The notion of person among the Mayans: a semantic vision

Abstract

The present paper studies cultural representations of person among Yucatec Mayas. The study is focussed on the notion of person starting from the conceptual characteristics contained in the vocabulary. The paper attempts to give a semantic point of view of the category of person, considering the meaning of the words used to identify the different components of the human being taken as an individual. Some of the essential concepts that refer to the diverse components of the individual human being are identified here. Among the modern Peninsular Mayas, the human being is conceived as a unit of wíinkilil –body–, pixán –soul–, and óol –spirit. This conception somewhat differs from the idea that has been transmitted by Colonial Maya testimonies and by other people speaking Mayan languages. Among other things, this happens because of the absence, among Peninsular Mayas, of an “animal companion”, idea which is closely related to the individual’s life.