

Mam varieties within Mexico and Guatemala are divided into five dialect groups:

Northern Mam in Campeche, Mexico and southern Huehuetenango Department, Guatemala. Northern Mam is the least conservative group according to Terrence Kaufman.

Southern Mam in southern Campeche, Mexico and Quetzaltenango Department, San Marcos Department, and Retalhuleu Department, Guatemala.

Central Mam in Chiapas, Mexico and San Marcos Department, Guatemala.