The Chʼortiʼ language is a Mayan language, spoken by the indigenous Maya people who are also known as the Chʼortiʼ or Chʼortiʼ Maya. Chʼortiʼ is a direct descendant of the Classic Maya language in which many of the pre-Columbian inscriptions using the Maya script were written. Chʼortiʼ is the modern version of the ancient Mayan language Chʼolan.
Image: The Ch'olan sub group of Mayan languages
The Mayan languages form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica, both in the south of Mexico and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least six million Maya people, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. In 1996, Guatemala formally recognized 21 Mayan languages by name, and Mexico recognizes eight within its territory.
Classic period Maya glyphs in stucco at the Museo de sitio in Palenque, Mexico
Drawing with text written in the Chuj language from Ixcán, Guatemala.
Yucatec Maya writing in the Dresden Codex, ca. 11–12th century, Chichen Itza
Page 9 of the Dresden Codex showing the classic Maya language written in Mayan hieroglyphs (from the 1880 Förstermann edition)