Ch’ol, also known as Chol or Lakty’añ, is one of the thirty languages of the Mayan family. It is spoken today in southern Mexico by around 200,000 people. There are two main dialects: Tila and Tumbalá.

This webpage began as part of a 2018 project funded by the National Geographic Explorers program to record, transcribe, and translate narratives across different dialects of Ch’ol. This blog additionally includes Ch’ol documentation projects funded by two grants from Engaged Cornell. These projects include documentation of Ch’ol and doctoral thesis research.

The National Geographic project is led by Jessica Coon (McGill University), together with collaborators Juan Jesús Vázquez Álvarez (CIMSUR-UNAM) and Nicolás Arcos López (Universidad Intercultural de Tabasco). The project team also includes Lauren Clemens (SUNY Albany), John Haviland (UC San Diego), and Roberto Zavala Maldonado (CIESAS-Sureste).

The Engaged Cornell project is led by Carol-Rose Little (Cornell University) and includes members Mia Wiegand (Cornell University), José Armando Fernández Guerrero (UC San Diego), Miloje Despić (Cornell University), Sophia Walters (ECOSUR), and CELALI.