MAM GRAWIAR IN OUTLINE

By

NORA CLEARMAN ENGLAND

A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE COUNCIL

OF THE UNI^/ERSITY OF FLORIDA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
1975
Copyright ?y
Nora Clearman England
1975
To
Prederica de Laguna
for introducing me to anthropology
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge the great assistance

given me in the preparation of this dissertation by-

Juan Maldonado Andres and Juan Ordonez Domingo , native

Mam speakers from San Ildefonso Ixtahuacan. They worked

with me for over two years in the analysis of Mam, and

much of the data collection and some of the analysis is

specifically their work. Above all they had great

patience in guiding me through the intricacies of

their language.

Dr. M. J. Hardman-de-Bautista vjas my advisor at

the University of Florida, and I would like to thank

her very warmly for her supervision of my graduate

education. She has at all times been exciting to work

under, and her understanding of the complexities of

language has inspired all her students to look deeper

and do more in their own work. It has indeed been a

privilege to work with her. Dr. Terrence Kaufman

directed my fieldwork and helped me to understand much

about Mam and Mayan languages. Many of the terms used

here and some of the format are his. It was a pleasure

to work under someone who is as meticulous and as

knowledgeable about Mayan languages as he.

iv
I would also like to thank my examining committee,

whose members ai^e Dr. Hardman , Dr. William E. Carter,

Dr. Charles Wagley, Dr. Norman Markel, and Dr. Alexander

Moore, for their time and guidance. Finally, I would

like to acknowledge the Proyecto Linguistico Francisco

'

Marroquin, in Antigua Guatemala, for institutional

support during the period in which I did my fieldv/ork,

and the United States Peace Corps for support in the

field from August, 1971 to December, 1973- The

linguistic students and staff at the Proyecto Linguistico

Francisco Marroquin v;ere a pleasure to work with and

provided both professional and informal assistance.

. 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements Iv

Conventions and Abbreviations x

Abstract jci

0. Introduction .1
. 1 The Language and the People 1
0. 2 Research 9
. 3 Personnel 10
0.4 Previous Studies 12
o .5 Scope 14

1 Phonology 17
1. Phonemic Inventory 17
1.2 Phonem.ic Description l8
1.2.1 Consonants l8
1.2.2 Vowels 26
1.2.3 Glottal Stop 31
1.2.4 Juncture 33
1. 3 Stress 35
1.4 The Syllable 36
1 5 Morphophonemics
. 36
1.5.1 Vowel Dropping 37
1.5.2 Vowel Neutralization 37
1.5.3 Vowel Synthesis 38
1.5.4 /y/ Insertion 38
1.5.5 Glottal Stop and Glottalized Consonant
Alternation 39
1.5.6 Movement of Glottal Stop Toward
Long Vowels 40
1.5-7 Nasal Alternation 4l

2 . Grammatical Process 42
2 1 Morpheme Classes
. 42
2.2 Word Classes 43
2.2.1 Verbs 43
2.2.1.1 Transitive Verbs 48
2.2.1.2 Intransitive Verbs 52
2.2.2 Nouns 53
2.2.2.1 Relational Nouns 53
2.2.2.2 Measure Words 57

vi
s

2.2.2.3 Name 58
2.2.2.4 Toponyms 59
2.2.2.5 Pronouns 59
2.2.3 Adjectives 62
2.2.3.1 Demonstratives 63
2.2.3.2 Numbers '.'.'.63

2.2.4 Affect V/ords 64

2.2.5 Particles 65
2.2.5.1 Interrogative s 66
2.2.5.2 Negatives 67
2.2.5.3 Affirmatives 68
2.2.5.4 Conjunctions 68
2.2.5.5 Locatives 68
2.2.5.6 Temporals 69
2.2.5.7 Manner Particles 69
2.2.5.8 Exclamations 70
2.2.5.9 Vocatives 71
2.2.5.10 Other Adverbials 71
2.2.5.11 Other Particles 72
2.2.6 Adverbs 73
2.2.7 Review of Inflection 73
2.2.7.1 Verb Inflection 74
2.2.7.2 Noun Inflection 75
2 3 Root Classes
.
75
2.3.1 Verb Roots 75
2.3.1.1 Transitive Roots 75
2.3.1.2 Intransitive Roots 76
2.3.2 Positional Roots 76
2.3.3 Noun Roots 77
2.3.3.1 SI 77
2.3.3.2 Sla 77
2.3.3.3 Sib 78
2.3.3.4 S2 78
2.3.3.5 S3 79
2.3.3.6 Never Possessed Noun Roots 80
2.3.3.7 Always Possessed Noun Roots 80
2.3.4 Adjective Roots 8I
2.3.5 Affect Roots 81
2.3.6 Particle Roots 8I
2.3.7 Canonical Shape of Roots 81
2.3.7.1 Transitive Root Shapes 82
2.3.7.2 Intransitive Root Shapes 82
2.3.7.3 Positional Root Shapes 82
-2.3.7.4 Noun Root Shapes 82
2.3.7.5 Adjective Root Shapes 83
2.3.7.6 Affect Root Shapes 83
2.3.7.7 Particle Root Shapes 84
2.4 Stem Formation 84
2.4.1 Verb Formation 86
2.4.1.1 Transitive Stem Formation 88
2.4.1.2 Intransitive Stem Formation 99

vll
2.4.2 Noun Stem Formation 106
2.']. 3 Adjective Stem Formation 115
2. .4 Affect Stem Formation
i| 121
2.4.5 Derived Adverbial Formation 122
2.4.6 Hov; Roots And Stems are Derived
(in Review) 124
2.5 Phrase Formation 130
2.5.1 Verb Phrases 130
2.5.1.1 The Transitive "Verb Phrase 132
2.5.1.2 The Intransitive Verb Phrase .... 135
2.5.2 Noun Phrases 137
2.5.2.1 Third Person Noun Phrases 137
2.5.2.2 Pronoun Phrases l47
2.5.3 Adverb Phrases lj^9
2.5-3.1 Adverbials l49
2.5.3.2 Adverbial Noun Phrases 150
2.6 Sentence Formation 151
2.6.1 Simple Sentences 151
2.6.1.1 Linking Sentences 152
2.6.1.2 Intransitive Sentences 154
2.6.1.3 Transitive Sentences 156
2.6.2 Variations of Simple Sentences 158
2.6.2.1 Negatives 158
2.6.2.2 Interrogatives 160
2.6.2.3 Passives I6I
2.6.2.4 Imperatives Ia3
2.6.3 Sentence Level Clitics l64
2.6.4 Compound Sentences 178
2.6.5 Conolex Sentences I80
2.6.5.1 Verbal Nouns I8O
2.6.5.2 Subordination with Set A
Person Markers I8I
2.6.5.3 Subordination with Subordinate
Aspects 187

Verb Semantics 11
3.1 Semantic Extensions of Directionals 193
3.2 Citation Form Directionals 196
3.3 Directional Distribution 202

Grammatical Categories 203

4.1 Verbal Categories 204
4.1.1 Tim.e .' 204
4.1.2 Direction 209
4.1.3 Transitivity 210
4.2 Person Relationships 214
4.2.1 Person Marking 214
4.2.2 Case and Location 217
4.2.3 Body and Human Metaphor 220

Vlll
4. 3Description 223
4 Emphasis
. 4 227
4.5 General Considerations 229

Appendix : Text 236

Bibliography 253

Biographical Sketch .'

256

XX
CONVENTIONS AiND ABBREVIATIONS

[ ]
phonetic representation

/ / phonemic representation (practical orthography)

{ } morpheme

divides morphemes in examples and texts

T transitive root

I intransitive root

N noun root

A adjective root

AP affect root

P positional root
t transitive stem

1 intransitive stem
n noun stem

a adjective stem

af affect stem

underlining with numbers refers to phrases

1
^
^_J braces under words indicate clauses

(Sp) Spanish loan

Dashes before or after a morpheme indicate that it is

bound.

Words or morphemes underlined in discursive passages are

always in the phonemic orthography.

Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Council
of the University of Florida
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

MAM GRAMMAR IN OUTLINE

By

Nora Clearman England

June, 1975

Chairman: M. J. Hardman-de-Bautista
Major Department: Anthropology

Mam is a Mayan language spoken by several hundred

thousand indigenous people in highland Guatemala and

Chiapas. It has the third largest number of speakers

in the Mayan family, but has been relatively little

described, even compared to other Mayan languages. This

grammar is a description of the phonology, grammatical

processes, verb semantics, and grammatical categories

in Mam. It is based on data collected during more than

two years of fleldwork in Guatemala.

The phonology chapter contains a phonemic analysis

of the language and a description oT the major

morphophDnemic processes. The grammatical processes

chapter describes morpheme, work, and root classes;

and stem, phrase, and sentence formation.

XI
Root classes are verbs, posltlonals, nouns,

adjectives, affect vrords, and particles. Of these all

but posltlonals are matched by stem and word classes.

V/ord classes are verbs, nouns, adjectives, affect v;ords,

derived adverbials, and particles. Phrases types are

noun, verb and adverb. Simple sentences are linking,

intransitive, or transitive; in addition there are

compound and complex sentences. Inflection of nouns

and verbs is described under word classes, while deri-

vational affixes are described under stem formation.

In addition there are a number of clitics, which are

described under word classes, phrase formation, and

sentence formation.

After the description of the grammatical processes,

a chapter is devoted to verbal semantic categories as

revealed through the use and distribution of dlrectionals

in the verb phrase. A final chapter Is devoted to a

discussion of the grammatical categories which are

defined by the organizational principles of the language.

This includes discussion of verbal categories, person

relationships, description, and emphasis.

An appendix gives a text in Mam, broken dovm Into

morpheme segments and with both a literal interlinear

and a free translation.

Xll
0. INTRODUCTION

. 1 THE LANGUAGE AND THE* PEOPLE

Mam is a Mayan language spoken in highland Guatemala

in the departments of Huehuetenango , San Marcos, and

Quezaltenango and also In Chiapas, Mexico. It is one

of the twenty-four to thirty extant Mayan languages

(Kaufman, 197^a:3it), and belongs to the Greater Mamean

branch of the Eastern Mayan languages. Greater Mamean,

which includes Teco, Ixll, Aguacatec, and Mam, split

off from the Greater Quichean branch in approximately

l400 B.C., and Mam proper has been a distinct language

since about 500 A.D. (Kaufman, 197^b).

There are approximately 350,000 speakers of Mam today

(Kaufman, 197^a:85), which makes it the third largest

Mayan language after Quiche and Cakchiquel. There is

considerable dialect variation within the language;

almost every town where Mam is spoken has a different

dialect (there is even some variation within tovms,

primarily on a geographical basis), and the differences

between major dialect areas are such that intelligibility

is greatly reduced. The data on which this grammar is

based are from the town of San Ildefonso Ixtahuac^n,

Huehuetenango , Guatemala, where a dialect of Northern

Mam is spoken. These data are representative of

general processes which can be found In other dialects

of Northern Mam. Specific details v/lll differ on all

levels of the grammar, however.

The Mam people live In a part of the Guatemalan

highlands which they have occupied continuously since

long before the Spanish Conquest, perhaps from as early

as 500 A.D. (Kaufman, 1973)- Huehuetenango, partially

occupied by Mam people today, may in fact have been

the center of early Mayan dispersal, about 2600 B.C.

(Vogt, 1969b). The area, in short, has a very long

history of occupation by the Mam people and their forebears,

both before and after the Spanish Conquest. Many of the

present day towns ( municipios ) originated before the

Conquest (Valladares, 1957:28) and each has a separate

and distinct identity v;hereby people from one town regard

people from other towns as strangers, even if they speak

the same language (Wagley, 1969:55)- Town endogamy,

different styles of dress, and dialect differences help

establish and maintain the identity of each town. The

rarity of intermarriage between towns and the Isolation

of one town from another probably have been major

contributing factors in language divergence and the

establishment of dialect differences.

