Academic talk by Justin Royer, PhD followed by a free drink at Ye Olde Orchard

Documenting dialectal variation in Chuj: A "one tale, two versions" approach

Over thirty Mayan languages are spoken in Mesoamerica and many of these exhibit considerable internal diversity. In fact, dialectal differences can be so pronounced that mutual intelligibility is affected among speakers of the same language. This talk describes and reflects on the benefits of using a community-based approach for understanding dialectal variation, with a focus on Chuj. While Chuj is generally recognized as having two main dialects, the extent of their differences is far from completely understood, and the prestige dialect has received a disproportionate amount of attention. We focus on one useful method that addresses these issues: documenting versions of the same folktale in different dialects. We show how our method can actively engage Chuj community members from all dialectal communities in order to (a) enrich the understanding of cultural and linguistic diversity in the Mayan context, (b) expand resources available for dialects that have received less attention, and (c) shed light on which grammatical patterns exhibit substantial variation. Furthermore, we argue that this approach is desirable in the long-term, since it incorporates capacity building within the community.