Editing Mayan languages (section)

===Proto-Mayan===
[[File:Mayan Language Migration Map.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.63|Approximate migration routes and dates for various Mayan language families. The region shown as Proto-Mayan is now occupied by speakers of the Qʼanjobalan branch (light blue in other figures).<ref group=notes>Based on Kaufman (1976).</ref>]]
Mayan languages are the descendants of a [[proto-language]] called Proto-Mayan or, in Kʼicheʼ Maya, ''Nabʼee Mayaʼ Tzij'' ("the old Maya Language").{{sfn|England|1994}} The Proto-Mayan language is believed to have been spoken in the Cuchumatanes highlands of central Guatemala in an area corresponding roughly to where Qʼanjobalan is spoken today.{{sfn|Campbell|1997|p=165}} The earliest proposal which identified the Chiapas-Guatemalan highlands as the likely "cradle" of Mayan languages was published by the German antiquarian and scholar [[Karl Sapper]] in 1912.<ref group=notes>see attribution in {{harvtxt|Fernández de Miranda|1968|p=75}}</ref> [[Terrence Kaufman]] and John Justeson have reconstructed more than 3000 lexical items for the proto-Mayan language.{{sfn|Kaufman| with Justeson|2003}}

According to the prevailing classification scheme by [[Lyle Campbell]] and Terrence Kaufman, the first division occurred around 2200 BCE, when Huastecan split away from Mayan proper after its speakers moved northwest along the [[Gulf Coast of Mexico]].{{sfn|Campbell|Kaufman|1985}} Proto-Yucatecan and Proto-Chʼolan speakers subsequently split off from the main group and moved north into the [[Yucatán Peninsula]]. Speakers of the western branch moved south into the areas now inhabited by Mamean and Quichean people. When speakers of proto-Tzeltalan later separated from the Chʼolan group and moved south into the [[Chiapas Highlands]], they came into contact with speakers of [[Mixe–Zoque languages]].{{sfn|Kaufman|1976}} According to an alternative theory by Robertson and [[Stephen D. Houston|Houston]], Huastecan stayed in the Guatemalan highlands with speakers of Chʼolan–Tzeltalan, separating from that branch at a much later date than proposed by Kaufman.{{sfn|Robertson|Houston|2002}}

In the Archaic period (before 2000 BCE), a number of [[loanword]]s from Mixe–Zoquean languages seem to have entered the proto-Mayan language. This has led to hypotheses that the early Maya were dominated by speakers of Mixe–Zoquean languages, possibly the [[Olmec]].<ref group=notes>This theory was first proposed by {{harvcoltxt|Campbell|Kaufman|1976}}</ref> In the case of the [[Xincan language|Xincan]] and [[Lencan languages]], on the other hand, Mayan languages are more often the source than the receiver of loanwords. Mayan language specialists such as Campbell believe this suggests a period of intense contact between Maya and the [[Lenca people|Lencan]] and [[Xinca people]], possibly during the Classic period (250–900).<ref name="Campbell 1997, p.165" />