Primary ethnographic sources for the Mam area are

Oakes (1951a, 1951b), Valladares (1957), and Wagley (19^1,

19^9). In addition Wagley (1969) has written an excellent

summary of the characteristics of the Northwestern

Guatemalan area, which is mostly Inhabited by Mam

speakers. The Southern Mam area has been almost ignored

(Vogtj 1969a: 33). The very brief summary presented here

relies on the sources mentioned above and on personal

experience v.'hile doing fieldwork.

The people today are primarily subsistence farmers,

relying on the traditional maize, beans, and squash for

their sustenance. The area in which they live also

supports a wide variety of other crops which come from

both the New and Old Worlds, some of v/hich supplement

the basic diet, and some of which are farmed for cash

(Wagley, 1969:50). The major occupation of the men is

to farm and provide food and shelter for their families,

while that of the v/omen is to care for the house, children,

and provide some assistance with the planting or harvesting

as needed. Men, in addition to farming their own lands,

frequently travel to the coastal areas of Guatemala and

Mexico to work as seasonal labor on the large plantations

one of the few ways they have to earn a cash income

(Oakes, 1951b: 37). This labor, although comm.on, is

viewed as a last resort in times of need, primarily because

of the poor working conditions and dreaded lowland

diseases which are absent or rarer in the highlands.

Weekly local markets in all towns and some aldeas

(hamlets) serve as centers for the exchange of goods.

Most items are bought and sold by women in these markets

(Valladares, 1957:59) except for a few things, such as

manufactured clothing or large animals, which are

traditionally sold by men. Some towns are noted for their

"traveling salesmen" who spend time attending markets in

the surrounding area to sell particular products from

their towns, but there is no actual full-time trader

class in the area (Wagley, 1969:61). There is also some

craft specialization by town in the Mam area, whereby a

particular town produces a single specialty item and

sells that product in the area. For instance, people

from Colotenango buy pots from Concepcidn Tutuapa, San

Miguel, and Ixtahuac^n; buy mats from Jacaltenango and

Huehuetenango; thread, blankets, bags, and nets from

Concepcion Tutuapa; and cotton cloths from Comitancillo

(Valladares, 1957:59). Where there are climate differences

between towns there may also be crop specialization and

crop exportation (V/agley, 1969:50). Craft specialization

does not extend to personal clothing, which is hand-woven

by women for their families, except in areas where

hand-woven cloth is being replaced by footloomed cloth

or manufactured menswear. There is an increasing tourist

market in hand-woven items, however.

The religion and ceremonial life of the Mam area has

been rather well documented in the various sources. It

is basically a complex synthesis of Catholic and

indigenous belief and ritual. No attempt will be made to

describe the complexities of the religious system here, but

it should be pointed out that ritual is often a rich source

for linguistic as viell as anthropological data, and that

the connections between language and culture are sometimes

strikingly lucid in ritual. Thus anyone familiar with re-

ligion and ritual in the Mam area will find parts of

the grammar which will immediately bring to mind aspects

of the religious system. For instance, numbers are

Intimately connected with the calendar, metaphor is

important in ritual as well as daily life, direction

and location are striking in both the grammar and the

ritual.

Men in the Mam area travel to the plantations and

other towns for commercial purposes. The former activity

places them in limited contact with outsiders, including

Ladinos and other Indians; the latter activity may take

them to the departmental capital in addition to other

towns, but it rarely takes them farther than that. There

are many men who have never been to the national capital,

which is a good day's travel by bus from most of the

Mam towns. Bus service to large parts of the Mam area is

Infrequent and at times nonexistent, reducing possibilities

for long distance travel even further. Women are more

restricted in travel outside their towns, since they do

not as a rule participate in intertown marketing. An

unmarried girl does not travel alone, and a married

woman is usually tied down by children and household

duties. Women will travel between their houses and

the tovm center for the local market and church. The

local market is, in fact, an important social event where

men and women meet with their friends and transact all

sorts of business and vjhere young people, of course,

court. The young people are exquisitely turned out on

these occasions the girls with their most elaborate

blouses and hair styles, the boys as neat as possible.

Since a large portion of the Mam area is relatively

isolated in distance from Guatemala City, the people are

fairly removed from outside and government influences.

There are few Ladinos living in their towns, and less

tourism reaches Mam towns than, for instance. Quiche

or Cakchiquel towns. Bus service where available is

often infrequent and expensive; there are fewer schools

with fewer grades than in more central areas; and there

is less contact with government agencies and programs.

Furthermore, tension between Ladinos and Indians appears

stronger and more open than in towns closer to the capital

In Huehuetenango, to take a superficial but indicative

example, Indians are forced to the back of the bus, while

this never happens in Sacatepequez or Chimaltenango.

Indians do not own any of the small businesses in

Ixtahuacan; Indians own a bus line, a hotel, several

small stores and more in Comalapa (Chimaltenango).

One of the obvious correlations to this Isolation

and inaccessibility is that fewer Indians in the Mam area

are bilingual than in any other part of the country

except Alta Verapaz. Bilingualism among women is uncommon

and among men it is low. In the case of the latter group

it seems that while many men speak a little Spanish, it

is poor Spanish, sufficient only to carry out the most

necessary negotiations in the departmental markets, the

municipality, or the plantations. For various reasons,

few children complete even six years of schooling the

reasons most often cited are that the parents need the

children at home, the schools are too far, the teachers

do not attend consistently or do not teach anything

when they attend, and that the children do not learn

anything anyway because the schools are conducted in

Spanish. Learning Spanish is highly valued, especially

for boys, because it is seen as advantageous in dealing

with the outside, especially in legal matters; but few

children learn much. In very recent years the government

has instituted a program of castellanizacion which uses

bilingual teachers to offer a pre-first-grade year of

education in Spanish literacy using materials prepared

in the native language and Spanish. The program has not

yet reached many of the schools in the Mam area. In places

where a good school exists (i.e., a school where Mam

children are taught sufficient Spanish so that they can

complete six years of education) parents are often

willing to make considerable financial sacrifice to send

their children to school. The reasons parents give for

.

not sending their children to school should not be taken

as an absence of value placed on schooling; quite the

contrary, the parents are merely making a realistic

evaluation of the benefits of poor education in a foreign

language by minimally motivated and prepared teachers.

The situation, then, is that Mam is a language spoken

by several hundred thousand people in Guatemala and

Mexico, and is the only language of many of these people.

It is not a written language, nor a national language, nor

a prestigious language. It has been relatively little

studied (compare linguistic work on Cakchiquel, Quiche,

or Yucatec), and the results of the few studies made

are fairly inaccessible to xMam speakers. Experiences

while conducting the fieldwork, however, point to a

deep interest on the part of Mam speakers in knowing hov7

to read and write in their own language and in learning

the grammar. The language is not dying and is unlikely

to disappear in the foreseeable future. Any linguistic

work, especially work which can eventually be shared

with the Mam speakers, is of tremendous importance.

It is the intention that the results of this analysis

will be made available to Mam speakers. Furthermore,

every bit of information about a relatively unstudied

language is of use to linguistic and anthropological

science
0.2 RESEARCH

The fieldv;ork on v/hich this analysis is based was

undertaken in Guatemala in two periods, from August

1971 to December 1973 and from June to September 197^.

During the first period the author was a linguist with

the Proyecto Lingiiistico Francisco Marroquin (PLFM)

in Antigua, Guatemala, under the auspices of the U.S.

Peace Corps. The responsibilities entailed by this position

were to teach linguistics to a group of twelve students

who were native speakers of Quiche, Cakchiquel, or' Mam;

to teach the Mam students how to produce various education-

al materials in their language and to supervise that

work; and to do the necessary linguistj.c analysis of

Mam for all other aspects of the work. During the second
part of the research the grammatical analysis of Northern

Mam was continued and a course in Mam. derivational

morphology was taught to Mam speakers.

The data used for this analysis consist of a Mam-

Spanish dictionary compiled by the Mam students at the

PLFM, a substantial body of texts and dialogues

collected and transcribed by the author and the Mam

students and analyzed by the author, data on directionals

collected for three hundred transitive verbs, incidental

material gathered from educational pamphlets prepared

by the Mam students, and various miaterials elicited

directly by the author. All data is on file at the PLFM in

Antigua.
20

0.3 PERSONNEL

The research for this grammcLr was accomplished with

the extensive aid of two linguistically sophisticated

native Mam speakers, Juan Maldonado Andres and Juan

Ordonez Domingo. Both are from the tovm of San Ildefonso

Ixtahuac^n and both began working with the PLFM and

studying their language in November, 1971. At the time

they were bilingual in Spanish and Mam and literate in

Spanish; since then they have participated in intensive

courses in Mam literacy, phonology, morphology, syntax,

Mayan grammar, and dictionary preparation. They have

prepared a bilingual Mam-Spanish dictionary, have collected

and transcribed texts in Mam, have written a number of

pamphlets of an educational nature in Mam, and have

written a paper in Spanish describing their work with

teaching literacy in Mam (Maldonado and Ordonez, 197^).

They have further contributed to the analysis of Mam

undertaken here by eliciting and self-eliciting material

on various grammatical themes, by checking and rechecking

lexical material with other people in the community, and

by participating in and initiating extensive discussions

of points of grammar with the author and other members

of the staff at the PLFM. It has always been the intent

to discuss, insofar as possible, the analysis of Mam

with Juan Maldonado and Juan Ordonez in order to check

that analysis with the Mam experts.

11

Juan Maldonado is twenty-four years old and lives

in the aldea of Acal, San Ildefonso IxtahuacSn. Both of

his parents are from the same town; his father is bilingual

in Spanish and Mam, and his mother is monolingual in

Mam. He has had nine years of formal education, all in

schools in his town, and is a subsistence farmer. He

has for a number of years been interested in community

development and has participated in the savings and loan

cooperative in his town, voluntary Spanish literacy

classes, and programs of Desarrollo de la Comunidad (a

community development agency).

Juan Ord5nez is twenty-one years old and lives in

the caserio of Chupil, San Ildefonso Ixtahuacan. His

father is bilingual in Spanish and Mam; his mother is

monolingual in Mam; both are from Ixtahuacan. He

completed six years of formal education in his town and

then participated in a two-year agricultural course in

Chiantla, Huehuetenango. He also has given classes in

Spanish literacy.

Many other people of Ixtahuacan contributed to this

grammar by recording folklore, helping with data verifi-

cation, or working with the author and the Mam students

in elicitation sessions. A list of these people follows;

it is not a complete list of all who have been involved

in the work in that many others have made informal

contributions.
j

12

aldea

Eustaqulo Garcia Ortiz Granadillo

Jose Ordonez Mendez Chupil

Andres Maldonado Morales Acal

Juana Maldonado Andres Acal

Juan Morales Ordonez Acal

Miguel Velasquez Morales Acal

Sebastian Morales Maldonado La Cumbre

Diego Ramirez Maldonado Laguneta

Maria Maldonado Che j o

Pedro Ordonez Ortiz Chejoj

Alonso Ortiz Maldonado Vega San Miguel

Francisco Maldonado Felipe Vega San Miguel

Jose Maldonado Vasquez Chiquilila

Rafael Maldonado Vasquez Chiquilila

Diego Domingo Felipe Papal

Jose Perez Ordonez Papal

Miguel Morales Ortiz Papal

Pablo Felipe Gomez Poloja

0.4 PREVIOUS STUDIES

Early works on Mam are sparse only a few vocabulary

lists and grammatical sketches have been made. The grammar

sketches have not been seen by the author; for a review

of them see Peck (1951). A bibliography of early works

on Mam can be found in The Handbook of Middle American

Indians, volume 5.
13

In recent years several grammatical studies have

been made. The first of these is a master's thesis by

Edward Sywulka (19^8) in v:hich the author briefly describes

the phonology and morphology of Mam of San Juan Ostuncalco,

a Southern Mam town. Sywulka studied linguistics with

Pike J Nida, and Trager, and v/rote his grammar according

to a modified tagmemic/descriptive framework. He lists

and briefly describes the phonemes and morphemes which

he found for Southern Mam. Sywulka' s later sketch of

Mam (1966) uses the same framework but describes the Mam

of San Ildefonso Ixtahuacdn (Northern Mam) . This sketch

does not include phonology (although the phonemes are

listed in a footnote and the author has by now decided

that vowel length is phonemic in Mam) , but does include

sections on clause and sentence structure as well as

morphology. It is quite a brief description of Mam which

contains lists of some morphemes, notes on sentence

structure, and a spot/filler analysis of the verb clause.

