Abstract Linguistic purist ideologies circulate widely on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. Yucatec Maya speakers differentiate a ‘pure,” “authentic” Maya located in the past from a “mixed,” “corrupted” Maya located in the present. Today, the ideologically “pure,” “authentic” Maya of the past, jach maaya, is gaining a new center of authenticity in the present through its increasing institutionalization. This project is doubly modern in its temporal rupture, which engages the past as authentic and enduring, and rupture with society, which rejects vernacular Maya for institutionally authoritative language practices, produced largely through the science of linguistics. Authenticating jach maaya today through increased institutionalization holds implications for Maya speakers’ livelihoods, vernacular language practices, and understandings of Maya‐ness, as well as for the future of these.
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