Anales de Antropología

The Role of Grandparents in the Acquisition and Proficiency of the Totonac Language

José Santiago Francisco, Miguel Figueroa Saavedra — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0600

In this mixed study, we present the role of Totonac grandmothers and grandfathers in the acquisition of the Totonac language by their grandchildren. Observation notes and interviews were conducted with Totonac families from Filomeno Mata, Veracruz. Also, 1,080 children participated in a survey. It must be noted that grandparents, as caregivers, have a summative effect on the input of father and mother. They give value and authority to the decision to transmit the Totonac language. We also notice the absence of a language policy that generates sustainable bilingualism in the family. Thus, the decisions adopted in this regard generate conflict, disconnection, lack of communication, and a generational gap that hinders or interrupts a proper acquisition of the mother tongue and culture.

Zoque Lexical Items in Classic Maya Place Names

Maxim Baboshkin — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 00:00:00 -0600

Archaeological data suggest the existence of a Maya-Zoque contact zone, whose core for the Classic period (250-925 aD) was located between the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers, in the territory of the current Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco. The epigraphic and linguistic analysis of the Mayan hieroglyphic inscriptions from this region and some colonial sources, as well as the toponyms that survived to the present day, allow us to reinforce this proposal, demonstrating a tendency towards the retention of words of Zoque origin and cases of the use of loanwords in the toponymy of the Western Lowlands during the Classic. At the same time, the contexts in which some of these place names appear indicate the possibility of sociopolitical interactions, especially warlike ones, between Mayan political entities and their contemporary Zoque counterparts.