A sample text is appended.

Dorothy Peck's master's thesis (1951) continues the

analysis begun by Sywulka and for data uses recordings

made by Manuel Andrade . Peck is concerned with the syntax

of Southern Mam. She includes an inventory of syntactic

units, a section on the distribution of classes which

is essentially a list of sentences or clauses containing

different elements, and a section on features of arrangement

of sentences. Sam.ple texts are Included. Peck also

lil

makes her analysis according to a descriptive/tagmemic

framework.

The most complete of the recent Ham grammars is

that by Una Ganger (1969)- This analysis is a glossematic

grammar of the dialect of Mam spoken in Todos Santos

(Northern Mam, but quite different from other Northern

Mam dialects). Arranged according to glossematic theory,

the grammar gives phonological, morphological, and

syntactic information and is quite extensive and accurate.

Of particular interest are Ganger's treatments of

underlying phonological shapes and verb structure. This

grammar was very helpful in making the present analysis.

There is also a modern teaching course in Mam

(Robertson, Hawkins, and Maldonado , n.d.) which includes

lessons, texts, and a Mam-Spanish-English/Spanish-

Mam-English dictionary. This is based on the Mam of

San Ildefonso Ixtahuacan. The principal author,

Robertson, has recently completed a dissertation on

pronoun distribution in seven Mayan languages, which

should include Mam, but this has not yet been seen.

0.5 SGOPE

This work is m.eant to be a descriptive grammar of

the dialect of Mam spoken in Ixtahuacan. Topics which

are covered are a brief description of the phonology;

grammatical process, which includes morpheme, word.

15

and root classes, and stem, phrase, and sentence forma-

tion; verb semantics, which discusses special semantic

and syntactic properties of the verb phrase; and grammati-

cal categories, which is a section on distinctive

organizational principles which govern the language.

No complete grammar of this dialect of Mam has

been written so far, and this gramm.ar covers topics

which are not contained in any of the previous works on

Mam. The organization is fairly standard for a descriptive

grammar, with the addition of chapters on verb semantics

and grammatical categories. These are included in order

to explain and illuminate problem.s of wider interest

in Mam and certain grammatical structures necessary to

an understanding of the language. Description such as is

presented here is requisite to almost any further

study of the language because without an understanding

of basic structure no further steps can be taken.

The first three chapters should be of particular

interest to linguists and language students who need

to know details of Mam grammar. The last chapter should

be of more general interest to linguists and anthropologists

who are concerned with such problems as language universals,

language diversity, or world view as revealed through

linguistic organization. It is obvious by now that any

language can handle almost any problem; of continuing

Interest is the variety or lack of variety in the choices

available to solve each problem and the ways in which

16

those resolutions can be correlated with cultural and

social choices.
:

1. PHONOLOGY

1.1 PHONEMIC INVENTORY

The phonemic symbols used here and throughout are

a practical orthography designed for Mam by Terrence

Kaufman and used at the PLFM.

Consonants
18

1.2 PHONEMIC DESCRIPTION

1.2.1 CONSONANTS

The occlusive phonemes are a series of eight simple

or affrlcated voiceless stops each having a different

point of articulation. The glottal stop will be discussed

in section 1.2.3. All the stops occur in initial,

medial, or final position and all require release in

final position. In the cases of /tz, ch, tx, ky , q/

this release is affrication, while for /p , t, k/ it

consists of aspiration. Release may also occur

optionally before other consonants in clusters . The

palatalized stop /ky/ and the velar stop /k/ have

restricted and partially complementary distribution.

/ky/ only occurs before front vowels and /a/, while /k/

only occurs before back vowels and /a/. Both can occur

after front vowels and /a/; only /k/ occurs after back

vowels. The two phonemes therefore contrast before /a/

and after /I, e/ while in other vov/el environments

there is no contrast. The occlusive phonemes with their

allophones and examples are:

/P/ [P^] finally [si:ph] /si:p/ 'tick'

[pj elsewhere [pu:x] /pu:j/ 'dust'

/t/ [th] finally [rlPt'^] /ri7t/ 'solid'

[t] elsevjhere [ta?w] /ta7w/ 'pain'

/tz/ [)^] [wl)zf] /witz/ 'hill, mountain'

19

/ch/ 16] [kuc] /kuch/ 'pig'

/tx/ [c] [6u:cJ /b'u:tx/ 'boiled corn'

/ky/ [k^] [k^aq^-J /kyaq/ 'hot'

/k/ [k^] finally [ku?k^] /ku7k/ 'squirrel'

[kj elsewhere [^ko:'4-ya] /xko:7ya/ 'tomato' t

/q/ [q*] finally [^wu:q-] /v;u:q/ 'seven'

[q] elsewhere [qe?ri] /qe7n/ 'gourd to keep tortillas

warm'

The glottalized occlusives are unit phonemes which

contrast with plain occlusives plus glottal stop.

Phonetically /tz', ch', tx', ky '

, k'/ are glottalized

stops, with glottalization occurring almost simultaneously

or even preceding the stop onset. /b '

, t', q'/ are

Imploded stops. They are voiced or partially voiced in

initial or medial position and are voiceless in final

position. Before a pause they are released finally.

The distribution of /ky ' , k'/ is similar to that of

'/ky, k/. The glottalized occlusive phonemes with their

allophones and examples are:

/b'/ [&] finally [sig] /sib'/ 'smoke'

[6] elsewhere [6a^:] /b'a:/ 'mole'

/t'/ [cf] finally [sxe^] /xhjet'/ 'stomach of animals'

[<fj elsewhere [(fu'cfsn] /t'ut'an/ 'watery'

/tz'/ [^''] [ii^Dsi^] /tz'utz'/ 'coati'

/ch'/ [c''] [pfic"^] /poch'/ 'bedbug'

t will be used here to indicate the allophone of /?/

[4-]
which consists of falling pitch without actual closure.
:

20

/tx'/ [c''] [c^fic^ /tx'otxV 'earth, land'

/ky'/ [k^''] [k^^'aq^] /ky aq/ 'flea'
'

/k'/ [k^] [k''a':] /k'a:/ 'bitter'

/qV [d finally [sla'^rcf] /xhla:q'/ 'young man, boy'

[;] elsewhere [feePn] /q'e7n/ 'booze'

Fricatives occur in all positions. /j/ is postvelar

in the environment of postvelar consonants and velar

elsewhere. The phonemes with their allophones and

examples are:

/s/ s] [si: 4-] /si:7/ 'firewood'

/xh/ [sa^:l] /xha:l/ 'frog'

/x/ s] [sx^:l] /xja:l/ 'person'

/j/ x] next to postvelars [qx^:] /qja:/ 'our house'

x] elsewhere [^o-^] /Jo=j/ 'crow'

Nasals occur in all positions. /m/ has |m| as an

allophone; the allophonic conditioning of /n/ is com.plex,

1. /Cn#/ is realized as [Cn#] .

2. /x\xi#/ is realized as \p-^^

3. /Vn#/ is realized as [Vn#J

'

4. /n {-b'il}/ is realized as [nfill] .

5. /VnC (except /b'/) V/ is realized as [VnCV] .'

6. /n Occlusive or /y// is realized as

[homorganic N Occlusive or /y/] .

7. All other /n/ are realized as [n] .

Examples

1. [ps^if^^n] /artz'n/ 'salt'

2. [taxblsf": 'n] /tajb'larnn/ 'it's useful'

21

3. [p2^ r2n] /ptz'on/ 'sugarcane'

4. [ga't'nfill] /q'a:nb'll/ 'medicine'

5- [^ianplV''] /xq'anpltz'/ 'a small bird'

but [qa'mbexj /qanb'aj/ 'foot and lower leg'

[tqan^ /tqan/ 'his/her foot'

6. [jnpa!*: 'ya]/mpa:ya/ 'my bag'

|_sxn k J /sjenky/ 'guitar'

[gany] /q'any/ 'you, familiar (between males)'

[?a^:'ncffill] /a:nq'b'il/ 'life'

[Cfink^J /b'onk/ 'fat'

[?unt ] /unt/ 'brains'

7. [nmo:'xa] /nmo:ja/ 'my double thread'

[n?l] /ne71/ 'sheep'

[?anu'p ] /anup/ 'silk-cotton tree'

[n^i :
'
sa^ /nwi:xha/ 'my cat'
As can be seen in the second example under (5) above

and the first example under (6) the discreteness between

/m, n/ breaks down before bilabial occlusives. In the

case of /qamb'aj/ ' foot and lower leg' the underlying

form is discoverable through the possessed form /tqan/

'his/her foot'. If, however, the bilabial occlusive

is not separable, the underlying phoneme cannot be

recovered, for example : [skum6u:'l] /xkumb'u":!/ 'dove'.

An example of /m/ in a non-neutralized environment is

[mo:s] /mo:x/ 'June bug'.

Resonants occur in all positions. /w/ is velarized

before back vowels and after /n/. The resonant

22

phonemes v.'ith their allophones and examples are:

cr

/w/ [^] before back vowels, [ V;o : 4-^ /wo: 7/ 'toad'

after /n/
[ngwi:'s3] /nwi:xha/ 'my cat'

[w] elsewhere [v/a*: -l-x] /wa:7j/ 'tortilla'

/I/ [l] [la'^.] /la:/ '

chichicaste '

/y/ [y] [ya.'-.'b] /ya:b'/ 'sick'

The flap occurs infrequently. A bilingual speaker

may trill the /r/ in Spanish loans with the trill, but

monolingual speakers never distinguish the flap and the

trill.

/r/ [r] [xf2ra:'t ] /jora:t/ 'quickly'

[i^I?t^] /ri7t/ 'solid'

The combination of /t/ plus /x/ is written as /t-x/

to distinguish it from /tx/. This particular cluster only

occurs over morpheme boundaries.

