Resumen de Language mixing and genetic similarity: the case of Tojol-ab’al

Danny Law

• Definitions of ‘mixed’ or ‘intertwined’ languages derive almost entirely from studies of languages that combine elements from genetically unrelated sources. The Mayan language Tojol-ab’al displays a mixture of linguistic features from two related Mayan languages, Chuj and Tseltal. The systematic similarities found in related languages not only make it methodologically difficult to identify the source of specific linguistic features but also mean that inherited similarity can alter the processes and outcomes of language mixing in ways that parallel observed patterns of code-switching between related languages. Tojol-ab’al, therefore, arguably represents a distinct type of mixed language, one that may only result from mixture involving related languages.