In the following video, we turn it over to a Tektiteko potter from Guatemala describing the whole production process from clay to sale! Also a way to discover the simple yet harsh lifestyle of the inhabitants of Tectitan in the light of beautiful footage by José Reynes.

Here again, speakers of Spanish will note how much Tektiteko is affected by the influence of Spanish, dropping words in a lot of our potter’s address.

Yet the influence of Spanish is not the only danger bearing upon this language of Mayan family (Mam branch). Tektiteko is also threatened in terms of number: it is Guatemala’s smallest Mayan community with only 2077 speakers censused in 2002, mainly in the municipio of Tectitan, Huehuetenango Department.

There’s another Tektiteko community in Chiapas, Mexico, where the language is spoken by around a thousand people.

NB: Should one of our users happen to speak Tektiteko, we would be more than happy to hear from you at contact@sorosoro.org, as we still have a significant amount of rushes yet to be edited and published in this language, in absence of translators…

Linguists: Nikte Sis Iboy & Juventino de Jesus Pérez Alonzo
Image & sound: José Reynès
Editing: Caroline Laurent