In Spanish loans three additional consonants are

found: /b , d, g, /. /b/ also occurs in one native Mam

word, /baqa/ 'scarcely'. In old loans or in the speech of

monolinguals these phonemes may be changed to a native

Mam phoneme, usually the similarly articulated voiceless

stop or voiced resonant, but many words are often pronounced

with the Spanish phonemes . Example's :

/b/ [b] [ps^itk^] /ba:rk/ 'boat' (Spanish barco )

/d/ [d] [mu:'nds] /mu:nda/ 'world' (Spanish mundo)

/g/ [s] [ga^:'ne] /ga:na/ 'in vain' (Spanish gana 'desire')

'

23

Minimal Pairs :

p 7^ b'

/pa:/ 'bag'

/b'a:/ 'mole'

t ?^ t'

/ta:l/ 'her son (of a woman)'

/t'a:l/ 'liquid'

tz / tz'

/tzankl/ 'bunch of hair or thread without order,

lying there'
/tz'ankl/ 'something smooth like an orange, lying there'

ch 7^ ch'

/chlTl/ 'basket'

/ch'iyi/ 'edible grasshopper'

tx 7^ tx'

/txu:txan/ 'blister-like'

/tx'u:tx'/ 'granary'

ky 7^ ky

/kyaay 'hot'

/ky'aq/ 'flea'

k 7^ k'

/uk/ 'a bug like a bedbug'

/uk'/ 'louse' . .
24

q / q'

/qe7n/ 'gourd to keep tortillas v;arm'

/q'e7n/ 'booze'

t ;^ tz

/te:t/ 'toy to divert children'

/tze:t/ 'laugh'

t' ^ tz'

/t'ut'an/ 'squishy'

/tz'utz'/ 'coati'

tz ^ ch

/tza:k'/ 'toothy'

/cha:k'/ 'tall and skinny'

tz' ch'

/tz'o:k/ 'he/she came in'

/ch'otk/ 'plow'

ch 7^ tx

/chll/ 'rattle'

Axil/ 'quetzal tall'

ch' 5^ tx'

/ch'ak/ 'mud'

/tx'a7k/ 'grain'
'

25

ch i^ ky

/tchl:xh/ 'its dirt'

/tkyl:xh/ 'its fish'

ch' ?^ ky'

/ich' / 'mouse

/iky'/ 'passed by'

ky 7^ k

/ch'ikyl/ 'vertical' /kyaq/ 'hot'

/chi:kl/ 'chicle' /kaTch/ 'burst grain'

ky' / k

/nchmerky'a/ 'my turkey'

/nchme:ka/ 'my brown wax'

ky 5-^ k'

/kya:/ 'grinding stone'

/k'a:/ 'bitter'

k 7^
q

/kurkxh/ 'lightning bug'

/qu:q/ 'sandy farmland in cold climate'

k' / q'

/k'o:j/ 'm.ask'

/q'o:j/ 'fight, anger'

2G

s ?^ t / tz

/se:t/ 'place firewood in the fire*

/te:t/ 'toy to divert children'

/tze:t/ 'laugh'

xh 7^ ch

/xhiky/ 'rabbit'

/chiky'/ 'blood'

X 7^ tx

/xa:n/ 'spider'

/txi:n/ 'little girl'

j /^ k

/jo:x/ 'first weeding of the corn'

/ko:x/ 'lame'

s 7^ xh T^ X

/po:s/ 'peanut shell v;ithout seed'

/po:xh/ 'scarecrow'

/po:x/ 'single grub of a kind of large ant'

m / n

/morj/ 'double thread'

/no:j/ 'fill up'

1.2.2 VOWELS

There are ten vowels in Mam distinguished as to

:

27

point of articulation (fronts mldj back, low, high)

and length (long, short). Long vowels tend to be higher

than short vowels. Vov;els are also higher before /n/

and lower before /?/. In the environment of glottalized

consonants or glottal stops vowels are pronounced with

considerable vocal fry ("creaky voice") and long vowels

have a long low off-glide accompanied by a drop in

pitch before glottal stop. Low and mid vowels have a

high off-glide before palatals. The phonemes with

examples are

/i/ [l] [?I5^] /ichV 'mouse'

/e/ [e] [ce?v;] /che7w/ 'cold'

/a/ [a] [cap'^] /chap/ 'crab'

/o/ [fl] [pQc^] /poch'/ 'bedbug'

/u/ [u] [kojzf''] /kutz'/ 'humming bird'

/!:/ [i:] [?i:c] /i:ch/ 'chile'

/e:/ [e:] [6e:] /b'e:/ 'road'

/a:/ [a*^:] [k'^a'^:] /kya:/ 'grinding stone'

/o:/ [o:] [xo:x] /jo:j/ 'crow'

/u:/ [u:] [?u:)zf] /u:tz/ 'cradle'

Short unstressed vowels which follow the stressed

vowel in a word tend to be neutralized to [a] (see 1.3

for a discussion of stress) . The underlying form of these

vowels is unrecoverable unless the word undergoes

some morphophonemic change in another form, which lengthens

or stresses the neutralized vowel. The neutralized

28

vowel creates problems for the practical orthography

in that it is not heard consistently as one of the short

vowels by the native speaker, nor is it heard as a

sixth short vowel. Consequently a nevi symbol is not

acceptable for writing a neutralized vov/el, and the native

speaker uses /a/, /e/ , or /i/ for these vov/els, often

inconsistently. In tape transcriptions the enclitic

[^8n] has been v;ritten /tzan/, /tzen/, /tzin/, or /tzn/

by the same transcriber. Whenever possible a neutralized

vowel will be written as /a/. It can not be indicated by

nothing (deleting the vowel altogether) because a

neutralized vov;el contrasts with no vowel in final

position.

In roots and stems a short unstressed vowel

preceding the stressed vowel and following a consonant

tends to be dropped. Again, the dropped vowel is

unrecoverable unless it appears in another form which

undergoes appropriate morphophonemic changes. For instance,

the forms . .

/ma waq'na:ya/ 'I worked'

/aq'u:ntl/ 'work'

show that a /u/ has been dropped from the verb stem.

Similarly,

/ptz'on/ 'sugarcane'

/npartz'ana/ 'my sugarcane'

show a dropped /a/ in the root. This pair is also a good
29

example of vowel neutralization after a stressed vowel

(in the possessed form) v:hich is recoverable when stress

moves to the otherwise neutral vowel (in the unpossessed

form). Vowel dropping leaves many consonant clusters,

which are a distinctive phonological characteristic of

Mam.

There are no vowel clusters of dissimilar vowels.

Consequently long vowels are not analysed as geminate

clusters. Only one long vov/el is permitted in a word.

Minimal Pairs :

1 ?^ e

/iky'/ 'passed by'

/eky'/ 'chicken'

e 7^ a

/meTxh/ 'just developing ear of corn'

/ma7xh/ 'tobacco'

a ?^ o

/ch'ak/ 'mud'

/ch'ok/ 'magpie'

o 7^ u

/ko7k/ 'cacaxte (wooden back pack)'

/ku7k/ 'squirrel'

1: 7^ e:

/nb'irya/ 'my name'

/nb'e:ya/ 'my road'

:

30

e: / a:

/b'e:/ 'road'

/b'a:/ 'mole'

a: ?^ o : 7^ u:

/q'a:q'/ 'fire'

/q'o:q'/ ' chilacayote (a type of squash)'

/q'u:q'/ 'quetzal (archaic)'

i p^ 1:

/ch'im/ 'straw'

/ch'i:m/ 'pancreas'

e 7^ e :

/b'ech/ 'sprout'

/b'e:ch/ 'flower'

a 7^ a:

/awal/ 'plant'

/awa:l/ 'planter'

o 7^ o

/ch'ok/ 'magpie'

/ch'o:k/ 'plov;'

u / u:

/us/ 'fly'

/u:tz/ 'crib'
.

31

1.2.3 GLOTTAL STOP

The glottal stop is nonphonemic initially in the

word; all vowel initial words have a glottal onset. In

medial and final position glottal stop contrasts with

its absence and is phonemic. Medially if it follows a

consonant it distinctly occurs after the consonant.

There is only one example of glottal stop finally after

a consonant and in this case it is realized during or

slightly before the onset of the consonant. The example

is in the morpheme {-a} 'first person possessive enclitic'

which has an alternant /-y7/ after vov:els

Ipjac:}] /nja:y7/ 'my house'

Glottal stop after long vov/els is realized as falling

pitch without actual cessation of breath (symbolised

here as [^-J). Examples are:

77/ [?] [?I'?^el] /i7tzal/ 'Ixtahuaccfn'

[+] [si: 4-] /si: 7/ 'firewood'

Glottal stop at times behaves like a consonant and

at times like a vowel feature. The first person possessive

prefix for nouns is /n-/ before consonants and /w-/

before vowels. Generally vowel initial nouns lose the

nonphonemic glottal stop onset under possession and

prefix /w-/. A few nouns, however, do not lose the

glottal stop, in which case they prefix /n-/, just like

a consonant initial noun. In the unpossessed form these

words have no initial contrast with other vowel initial

' t
32

words, so the 77/ is still not phonemic initially. It

must be inserted after possession for those words that

maintain it. All Spanish loans, unlike the pattern for

most Mam words, follow the pattern of maintaining glottal

stop under possession, probably because of analogy with the

more common consonant initial possession pattern.

/anup/ 'silk-cotton tree'

/nTanupa/ 'my silk-cotton tree'

Furthermore, glottal stop can separate vov;els, as can

any consonant.

/pe7e:t/ 'put within a fenced area'

After vowels and before consonants or finally, glottal

stop is more like a vowel feature. Vowel initial

suffixes or enclitics which occur after a vowel either

insert a /y/ glide between the vowels or synthesize the

vowels. This rule holds for a vowel followed by

glottal stop.

/y/ glide: /nja:ya/ 'my house' from /ja:/ 'house'

/nsl:7ya/ 'my firewood' from /si: 7/ 'firewood'

Synthesis: /aq'ne:t/ 'work' from /aq'na-/ 'stem' +

/-e t/ 'passive
:

/che:7t/ 'grind corn' from /che:7-/ 'stem' +

/-e:t/ 'passive'

t In teaching Mam speakers to read and write, it is

necessary to teach them to write initial glottal stop by
rote, implying that it is nonphonemic in this position. At
the PLFM the Mam students thought it unnecessary.
_

33

Stress (1.3) falls on vowels follov/ed by glottal stop

if there is no long vowel in the v;ord. Since stress

rules in general are conditioned by vowel features such

as length, and other consonants do not have this effect

on stress, glottal stop here seems to be a vovjel feature

rather than a consonant.

Minimal Pairs :

7 absence

/ch'o7k/ 'rooster's comb'

/ch'ok/ 'magpie'

7 7^ q'

/ta:7/ 'his water'

/ta:q'/ 'his vine'

C7 7^ C
/t7anup/ 'his silk-cotton tree'

/t'a:l/ 'liquid'

1,2.M JUNCTURE

Juncture is indicated by a space. It is defined both

phonologically and grammatically. Words have one and only

one stress and have no more than one long vowel.

Therefore juncture must occur somewhere between two

stresses or two long vov;els in a segment. The aspirated

or affricated release of simple occlusives in final

position indicates juncture, as does the voicelessness or

nonrelease of the imploded occlusives. Furthermore, a

,

34

pause can generally occur at juncture, although In

rapid speech It usually does not occur. Aside from these

criteria, juncture can be determined grammatically.

Morphemes consist of prefixes, roots, suffixes, or

enclitics. Clitics are almost always postposed to the

word because of phonological and immediate constituent

criteria (the only exception seems to be oa 'plural'

which can be preposed to the word). Juncture therefore

occurs before roots or prefixes, and after roots,

suffixes, or enclitics. The only real problems in

juncture analysis are in the verb phrase: Are aspects

prefixes or words? Are directionals roots or affixes?

Are Set B person markers prefixes or words? Some aspects

are phonologically bound and some are not (those that

contain vowels). The phonologically free aspects can

take enclitics, and so are written with juncture, v;hile

the phonologically bound aspects are written without

juncture. Directionals are derived from free roots and

are preposed to the main verb in the verb phrase. Pause

can occur after directionals, and they can also receive

stress, although in connected speech they usually do

not. For these reasons and also because the word in Mam

is usually short, directionals are written with juncture.

Set B person markers all contain vowels and therefore

are not phonologically bound. However, Set A person

markers are phonologically bound and with the verb 'to go'

Set B person markers are also phonologically bound:

35

Set B to go

chin- ma chitnxa 'I went'

ma txl 'he/she went'

qo- ma qo7x 'we went'

chi- ma che7x ''they went'

Therefore all person markers are written without juncture.

