Mam language

Mam
Qyool Mam, Ta yol Mam
Native toGuatemala, Mexico
RegionChiapas and Campeche, Mexico
Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango, San Marcos, and Retalhuleu, Guatemala;
EthnicityMam
Native speakers
600,000 in Guatemala (2019 census)
10,000 in Mexico (2020 census)
Mayan
Dialects
  • Northern Mam
  • Central Mam
  • Soconusco Mam
  • Western Mam
  • Southern Mam
Latin
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated byInstituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas
Comunidad Lingüística Mam (COLIMAM)
Language codes
ISO 639-3mam
Glottologmamm1241
ELPMam

Mam is a Mayan language spoken by about half a million Mam people in the Guatemalan departments of Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango, San Marcos, and Retalhuleu, and the Mexican states of Campeche and Chiapas. Thousands more make up a Mam diaspora throughout the United States and Mexico, with notable populations living in Oakland, California and Washington, D.C. The most extensive Mam grammar is Nora C. England's A grammar of Mam, a Mayan language (1983), which is based on the San Ildefonso Ixtahuacán dialect of Huehuetenango Department.