Resumen de Spanish and Kaqchikel-Maya: A study in town and village in Guatemala’s central highlands
Jonathan Holmquist, Hana Muzika Kahn
This article examines patterns of maintenance and shift affecting Kaqchikel-Maya in contact with Spanish in a municipality of the central highlands of Guatemala. It examines self-reported skills in the use of Spanish and Kaqchikel-Maya as well as directly assessed knowledge of Kaqchikel in relation to ethnicity, generations, and gender in town and village in the municipality. The study draws on fieldwork between 2011 and 2013 in the municipality of Parramos, Chimaltenango. Two researchers in collaboration with native Spanish-and-Kaqchikel-speaking assistants surveyed 280 speakers. Data are based on responses to an orally administered questionnaire that included self-reporting of language skills and direct assessment measures focusing on knowledge of Kaqchikel vocabulary as well as on the ability to respond to conversational questions in Kaqchikel. Results are interpreted in relation to stability vs. instability in the use of the two languages and to the asymmetry of the bilingualism that distinguishes the ethnic communities.