The major elements of the verb phrase are therefore

written as follov;s:
unbound aspect #
Set B + Directional # Set A + Stem + Encll-
bound aspect + tics

1.3 STRESS

Stress is not phonemic in Mam. Every word has one

stress, according to the following rules:

1. Stress falls on a long vowel in the word.

2. If there is no long vowel, stress falls on the

vowel preceding the last glottal stop in the

word.

3. If there is no long vowel and no glottal stop,

stress falls on the vowel preceding the last

consonant in the root.

4. If none of the above conditions apply, stress

falls on the only vowel in the root.

That is, stress is conditioned by long vowels and

glottal stop and never falls on suffixes unless they

contain long vowels or glottal stop. Examples:

36

1. [?agu:'ntl3 /aq'u:ntl/ 'work'

[wa^na^iya]] /waq'narya/ 'I worked'

2. [pu?la'?] /pu71a7/ 'dipper'

3. [spl'ky"] /spiky 'a/ 'clear'

[splca'cfj /xpichaq'/ 'raccoon'

H. [tlj^'k?] /tlok'/ 'root'

[8a' Is] /b'ala/ 'maybe' ({-la} is an enclitic)

1.^ THE SYLLABLE

Syllables have as many as three consonants initially

and four consonants finally. The vowel can be long or

short, with or without glottal stop.

(C)(C)(C)V(:)(7)(C)(C)(C)(C)

That is J consonants can cluster up to three or four in

any position and vowels never cluster. Words may begin
or end with consonant or vowel. There are no apparent

restrictions as to which consonants may cluster. It

should be noted, however, that clustering is a result

of vowel dropping, or occurs over morpheme boundaries.

The only clusters which occur finally in root morphemes

are of the shape nC (see 2.3.7).

1.5 MORPHOPHONEMICS

Morphophonemic alternation primarily involves

vowel dropping, vowel neutralization, vowel synthesis.
: . .

37

/y/ insertion between vov/els, glottal stop and glottalized

consonant alternation, the movement of glottal stop

toward long vowels, and nasal alternation.

1.5.1 VOV/EL DROPPING

Short unstressed vowels occurring before the stressed

vowel in a root are often dropped. If the root is used

in a form in which stress is shifted to another vowel,

the dropped vowel will reappear. If no such forms occur,

the dropped vowel is not synchronically recoverable.

Examples

/xjabV 'shoe'

/nxa:jb'aya/ 'my shoe'

/tzyu:l/ 'grab, verbal noun'

/tzuyb'il/ 'instrument for grabbing'

The first pair shows a dropped /a/ between /x/ and /j/;

the second pair shows a dropped /u/ between /tz/ and /y/.

Vowels are also always dropped between two /y/s

For example, /xk6:7ya/ 'tomato' adds the enclitic /-ya/

under possession, and the resultant form, is /nxko:7yya/

'my tomato'

1.5-2 VOWEL NEUTRALIZATION

Short unstressed vowels occurring after the stressed

vowe 1 in a word tend to be neutralized to [s] . If there

38

is a form in which the neutralized vowel receives

stress it can be recovered; if such a form does not exist

it is unrecoverable synchronically . Example:

[tpa!": '
jzf''ari] /tpa:tz'an/ 'his/her sugarcane'

[pjd''nnl /ptz'on/ 'sugarcane'

The second word in this pair shows that the underlying

form of the neutralized vowel in the first word is /o/.

In another example, the enclitic [jz^Sti] /tzan/ 'well

(connective)' never receives stress and therefore the

underlying form of the vowel is not recoverable.

1.5.3 VOWEL SYNTHESIS

If a vowel initial suffix or enclitic follows a

vowel final stem, the two vowels may be synthesized.

The particular suffixes which choose synthesization rather

than the insertion of a /y/ glide between the two vowels

are morphologically conditioned. {-e:t} 'passive'

requires synthesization:

/aq'na-/ 'work (stem)'

/aq'ne:t/ 'work (passive)'

1.5.4 /y/ INSERTION

In other cases, also morphologically conditioned,

if a vowel initial suffix or enclitic follows a vowel

final stem, a /y/ glide is inserted between the two

vowels. The person enclitics {-a} require /y/ insertion:

: ' 7

39

/ja:/ 'house'

/nja:ya/ 'my house'

1.5.5 GLOTTAL STOP MD GLOTTALIZED CONSONANT ALTERNATION

Glottal stop may alternate with glottalized consonants

in final position, usually in free variation. An exception

is the morpheme {-e:?} which derives intransitive verbs

from positional roots, and in final position always has

the form /-e:7/. If suffixes (not enclitics) are added,

it has the form /-e:b'/.

/txulch/ 'quiet'

/ma txul e : / 'he/she became quiet'

/ktxul e :b al/ 'he/she will become quiet'

Examples of /?/ in free variation with glottalized

consonants are:

/werky'a/ -v /we:y7/ 'it's mine'

/kub'/ "v /ku7/ 'down (directional)'

/tjaq'/ "^ /tja7/ 'underneath it'

A very few verbs that begin with a glottalized consonant

lose that consonant in some forms, which may be similar

to the alternation described above.

/ q' o t/ 'give'

/ q'o:n tza/ "^ /antz/ 'give me I

'

/ q' i t/ 'take/bring'

/ma txi wi:7na/ 'I took it'

i^O

Glottal stops which occur before glottaQized

consonants usually disappear:

/ku7/ 'down' + /b'aj/ 'finish' -> /kub'aj/ 'finish down'

There are exceptions to this tendency, however, for example:

/-b'ji7b'il/ 'nominalizing suffix (ffSl)'

/txa7q'/ 'the action of crunching a flea'

1.5.6 MOVEMENT OF GLOTTAL STOP TOV/ARD LONG VOWELS

Glottal stop tends to move toward long vov/els.

There are no words which have glottal stop after a short

vowel if there is a long vowel in the word. For example,

the morpheme {-7n} derives present participles from

transitive verbs, but only appears in this form if the

root has a short vowel. If the root has a long vowel

followed by a resonant, the glottal stop follows the long

vowel in the participle form; if the root has a long

vowel followed by a nonresonant, the glottal stop is

dropped in the participle form.

/b'iye:t/ 'kill'; /b'iyoTn/ 'killing'

/sjo:rat/ 'snore'; /sjo:7.ran/ 'snoring'

/li:pat/ 'fly'; /li:pan/ 'flying'

1.5.7 NASAL ALTERNATION

Although words can end in /m/, there are a number

of words which change a base form /m/ in final position

to /n/. If a suffix is added to these words the /m/

:: . .

reappears

Examples

/po:n/ 'incense'

/po:mal/ 'burn incense, perform rites'

/xb'a:lan/ 'clothes'

/xb'alaml:!/ 'dress'

Pinal /n/ plus /I/ is reduced to /n/, even over

an intervening vowel (which is dropped)

Examples

/po:n-/ 'arrive there' + /-al/ 'potential' ^

/po:l/

/ta:n/ 'sleep' + /-al/ 'potential' ^ /ta:l/

.

2. GRAMI-IATICAL PROCESS

2.1 MORPHEME CLASSES

Morphemes in Mam are either roots, clitics, or

affixes. Roots fall into several classes which are

matched by corresponding stem and word classes, except

for positionals, which are a root class only. The root

classes and their derivations are fully discussed in

sections 2.3, Root Classes; and 2.4, Stem Formation.

There are both precl^tics and enclitics, and at

least one clitic which can be either preposed or postposed

to the word. Various clitics accompany words of any

class, and even some affixes. Clitics will be fully

discussed in sections 2.2, Word Classes (for the

paradigmatic person enclitics); 2.5, Phrase Formation

(person enclitics); and 2.6, Sentence Formation (syntactic

enclitics)

Affixes consist of both prefixes and suffixes,

and are inflectional or derivational. Inflection is

discussed under section 2.2, Word Classes; and 2.3,

Root Classes. Derivation is discussed under section

2.4, Stem Formation.

42
^3

2.2 WORD CLASSES

Word classes are defined both Inf lectionally and

syntactically. They are verbs, nouns, adjectives, affect

words, and particles. Most of these Include several

subclasses -

2.2.1 VERBS

All verbs are inflected for person and for aspect

or mode. Two major sets of prefixed allomorphs

Indicate person: Set A and Set B. Set A serves as the

agent of transitive verbs and the possessor of nouns;

Set B is the patient of transitive verbs and the subject

of intransitive verbs and of pronouns. In certain

types of subordinate constructions, described in section

2.6, Set A may replace Set B as the patient of transitive

verbs or the subject of intransitive verbs. Accompanying

the sets of person prefixes are person enclitics.

Together the prefixes and enclitics comprise the full

person system, as follows:

Set A Set B Enclitics

1 singular
. .

^k

The allomorphs are primarily phonologically conditioned.

{n- '\,
v;-} /w-/ occurs before vowels; /n-/ before

consonants

{0 'x, tz- % tz '- -x/ k-} /!:-/ is used in the potential;

/tz-, tz'-/ occur before vowels in the non-

potential;

/tz-/ only occurs with the roots u:l 'arrive

here' and iky' 'pass by', while /tz'-/ occurs

with all other vowel initial roots and stems;

the prefix is unmarked before consonants in

the nonpotential

{k '\'
ya} /ya/ occurs after vowels, /a/ after consonants

After vowels, /ya/ varies freely with the

forms /ky'a, y7/ for first person only.

Example of a transitive verb with Set A agent (0 patient):

Stem = tze :q'a - 'hit'

Elements are aspect, patient, agent, stem, enclitic.

ma 0.n.tze :q'a.ya 'I hit it'

ma 0.t .tze:q'a.ya 'you hit it'

ma 0.t.tze:q'a 'he/she hit it'

ma 0.q.tze:q'a.ya 'we hit it (not you)'

ma 0.q.tze:q'a -'we-all hit it'

ma 0.ky .tze:q'a.ya 'you-all hit it'

ma 0.ky.tze:q'a 'they hit it'

Example of an intransitive verb with Set B subject:

Stem = b'e:t - 'walk'

Elements are aspect, subject, stem, enclitic.

^5

ma chin.b'e:t.a 'I walked'

ma 0.b'e:t.a 'you walked'

ma 0.b'e:t 'he/she walked'

ma qo.b'e:t.a 'we v/alked (not you)'

ma qo.b'e:t 'we-all walked'

ma chl.b'e:t.a 'you-all walked'

ma chi.b'e:t 'they walked'

Both second and third persons are Indicated by

the same prefix, while first person is indicated by a

different prefix. Number is indistinguishable from

person. The prefixes, then, mark presence or absence of

first person in singular or plural. First person plural

exclusive forms refer to us (a group) as opposed to

you (another group), so the enclitic on the first

person forms excludes second person, not third person.

The enclitic used with the second person forms clearly has

a different function; that of marking the presence of

second person. Absence of an enclitic implies its

opposite. The functions of the prefixes and enclitics

can be shown as follows:

i}6

PreA + EncA -> Isg ( + lsg, -2se)

PreB + EncB -> 2sg (-Isg, +2sg)

PreB -^ 3sg (-Isg, -2sg)

PreC + EncC -> Ipl excl (+lpl, -2pl)

PreC -^ Ipl incl (+lpl, +2pl)

PreD + EncD -> 2pl (-Ipl, +2pl)

PreD -> 3pl (-Ipl, -2pl)

Note that PreA is always accompanied by EncA, because

the singularity of PreA demands exclusion of second

person.

