Macro-Mayan is a proposal linking the clearly established Mayan family with neighboring families that show similarities to Mayan. The term was apparently coined by McQuown (1942), but suggestions for historical relationships relevant to this hypothesis can be traced back to the Squier (1861), who offered comparisons between Mayan and Mixe-Zoquean languages, and Radin (1916, 1919, 1924), who did the same for Mixe-Zoquean, Huave, and Mayan.
History of proposals
McQuown (1942, 1956) defined Macro-Mayan as the hypothetical ancestor of Mayan, Mije-Sokean, and Totonacan, further promoting the hypothesis. However, his hypothesis relied on the presence of "a glottalized series" of consonants in both Mayan and Totonakan. Such a trait could have potentially spread through contact. McQuown also admitted that “the relatively small number of coincidences in vocabulary indicates to us that this kinship is quite distant” (McQuown 1942:37-38).
The hypothesis was not elaborated until 1979 when Brown and Witkowski put forth a proposal with 62 cognate sets and supposed sound correspondences between the two families. They also published two articles proposing a "Mesoamerican Phylum" composed of Macro-Mayan and other language families of Mesoamerica. This proposal was examined closely by Lyle Campbell and Terrence Kaufman who rejected the proposal because of serious flaws in the methodology that had been applied. They rejected almost all of the 62 cognates. First and foremost they found it important to identify all cases of linguistic diffusion before collecting possible cognates because diffusion has been widespread within the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area. The exchanges between Brown and Witkowski and Campbell and Kaufman took place in the journal American Anthropologist between 1978 and 1983.
In the late 1990s, Campbell (1997) expressed that he believed that Mayan would indeed some day prove to be related to Mixe–Zoquean and Totonacan, but that previous studies have not proven sufficient.
Nevertheless, since then, Brown et al. (2011) have presented arguments in favor of a Totozoquean, a common ancestor between Totonacan and Mixe-Zoquean. Moreover, Mora-Marín (2014, 2016) constitutes the most recent attempt to test the relationship between Mayan and Mixe-Zoquean. He proposes the existence of regular sound correspondences among lexical and grammatical comparanda between the two. By transitivity, these two proposals would connect all three language families, rekindling the Macro-Mayan hypothesis as framed by McQuown.
In Campbell's opinion, previous efforts to link Huave to Mayan, Mixe-Zoquean, Totonacan, or for that matter, any other language or family, has proven unfruitful, and Huave "should thus be considered an isolate" (1997:161).
^Stark, Louisa R. (1972). "Maya-Yunga-Chipayan: A New Linguistic Alignment". International Journal of American Linguistics. 38 (2): 119–135. doi:10.1086/465193. ISSN0020-7071. S2CID145380780.
^MacKay, Carolyn J.; Trechsel, Frank (2018). "An alternative reconstruction of Proto-Totonac-Tepehua". International Journal of American Linguistics. 84 (1). The University of Chicago: 51–92. doi:10.1086/694609.
^ abBrown, Cecil H.; Søren Wichmann; David Beck. 2014. Chitimacha: a Mesoamerican language in the Lower Mississippi Valley. International Journal of American Linguistics 80: 425-474.
^Kaufman, Terrence (2017). Aspects of the lexicon of proto-Mayan and its earliest descendant. In: Judith L. Aissen, Nora C. England, and Roberto Zavala Maldonado (eds). The Mayan languages, 62-111. Routledge language family series. New York: Routledge.
^Brown, Cecil H., David Beck, Grzegorz Kondrak, James K. Watters, and Søren Wichmann (2011). Totozoquean. International Journal of American Linguistics 77, 323–372.
^Suaréz, Jorge A (1975). Estudios Huaves. Collección científica. Vol. 22. México: INAH. OCLC2632814.
Brown, Cecil H., and Stanley R. Witkowski. (1979). Aspects of the Phonological History of Mayan-Zoquean. International Journal of American Linguistics 45:34-47. JSTOR1264974
Brown, Cecil H., David Beck, Grzegorz Kondrak, James K. Watters, and Søren Wichmann. (2011). Totozoquean. International Journal of American Linguistics 77: 323–372. JSTOR10.1086/660972
Campbell, Lyle, and Terrence Kaufman. (1976). A Linguistic Look at the Olmecs. American Antiquity 41:80-89.
