ABSTRACT
The aim of the present study is to investigate the content and structure of lexical material that can be reconstructed to proto-Mayan and some of its earlier direct descendants. Our main interest is: What did proto-Mayans definitely know and talk about? Knowing this helps us identify the area where proto-Mayans lived (cf. the work on proto-culture and homelands that has been produced by students of the Indo-European languages (e.g., Schrader 1883; Childe 1926; Dumézil 1958; Benveniste 1973; Gamkrelidze and Ivanov 1984; Mallory 1989)). It might also help us profile the culture of proto-Mayans in comparison/contrast to contemporaneous non-Mayan cultures. We know a lot about present-day Mayan-speaking populations; we have varying amounts of documentation about Mayan-speaking populations since 1519; some Mayans produced written records between 200 bce and 1700 ce that reflect only a tiny part of their cultural knowledge. (The vast extent of epigraphic, iconographic, ceramic, and architectural material that has survived the years and been found by present-day investigators makes the study of Mayan antiquities a rich and rewarding undertaking.)
