Six in ten children of Maya speakers in Yucatán no longer learn the language, reflecting a growing trend of linguistic displacement.
The number of Maya speakers in Mexico continues to decline as fewer children in Yucatán learn the Indigenous language, according to government officials and academic institutions, who warn that the loss of intergenerational transmission has become one of the country’s most significant cases of linguistic displacement.
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The issue was discussed during the Southeast-Gulf Node Meeting of the National Research Network on Indigenous Languages (Renili), held at the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya de Yucatán. At the event, Violeta Vázquez-Rojas Maldonado, Mexico’s Deputy Minister of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation, warned that the number of Maya speakers has fallen to just over 500,000.
The official said the language is now spoken primarily by people aged 30 to 40 and older, while in many rural communities only a small proportion of children still speak Maya.
Participants identified several factors contributing to the decline, including the breakdown of intergenerational language transmission, parents choosing not to teach Maya to their children to spare them discrimination and stigmatization, and migration to urban areas, where the language is less commonly used in everyday life.
Academic institutions, including the Autonomous University of Yucatán and Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), confirmed the downward trend despite constitutional reforms and language promotion and protection programs introduced in recent years.
According to the 2020 population census, Inegi recorded 519,167 Maya speakers in Yucatán, compared with 537,618 in 2010, representing a decline of 18,451 speakers over the decade.
Strategies to preserve the Maya language
Yucatán Secretary of Culture and the Arts Patricia Martín Briceño said the current state administration has implemented a permanent strategy to strengthen the use, teaching and professionalization of the Maya language.
Among the initiatives presented was Alas y Raíces Yucatán, a program that introduces children and young people to the language through creative identity workshops.
Authorities also highlighted Ko’ox Kanik Maaya T’aan (“Let’s Learn the Maya Language”), a course offered in both in-person and virtual formats. Additional measures include supporting Indigenous literature through awards, publication and dissemination of works written directly in Maya, as well as organizing exhibitions at the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya and other cultural venues.
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