Writing System: Yucatec Maya traditionally used the Latin script with adaptations to represent sounds specific to the language. The modern orthography has been standardized and includes special characters to represent sounds like /č/ (similar to English “ch”).
Grammar: Yucatec Maya is an agglutinative language with a rich system of affixes used to indicate grammatical relationships, including tense, aspect, mood, and possession. It is characterized by its flexible word order, often employing verb-initial or subject-verb-object (SVO) structures.
Phonology: Yucatec Maya has a moderately complex phonemic inventory, including consonants such as /p, t, k, b, d, g, m, n, ŋ/ and vowels /a, e, i, o, u/. It is notable for its use of glottalized consonants and distinctive phonological features.
Lexicon: The Yucatec Maya lexicon includes words of Mayan origin as well as loanwords from Spanish and other neighboring languages. Lexical borrowing has occurred due to historical contact and cultural exchange.
Endangered Voices Initiative 