Aspects are preposed to the verb. They are:

{ma} 'recent past'

{o} 'past'

{n-} 'progressive'

{ok} 'potential*

{X-} 'recent past subordinated'

{0-} 'past subordinated'

All but {ok} are obligatory. The aspects with vowels

( {ma}, {o}, {ok}) are phonologically Independent and

may at times be separated from the verb or combine with

enclitics. The remaining aspects are phonologically

dependent and are never separated from the verb. {x-}

synthesizes with certain of the person markers in Set B

X- + chin- - xhin-

X- + tz-, tz'- -> s-

X- + chi- -V xhi-
:

^7

In other environments it is realized as /x-/. {0-}

also synthesizes vrlth Set B person markers, vrith the result

of subtracting the initial consonant of the person

prefixes

0- + chin- -> in-

0- + tz-, tz*-, k- -5-

0- + qo- ^ o-

0- + chl- -y 1-

Mode is indicated by suffixes which follow the

verb stem. These suffixes are different for transitive

and intransitive verbs, and serve to indicate potential

or imperative. They are:

Potential Imperative

Transitive: -a? -m

Imperative : -1
{-1} follows the stem formative vowel (section 2.4.1)

and lengthens the vowel of a root which ends in a short

vowel (this refers to the root vowel, not the stem

formative). {-1} also synthesizes with the compounding

directlonals {-x} 'away' and {-tz} 'toward':

ke:lax 'he will go out' k- (-IsgB) + e:l (go out)

+ -al (pot) + -X (away)

ke:latz 'he will come out' k- + e:l + -al + -tz

ko:kax 'he will go in' k- + o:k + -al + -x

ko:katz 'he will come in' k- + o:k + -al + -tz

kja:wax 'he will go up' k- + ja:w + -al + -x

kja:watz 'he will come up' k- + ja:w + -al + -tz

.

i|8

kb'elax 'he will go down' k- + kub ' + -al + -x

kb'elatz 'he will come down' k- + kub' + -al + -tz

ka:jatz 'he will come back' k- + a:j + -al + -tz

kiky'ax 'he will go to the k- + iky' + -al + -x

other side'
kiky'atz 'he will come to k- + iky' + -al + -tz
this side'

With the potential mode the potential aspect {ok}

can be used optionally. No aspect is used with the

Imperative mode. If a construction is neither potential

nor imperative, aspect is obligatory. The potential

mode is used very rarely with transitive verbs that do

not have directionals

There are two major classes of verbs: transitive

and intransitive.

2.2.1.1 TRANSITIVE VERBS

Transitive verbs use Set B to indicate the patient.

Set A to indicate the agent, and the transitive forms

of the suffixes of mode. (Set A replaces Set B in

certain subordinate constructions; see 2.6.5.2.)

Transitive verbs can omit the agent entirely to express

an unknown or indefinite agent. With the imperative,

the person prefix for second person singular (PreB) is

omitted, as the unmarked imperative. The patient is

always present, although frequently indicated by the

prefix for non-first person singular (PreB) in which case

it is unmarked and unspecific.

. '

49

Although there are two sets of prefixes to

indicate the agent and patient of a transitive verb, there

is only one set of enclitics , which refers to either

the agent or both the agent and the patient. If the

agent does not require an enclitic, then the patient

cannot have an enclitic. If the agent does require an

enclitic, then the patient may or may not be indicated

by the same enclitic. Consequently first person

involvement is clear, but there may be ambiguity as to

second person Involvement. Partly because of this Mam

speakers prefer to use intransitive forms expressing

only the agent or the patient, especially if the patient

Is not third person. The following table shows the

logically possible combinations of agent and patient

incorporated into the verb, and the actually realized

combinations

Stem = tze :q' a- 'hit'

Elements are aspect, patient, agent, stem, enclitic

Logically Actual Forms : Gloss :

possible :

ma 0.n.tze :q'a.ya 'I hit you/him/her/lt

only possible with a directional (e.g. ok )

ma ch.ok n.tze:q'an.a 'I hit you-all/them'

2sg -> Isg ma chin. t .tze :q' a.ya 'you hit me'

2sg ^ 3sg ma 0. t . tze :q'a.ya 'you hit him/her/it'

2sg -* Ipl excl ma qo .t .tze :q' a.ya 'you hit us'

2sg -> 3pl ma chi .t .tze :q' a.ya 'you hit them'
aa
50

3sg -> Isg not possible

3sg -> 2sg not possible

3sg -)- 3sg ma 0. t .tze :a *a 'he/she/it hit him/

her/it'
3sg -y Ipl excl not possible

3sg -> Ipl incl ma qo.t.tze:q'a 'he/she/it hit us-all'

3sg -V 2pl not possible

3sg -y 3pl ma chi . t . tze :q 'a 'he/she/it hit them'

Ipl excl -y 2sg

ma 0.q .tze rq'a.ya 'v/e hit you/him/her/
Ipl excl -y 3sg it'

Ipl excl -y 2pl

ma chi.q. tze rq'a.ya 'we hit you-all/them'
Ipl excl -> 3pl

Ipl incl -> 3sg ma 0.q.tze:q'a 'we-all hit him/her/

it'
Ipl incl -> 3pl ma chi .q, tze :q' 'we-all hit them'

2pl ->. Isg ma chin.ky tze . :q' a.ya 'you-all hit me'

2pl -> 3sg ma 0.ky .tze :q' a.ya 'you-all hit him/
her/it'
2pl -y Ipl excl ma qo.ky .tze :q' a.ya 'you-all hit us'

2pl -> 3pl ma chi .ky .tze :q' a.ya 'you-all hit them'

3pl -^ Isg not possible

3pl -> 2sg not possible

3pl -- 3sg ma .ky tze q'

.
: 'they hit him/her/it'

3pl -> Ipl excl not possible

3pl -- Ipl incl ma qo.ky .tze :q'a 'they hit us-all'

3pl + 2pl not possible

3pl -+ 3pl not possible

:

51

Thus the pairs Isg ^ 2sgj Isg -> 3sg;

Isg -> 2pl, Isg -^ 3pl;

Ipl excl -+ 2sgj Ipl excl ^ 3sg;

Ipl excl -> 2pl, Ipl excl -v 3pl

are not different because there Is no way to distinguish

the patient when the agent necessitates use of the enclitic

Furthermore, the combinations 3sg ^ Isg

3sg -> 2sg

3sg -> Ipl excl

3sg -y 2pl

3pl -y Isg

3pl -> 2sg

3pl -y Ipl excl

3pl ^ 2pl

are not realized because the agent does not take an

enclitic and therefore the patient cannot.

The combination 3pl -> 3pl seems to be impossible only

for semantic reasons; it Is too confusing to specify

this combination through perf ixes , so separate noun

phrases are used instead. Separate noun phrases can

always be used to indicate agent and patient , or to

clarify them, so that the morphologically impossible

combinations of agent and patient are still able to be

expressed In other ways.

One transitive verb se7 - 'do' is defective and only

occurs with the Interrogative particle ti 'what?':

ti : q.se? 'what are we going to do?'

52

2.2.1.2 INTRANSITIVE \TIRBS

Intransitive verbs use only one set of person

markers to indicate the subject, and use the intransitive

forms of the suffixes of mode. The subject is normally

indicated by Set B person markers, but Set A is used

in certain subordinate constructions." There is a

subclass of intransitive verbs which can be called affect

verbs. Formally they are similar to other intransitive

verbs, but have a distinctive derivation (2.4 #33, #80)

and are also distinctive syntactically (2.6.5.2) and

semantically . They generally describe the manner in

which an action is performed, and therefore combine

verbal and adverbial functions. Examples:

leqeqe:n 'walk stooped over'

wit'it'irn 'go running'

lach'ach'arn 'go on all fours'

The forms of one intransitive verb xi7 - 'go'

cannot be predicted. In the non-potential they are :

ma chirn.x.a 'I went'

ma t.xi? 'he/she went'

ma qo7x 'we went'

ma cheTx 'they went'

In the potential they are:

chin.x.e:l.a 'I will go*

k.x.erl. 'he/she will go'

etc.
53

2.2.2 NOUNS

Most nouns can be possessed by Set A person prefixes

and person enclitics. They serve as the head of a noun

phrase and can be modified by adjectives.

Example of a possessed noun:

Ja: 'house'

n.jar.ya 'my house'

t.ja:.ya 'your house'

t.ja: 'his/her/its house'

q.ja:.ya 'our house (not yours)'

q.ja: 'our house (everyone)'

ky.ja:.ya 'you-all's house'

ky.ja: 'their house'

Example of a modified noun:

mati:j ja: 'big house'

jun ja: mati:j 'a big house'

There are a large number of common nouns which meet these

criteria. In addition there are a number of subclasses

of nouns.

2.2.2.1 RELATIONAL NOUNS

There is a small set of relational nouns which

indicate grammatical relationships between other nouns

in the sentence. The grammatical relationships are

generally those of case or location. Many of the

relational nouns are related to common nouns, usually

5^

body parts. Relationals are alv7ays possessed unless

preceded by the interrogative particle al 'who?'. The

relationals (given in 3sg form) and the common nouns

to which they are related are:

Relational

Case
: ' . .

55

Examples

Location :

At jun el jun wo 7 at ta:l tuj jun a7

:

'Once upon a time there was a toad that had its

offspring in the water.

at jun el jun v/o:7 at ta:l

there is one time one toad there is its offspring

tuj jun a7
in one water

Jawlert jun xaq kye:7yax tj aq '

yo:xh tx'otx' tkub '

'A precious stone appeared below the red earth.'

jawle:t jun xaq kye:7yax tjaq' yo:xh

it appeared one stone precious below red

tx'otx' tkub'
earth it went down

Ma:xtzan ktza:jal asta ma:x twi7 witz.

'Well, it has to come from there above the hill.'

ma:xtzan ktzarjal asta ma:x

well up to there it will come up to to there

twi7 witz
above it hill

Case :

Topic :

Ju:n txile:n ti7j axl7n ojtxa.

'An explanation about corn in the old days.'

ju:n txllern ti7j axi7n ojtxa

one its explanation about corn before
'

56

Associative :

Nqorkka te:na yo:lal tu:k *

matl: Ll:xh Perls,

'And we started to talk with Andres Perez,'

nqiokka te:na yo:lal tu:k' matl:

we entered It is to talk with important

Li :xh Pe :1s
Andres Perez

Agent :

Ax leq'ch ma tza:j a? kyu7na .

'Also you-all brought the water from far away.'

ax leq'ch ma tza:j a? kyu7na

also from far away it came water by you-all

Causative :

Tokb aj tzi:7 ch'el tu7n nima:l xaq.

'

'The beak of the parrot was finished because of the

rock.

tokb'aj tzi:7 ch'el tu7n

it was finished beak parrot because of

nlma:l xaq
big rock

Instrumental :

Ma aq'narn Kye:l tu7n asdo:n.

'Miguel worked with a hoe.'

ma aq'na:n Kye:l tu7n asdo:n

he worked Miguel with hoe

Dative :

B'lsan kye rt zanma ma txl7 qq'o7na kyaql:lkax ornb'il

'Soon we gave them all the help.'

: ' :

57

b'lsan kye;tzanma ma txi7 qq'o7na kyaqirlkax

soon well them man we gave it away all

o :nb ' il
help

Possessive :

Per ente:r jun we ky :

'
ktzajal kyq'o7na.

'But you're going to give me mine whole.'

per ente:r Jun we:ky' ktzajal kyq'oTna

but whole one mine you-all will give here

Benef active :

Ma chitzye:t che:j te kyajwirl.

'The horses were rounded up for their owner.'

ma chitzye:t che:j te kyajwi:l :

they were rounded up horse for their ov;ner

Patient :

Tnerjal ul a:j qo7ya awtorisa:7ral te komite:.

'First we came to authorize (lt_) the committee.'

tnerjal ul a:j qo7ya awtorisa :7ral te : komite:

first came us to authorize it committee

Reflexive :

Nb'ajtzan qma7na qil qi :b xa.

