Highland Mayan Sign Language
In the highlands of Guatemala, Maya use a sign language that belongs to a "sign language complex" known locally in the K'iche'(Quiché) language as Meemul Ch'aab'al and Meemul Tziij, "mute language." Researcher Erich Fox Tree reports that it is used by deaf rural Maya throughout the region, as well as some traders and traditional storytellers. These communities and Fox Tree believe that Meemul Ch'aab'al belongs to an ancient family of Maya sign languages. Fox Tree claims that Yutactec Maya Sign Language is also "closely-related and substantially mutually-intelligible".
In at least one highland community, the sign language is used by "an impoverished class of deaf and hearing servants who are often forbidden to speak aloud in the presence of their masters: a hidden class of rural peons who call themselves 'slaves.'"
Read more about this topic: Mayan Sign Language
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