Campbell, Lyle, and Terrence Kaufman. (1980). On Mesoamerican Linguistics. American Anthropologist 82:850-857. JSTOR677119
Campbell, Lyle, and Terrence Kaufman. (1983). Mesoamerican Historical Linguistics and Distant Genetic Relationship: Getting It Straight. American Anthropologist 85:362-372. JSTOR676320
McQuown, Norman A. (1942). Una posible sintesis lingüística Macro-Mayance, Mayas y Olmecas 2.37-8 (Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, Reunión de Mesa Redonda sobre Problemas Antropológicos de México y Centro América; México, 1942).
McQuown, Norman A. (1956). Evidence for a Synthetic Trend in Totonacan. Language32:78-80.
Mora-Marín, David (2014). The Proto-Maya-Mijesokean Hypothesis: Change and Transformation in Approaches to An Old Problem. In Climates of Change: The Shifting Environment of Archaeology, edited by Sheila Kulyk, Cara G. Tremain, and Madeleine Sawyer, pp. 213–225. Proceedings of the 44thAnnual Chacmool Conference. Calgary: Chacmool Archaeological Association, University of Calgary.
Mora-Marín, David (2016). Testing the Proto-Mayan-Mijesokean Hypothesis. International Journal of American Linguistics 82:125-180. doi:10.1086/685900
Radin, Paul. (1916). On the relationship of Huave and Mixe. American Anthropologist 18:411-421.
Radin, Paul. (1919). The genetic relationship of the North American Indian languages, 489-502. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology. Berkeley: University of California.
Radin, Paul. (1924). The relationship of Maya to Zoque-Huave. Journal de la Société des Américanistes de Paris16:317-324.
Squier, E. G. (1861). Monograph of Authors who have Written on the Languages of Central America. Albany, New York.
Macro Macworld Australia Macro (computer science) Macro-Jê languages Macro virus Macro photography Hygienic macro Macro and security VAX MACRO Naevius Sutorius Macro General-purpose macro processor Macro-Pama–Nyungan languages Image macro Macro recorder Banco Macro Macro-engineering ACS Macro Letters Macro-Paesan languages X macro Cox Macro Macro-Siouan languages Minolta AF Macro 100mm f/2.8 Macro-Jibaro languages Variadic macro in the C preprocessor Sony FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS Minolta AF Macro 50mm f/2.8 Microsoft MACRO-80 Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1–5x Macro Macro-Arawakan languages Macro…
Express Macro-Andean languages Fujinon XF 60mm f/2.4 R Macro ARC Macro Language Macro-Panoan languages Macro-Warpean languages Canon EF 100mm lens Macro-Chibchan languages Macro-Otomákoan languages Sigma 70-300mm f/4–5.6 APO DG Macro lens Macro Sea MACRO-11 Macro BMA Macro-Mayan languages Anaphoric macro Macro key Macro Manuscript Macro-Bai languages Macro domain M4 (computer language) Mi Macro Calzada Mr. Children 2005–2010 macro Macro risk Sony E 30mm F3.5 Macro Canon EF-M 28mm Macro lens Tamron AF 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) MACRO Macro BIM Guadalajara Mi Macro Global macro Sigma 18–50mm f/2.8 EX DC Macro lens Mi Macro Periférico MACRO-10 Macro-Gunwinyguan languages BH Macro Sony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro Stefan Goldmann Music Macro Language Lisp reader Macro-creatine kinase Pentax D FA 100mm WR lens Microsoft Macro Assembler Lucius Attius Macro Olympus Zuiko Digital 35mm f/3.5 Macro C preprocessor Mataco–Guaicuru languages Je–Tupi–Carib languages Community practice Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM lens MacroMind Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome Sigma 150mm f/2.8 APO Macro EX DG HSM lens Micro-operation Tamron SP A