'And we were talking among ourselves.'

nb'ajtzan qma7na qilqi :b'xa

we were finishing talking among ourselves

2.2.2.2 MEASURE WORDS

Measure words are a class of nouns which are never

possessed and which describe specific m.easures of

1 '

58

quantity. In a phrase they are preceded by a number or

the interrogative particle jte? 'how many?', and are

usually followed by a noun referring to the substance

to be measured. Many are also common nouns; others are

only used as measures. There is a fairly large number
of measure words in the language, and they have a high

degree of specificity.

Examples : Measure V/ord Common Noun

bars 'glassful (Sp)' ba:s 'glass'

ma71 'shot of liquor'

laq 'plateful' laq 'plate'

pixh 'piece'

txut 'drop' txut 'drop'

2.2.2.3 NAMES

Given names and surnames are only rarely possessed,

and are usually borrowed from Spanish. A very few Mam

names remain in use.

Examples: Given Names Surnames

Li:xh 'Andres' Pe:ls 'Perez'

Lo:xh 'Alonso' Tmi:nk 'Domingo'

Chep 'Jos' To:ntz 'Orddnez'

Wa:na 'Juana' Tis 'Ortiz'

Mai 'Maria' Mna : ' Maldonado

Xwa:n 'Juan' Mlrntz 'Mndez'

Lima 'Catarina'

Wilt 'Natividad'
' '

59

2 . 2 . 2 .
i|
TOPONYMS

Toponyms name places. Many of them are descriptive

compounds, and often the components cannot be synchronical-

ly recovered. Relational nouns for location figure

greatly in the compounds.

Examples:

ChnaTjal ' Huehuet enango

lytzal 'Ixtahuac^n'

Tuj Ch'yaq 'Tuchlac'

Jlajxa 'Mexico'

Meq'maja? 'Quezaltenango'

2.2.2.5 PRONOUNS

Pronouns maintain the same distinctions as do

nouns 3 but use person markers that are more like Set B

than Set A. There are essentially two different sets

of pronouns: one which functions as independent,

demonstrative, copulative, identificational , and

equative pronouns; and one which is locative or

existential. -

The sets are:

Independent Locative

'this is X' 'X is (in a place)

Isg (a: ) q.i :n.a (a) t . i :n.a

2sg a: .ya (a)t.(a7.y)a

3sg a: (a)t.(a7)
a :

60

Ipl excl (a:) qo7.ya (a)t.o7.ya

Ipl Incl (a:) qo7 (a)t.o7

2pl a:.qa.ya (a)t.e7.ya

3pl a: .qa (a) t .e7

To make an equatlve pronoun a noun is substituted for

the demonstrative a_2_ of the independent pronoun.

Example with a noun base

'X is a person'

Isg xja:l q.i:n.a

2sg xjarl.a

3sg xja:l

Ipl excl xja:l qo7.ya

Ipl incl xja:l qo7

2pl xjail.qa.ya

3pl xja:l.qa
Example with an adjective base:

'X is tired'

Isg sikynaj q.i:n.a

2sg sikynaj .

3sg sikynaj

Ipl excl sikynaj qo7.ya

Ipl incl sikynaj qo7

2pl sikynaj .qa.ya

3pl sikynaj .qa

The demonstrative base is optional is the rest of

the pronoun is phonologlcally independent; that is, the

first person forms.

61

Note the optional /a/ which can begin the locative

forms. This frequently Is used In the second and third

person singular forms. In which case the /a?/ element

is usually dropped. Consequently there are two common

forms for second and third person singular of the

locative pronouns:

2sg ata '^ taYya

3sg at '^' ta?

Analysis shows that all the pronouns use the usual

set of enclitics to mark second person. The Independent

pronouns Include elements which mark +lsg and +lpl,

but have nothing for -Isg and -Ipl. The distinction

between singular and plural for non-first person is

indicated by the plural enclitic oa. The locative

pronouns have a locative element {t-} and then add the

first and non-first markers and the enclitics. The

person markers in both sets are probably related to

Set B prefixes.

Demonstrative Locative Set B

q.i :n-
' . ' .

62

b'ix aya kye:qaj te? tl7j Ra:nch

and those of them they are Turrancho

Ta7 ma:x ja:

'He is in the house.'

ta7 marx J a:
he is up to house

Noqtzan pwaq at .

'Well, only the money is there .

noqtzan pwaq at
well only money there is

Sikynaj qi :na .

'
I'm tired.

sikynaj qi:na
tired I

Tnerjal ul a:j qoYya awtorisa:7ral te: komite :

'First we came to authorize the comittee.'

tne:jal ul a:j co7ya awtorisa:7ral te : komite:

first came us to authorize it committee

2.2.3 ADJECTIVES

Adjectives modify nouns and are not inflected in

any way. An adjective normally precedes the noun it

modifies. Variations in this structure are discussed

in section 2.5j Phrase Formation.

Exam.ples :

Cha7x ki:n tib'la:l twe:x po:xh.

'The color of the pants of the scarecrow is blue .

'
63

cha7x kl:n tib'lail twe:x po:xh

blue it looks its color his pants scarecrow

Ba:ysan we:ky' chitzanta kyaq q'ankyo:q.

*"I can," said the red lightning.'

barysan v/e:ky' chitzanta kyaq q'ankyo:q

well good of me it said red lightning

There are two subclasses of adjectives: demonstratives

and numbers.

2.2.3.1 DEMONSTRATIVES

Demonstratives precede nouns and require other

adjectives to follow nouns. They are:

aj 'this, that'

ajaj 'this, that'

a: 'this, that'

b'ixh 'that (referring to females)'

naq 'that'

2.2.3.2 NUMBERS

Numbers precede nouns, never follow them, and

require that other adjectives follow nouns. The number

one also functions as an indefinite article. The

numbers are:

ju:n
6k

qaq 6 qaqla:j l6

wu:q 7 wuqlarj 17

wajxaq 8 wajxaqla:J l8
b'elaj 9 b'elajlarj 19
la:j 10 wlrnqan 20 '

winaq la:j 30

kya7wnaq 40

oxk'a:l 60

junmutx' 80

The numbers above twenty are only rarely used in

Ixtahuacan, and are not usually known by any but very

old speakers. Instead, Spanish numbers are borrowed.

It was not possible to elicit more than the numbers

given here. V/hile the number system is undoubtedly

derived from the old base twenty Mayan system in which

each interval over twenty was counted on the way to the

next twenty (that is, twenty-one was one on the way to

forty), it has changed and disappeared so that the only

remnants are the original numbers from one to nineteen

and the numbers for twenty, forty, sixty, and eighty.

To all intents and purposes the number system is now

decimal.

2.2.i| AFFECT VJORDS

Affect words describe an action, a movement, the

moment of doing something, or a sound or noise. They

65

always precede the verb. They are not onomatopoeic,

or only minimally so, but there are certain phonological

conventions which go with certain types of actions.

Moment aneous or abrupt actions are described by affect

words which usually terminate in a single consonant.

Longer actions may reduplicate the entire word, redupli-

cate part of the word, reduplicate the final consonant,

or may lengthen the vowel. Examples are:

Ni7m se:x xja:l tu7n che:j.

'
Umph I the horse pushed the man.'

ni7ni se:x xja:l tu7n che:j

umph he went out person by horse

Am jag so:kx tlamerl kamu:n.

'Suddenly, bang I the bathroom door slammed.'

am jaq so:kx tlame:l karaurn

suddenly bang it went in its door outhouse

jejeje:y 'the sound of laughter' (partial reduplica-

tion)
ch'aw ch'aw 'the sound of a hammar on metal' (complete
reduplication)
matz matz 'the action of scissors cutting hair'
(complete reduplication)
kail 'the movement of a flea walking beneath the body
hair' (reduplication of final consonant)
tzl:7r 'the action of shooting' (lengthened vowel)

2.2.5 PARTICLES

There are a very large number of particles with

various functions, including interrogatives , negatives,

affirmatives, conjunctions, locatives, temporals, manner

'

66

particles, exclamations, vocatives, adverbials, and

others. Particles by definition are never inflected

or derived, but they may be compounded and add enclitics

Lists of the various particles follov/ they are not

exhaustive. Note that many of the particles are

Spanish loans, primarily among the affirmatives,

conjunctions, other adverbials, and others.

2.2.5.1 INTERROGATP/ES

Interrogatives usually function as introducers of

questions and also as introducers of various clauses

which answer the questions.

alkye : 'who?'

al 'who?'

al uj 'in what?'

al u:k'al 'with whom?'

al u7n 'by whom?

al e: 'of whom?'

al i7J 'for, about whom?'

jtoj 'when?'

jatuma 'where?'

Ja: 'where?'

jte7 'how much, many?'

tzaTn 'how?'

ti: 'what?'

ti: tqal 'what?'

ti till 'what?'
: '

67

tl: qu7n 'why?'

jniky' 'what time?'

nlky'pu:n 'what size?'

je7ky 'how are you?'

kwa:nto 'when?' (Sp)

2.2.5.2 NEGATIVES

Most negatives are formed from a negative root

mi: , but they are not synchronically analyzable.

mi:7n 'no'

nla:y ^ mila:y 'it's not possible'

raiju:n 'no one'

me7a:l 'no one'

tz'irnan 'no one/nothing is here'

nti7 '\> mitl7 'there isn't'

nya:7 ^ miya:7 'it isn't'

nja:7 'it isn't'

na7x 'still not'

mi : -x, mi :x 'no '

mixtl7 'there isn't'

ky'e:nan ^ no one'

mi:ky' 'it isn't like that'

miwtla 'hope not'

1: -v i:chaq 'it doesn't matter'

qami ' if not

: 7

68

2.2.5.3 AFFIRMATIVES

ja7ka 'it's possible'

ok 'yes'

ki 'it's okay'

jo: 'yes, that's' it'

ba:y 'okay' (Sp)

bye:n 'good, okay' (Sp)

we:na 'good, okay' (Sp)

2.2.5.^ CONJUNCTIONS

b'ix
' n
s
: ' '

69

2.2.5.6 TEMPORALS

ja71a 'now'

yajxa 'later'

ma:ky 'Just now'

qa:71a 'afternoon'

ma : y1 : 'a little while ago'

nchlTj 'tomorrow'

e :w yesterday'

ch' ix '
right nov7

ojtxa 'before

ya: 'now' (Sp)

a:txax 'a long time ago'

b'isan '
soon'

despwe : 'after' (Sp)

kukx 'still'

k' Itxqe 'a little while ago'

pri :mx 'early' (Sp)

kuxl7 'every little while'

alpi:n 'at last' (Sp)

j oma j X 'always

na:J

2.2.5.7 MANNER PARTICLES

kyja7 'like this'

iky 'like this'

jora:t 'quickly'

che:b'a 'slowly'
' ' '

70

jonga:na 'strongly' (Sp)

tx'u7jb'an 'at full speed'

jonaTwax 'instantly'

Junya:? 'quickly'

eTlakyim 'as quickly as possible'

b'a:ka 'little by little'*

chi:x 'suddenly'

qit 'at times'

termb'ix *alv;ays'

yalnax 'usually, simply'

kaba:l 'completely' (Sp)

ka:si 'almost' (Sp)

b'lYx 'all at once'

lije:r 'rapidly' (Sp)

q'ab'a:! 'by accident'

kix 'like this'

ga:na 'in vain' (Sp)

2.2.5.8 EXCLAMATIONS

a 'don't bother me.''

aju: 'exclamation, fear of cold water'

ak 'exclamation, fear of hot water or fire'

a:y ' ohi

aYn 'don't bother me I

a7ny 'what a shame I

ena:n 'exclamation of fright'

e:q'a 'fat chancel (between men)'

: ' ' '
'

71

kye7 'fat chancel (between women)'

17y 'how filthyl

yl 'what's happening!'

ye 'how nice

o :y ' fat chance!

ja:7 'right !

kyi:7ra 'ridiculous!'

