Ethno-Ornithological Research Among the Chontal Maya of Tabasco, Mexico

The Chontal Maya, or Yokot’an as they call themselves and their language, occupy 17 municipalities in the state of Tabasco, Mexico. A majority of the 35,000 Chontal today speak Chontal Maya, part of the Western branch of Ch’olan languages. Knowledge of bird nomenclature, auguries associated with birds, and the role birds play in an ever-changing Chontal society are the topic of this paper. We detail the ways in which birds interact with humans in the daily life of the Chontal Maya. Based on our fieldwork, we summarize the analysis of our linguistic data relating to bird names in Chontal as well as ethno-ornithological data relevant to each bird. We discuss birds in relation to onomatopoeia, prognostication, sorcery, hunting, and medicine in Chontal society. Our findings indicate that due to their ability to foretell future events, birds play a vital role in all aspects of Chontal Maya daily life, though much of this is limited to the older generation. We also discuss the current trend toward monolingualism in Spanish and semi-bilingualism among the younger generation in the Chontal area as one of the major causes of an unfamiliarity with bird names and the roles played by birds in Chontal society among many youth today.