The variation of Yucatec Maya in the perception of native speakers

This article explores the effect of proximity in the identification of geographic spaces where different speech is spoken from the perception of native speakers of the Mayan language of the Yucatan Peninsula. The most salient features that speakers identify between one variety and another are found in intonation, speed of elocution as well as in the lexicon. The data obtained are from a total of 73 people interviewed in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mayan monolingual and Mayan-Spanish bilingual men and women, whose age range varied between 22 and 81 years old. Analysis of the data and a case study conducted between two nearby communities showed that proximity is linked more to speech differences than to similarities. Prosody and lexical variants were identified as being perceived as different, especially between speakers in close proximity to each other. The responses indicated that proximity is not only determined by geographic distance or proximity between communities, but also by the cultural prominence of some places, such as the state of Yucatan, where the cities of Valladolid and Peto stand out.