2.2.5.9 VOCATIVES

o:m 'you (familiar betv;een men)'

q'any 'you (familiar between men)'

q'oy7 'you (familiar between women)'

ya:7 'you (familiar between women)'

o:w 'you (familiar betv;een spouses)'

na:n 'mom, ma'am'

tart 'dad, sir'

2.2.5.10 OTHER ADVERBIALS

o7kx
: : ' ' ' ' ' ' '

72

2.2.5.11 Other Particles

kuna goodbye (first speaker)'

ku goodbye (second speaker)*

a :x the same

par for' (Sp)

base :r it will be' (Sp)

b ' a :nchaq thanks that

mas bye:n rather' (Sp)

dya:y hi, what's up' (Sp)

jodi :da what a mess ' (Sp)

elj in case

klsan right'

maj time ( vez )

el time ( vez )

b'ala maybe

qapa maybe

Je:7kyala who knows

ku:ya who knows

baqa hardly'

s ab e : r who knows' (Sp)

ke : that' (Sp)

el(a7) when (subordln'ator) '

qa(ma) if
aj when (subordinator)

kye :7yax good, beautiful'

nemacs everyone else' (Sp)

porke because' (Sp)

- ' '

73

komo 'like' (Sp)

berda: 'right (rhetorical)' (Sp)

i: 'that (subordinator)

i:l 'necessary'

jlu:7 'this one, that one'

2.2.6 ADVERBS

There are a few derived adverbs in Mam, which

because they are derived, are not particles. Their

derivation is described in 2.4.5. These words are

the heads of adverb phrases, and include directions and

time in the future and in the past.

Examples :

j awnax ' up

ka:7j 'in two days'

jna:b'a 'a year ago'

2.2.7 REVIEW OF INFLECTION

In the charts that follow, certain conventions are

used. Double lines indicate juncture or places where

elements are separable from the rest of the word. +

Indicates an obligatory element, while indicates an

optional element. The horizontal lines shov; that either

the first five aspects or mode is obligatory, but that

they do not co-occur. The aspect ok is optional with

the potential mode.

7^

2.2.7.1 VERB INFLECTION

Transitive Verb:

aspect Set B Set A Stem Mode Enclitics

patient ap-ent

ma chin- a 'V ya
o t- a '\^
ya
tz'-'v^k-
n- qo- q- a 'V ya
X- chi- ky- a '^^
ya

ok -a7
(pot)

-m
(imp)

Intransitive Verb

Aspect
75

2.2.7.2 NOUN INFLECTION

Possessed Noun:

Set A
76

tzuy- 'grab'

ma 0.t.tzuy 'he" grabbed it'

2.3.1.2 INTRANSITIVE ROOTS

Intransitive roots are always bound and can form

intransitive verbs without derivation.^ Example:

kyim- 'die'

ma 0.kyim 'he died'

2.3.2 POSITIONAL ROOTS

Positional roots are bound forms which must be

derived to form words, always with a change in class.

Some of the particular derivational affixes which form

words from positional roots are specific to this root

class, and most commonly form verbs or adjectives. The

adjectives thus formed indicate that something has

the position, form, or state described by the root, while

the verb indicates that something is becoming like or

is placed like that described by the root. Positional

roots have a semantic element in common; they generally

describe position, form, or state of an object, and

imply absence of movement. (For positional specific

derivation, see the chart in section 2.46; for m.ore

on positionals, see 4.3.) Example:

tutz'- 'seated'

tutz'l 'seated (adjective form)'

)

77

2.3.3 NOUN ROOTS

Noun roots usually are free forms which form

nouns with no further derivation. There are a number of

subclasses of noun roots, defined by changes which

the root undergoes in either the possessed or absolute'

form. (The numbers by which the noun root classes are

identified correspond to the numbers used in the Mam

dictionary being compiled at the PLFM in Antigua,

Guatemala.

2.3.3.1 SI

These are roots which do not change under possession

The root is a free form. Example:

k'o:j 'mask'

n.k'o:j.a 'my mask'

2.3.3.2 Sla

The root is a free form and the last vowel of the

root is lengthened under possession. It should be

noted that all noun roots of the shape CV7C fall into

this category, but there are many roots without glottal

stop which also lengthen the final vowel under possession,

Examples:

xaq 'stone'

n.xa:q.a 'my stone'

ne71 'sheep'

n.ne:71.a 'my sheep'

78

2.3.3.3 Sib

The penultimate vowel of the root is lengthened

under possession and the root is a free form. Because

unstressed vov/els are often dropped or neutralized

(see 1.6.1 and 1.6.2), it is usually necessary to have

both forms to know the base form of the root. Example:

tz'lom 'plank'

n. tz' arlma.ya 'my plank'

||tz'alomi|j base form

2.3.3.4 S2

The root is a free form and adds a suffix {-V(:)l}

for the possessed form. There are only four roots of

this class, all of which can also be possessed without

adding the suffix, suggesting that the class may be

disappearing in this dialect of Mani. Examples:

chiky' 'blood'

n. chiky ' .e : l.a 'my blood'

xja:l 'person'

n.xja:l.al.a 'my person'

xi:naq 'man'

n.xinaq. i :l.a 'my man'

xu7j 'woman'

n.xu7j.al.a 'my wife'

'

79

^.3.3.5 S3

The root is a bound form. For the absolute form

is adds a suffix {-b'aj '\. -j } , and drops that suffix

under possession. All the roots of this class are objects

which are usually possessed by humans. Most of the roots

that take {-b'aJ} are body parts and relatives, while

most of the roots that take {-j} are articles of

clothing. General food terms fall into both categories.

Not all body parts, relatives, foods, and clothing

are in this class, and the semantic distinction

between the two suffixes is not perfect. Examples:

{-b'aj>

qam.b'aj 'foot'

n .qan. a 'my foot

yar.b'aj 'grandmother'

n.ya:7.ya 'my grandmother'

izAl
a:m.j 'skirt'

w.arm.a 'my skirt'

loY.j 'fruit (picked)'

n.lo7.ya 'my fruit'

Exceptions to the semantic categories:

{
-b'aj }

txoTw.b'aj 'blanket'

xmu:J.b'aj 'shawl'

ky'itz.b'aj 'belt'
80

l:m.j 'breast'

One word, pa:sb 11 'hat', falls Into this class although

'

the suffix in the absolute form is not {-b'aj "^ -j } .

The suffix is {-b'il}, probably an instrumental (2.4.2),

but under possession it is dropped, just like other

articles of clothing: n.pa :s .a 'my hat'.

2.3.3.6 NEVER POSSESSED NOUN ROOTS

These roots are free forms which are never possessed,

primarily on semantic grounds; that is, the nouns

refer to things which are not considered possessable.

The class includes measure words, place names, and others,

many of which are natural phenomena. Examples:

kya7j 'sky'

laq 'plateful (measure word)'

che7w 'star'

2.3.3.7 ALWAYS POSSESSED NOUN ROOTS

These are bound forms which are always possessed,

usually and sometimes exclusively by a third person

possessor. Most of these roots refer to parts of objects

(non-human, and usually inanimate).* Some roots

belong to this class when they refer to objects and

belong to class S3 when they refer to people. All

relational nouns are of this class. Examples:

t.lok' 'its root'

t.b'aq' 'its seed'

' :

81

2.3.4 ADJECTIVE ROOTS

Adjective roots are free forms v;hich form

adjectives without derivation. Example:

yo:xh 'red'

2.3.5 AFFECT ROOTS

These are free forms which form affect words

without derivation. Some roots reduplicate entirely or

in part to form words . Example

lem 'the action of closing'

2.3.6 PARTICLE ROOTS

These are free forms and by definition do not add

affixes to form words. They may take enclitics, hov;ever,

and there are also some compound stems. Example:

iky ' like this

2.3.7 CANONICAL SHAPE OF ROOTS

The most common root shape is CVC , and most roots

end in C. Some root classes (verbs, positionals, affect

roots) are quite restricted as to shape. In the shapes

which follow, the first consonant can be considered

optional, giving vowel initial roots of the same shapes,

except for positionals, which never begin with a vowel.

Note that nC is the only possible cluster in final

position.
- ' '

82

2.3.7.1 TRANSITIVE ROOT SHAPES

CV se- 'burn up firewood'

CV7 se7- 'do'

CVC tzuy- ' grab

CV7C ch'i71- 'sin,c:e

2.3.7.2 INTRANSITIVE ROOT SHAPES

CV7 xl7- .got

CV:7 kye:7-
CVC b aj
'

CV7C tz'e7y-

CV:C ch'l:y-
83

cvcvc
'

8k

CV:C ku :w ' song of doves

CV:7C tzl :7r 'action of shooting*

2.3.7.7 PARTICLE ROOT SHAPES

cv
:

85

of the derived stem; a chart at the end also shovrs

which roots and stems can take vrhich affixes. Information

about each affix is arranged according to the following

format

1. number, morpheme, gloss

2. allomorphs and distribution

3. function

4. productivity

5. examples

6. other remarks

1) 1. {S-}

2. s- -v xh- -v X- 0/ ch- (lexically determined)

3. Derives noun, transitive, adjective, affect stems

from noun, transitive, adjective, and affect

roots or stems, usually with no change in

class. The change in meaning is usually very

slight, and seems to be mostly a change in

specificity of reference. These prefixes

provide a way to derive new vocabulary as needed.

4. Productive

5. Examples:

q'an 'ripe' (A) -> xhq an 'yellow'

' (a)t

t The following abbreviations are used: T = transitive

root, I = intransitive root, P - positional root,
N = noun root, A = adjective root, AF = affect root,
t = transitive stem, i = intransitive stem, n = noun
stem, a = adjective stem, af = affect stem.
:

86

k'a: 'bitter' (A) -> xk'a: 'bile (n)

juk 'short and fat' (A) ^ chjuk 'fat,

potbellied' (a)

toq' 'frog' (N) ^xtoq' 'frog' (n)

v;it'- 'jump' (T) ^ xwit'- 'jump' (t)

che7w 'cold' (A) ^ scheTw 's-hivering' (a)

2) 1. Reduplication

2.

3. There are various forms of reduplication v:hich

create stems of several classes and for which

there are not enough examples to generalize.

^. Nonproductive

5 . Examples

k'uxk'ub' 'a type of high grass' (n)

saqtz'utz'ub ' 'partly dry' (a)

xko7j 'brown' (A) -> xkojkojte:? 'spiny plant,

yellow in color' (n)

pixhixhi:? 'a water bird' (n)

jet- 'uneven' (P) -> jetetje:? 'uneven'

waqlaq 'a type of bird' (n)

2.il.l VERB FORMATION

3) 1- {-V:} 'stem formative'

2. after stems or roots which end in a long vowel

or vowel glottal stop (CV:, CV:7, CVCCV:);

vowel length after roots which end in a short

:

87

vov;el (CV);

-a after stems or roots which end in a consonant

and have a long vovjel or vowel glottal stop

(CV:C, CV7C, CVCV7C);

-a: 'V -u : a, -o : after stems or roots which end

in a consonant and have a short vowel (CVC,

CVCC). The vowel chosen is lexically determined.

3. a. The stem formative is obligatory in the

formation of certain verb words

1) it occurs before the verbal noun suffix

{-1} and the agentive suffix {-1} (both

transitive and intransitive stems and roots)

2) It occurs before the intransitivizing suffix

{-n}, the participle suffix {-7n}, the

processive suffixes {-7kj} , {-7tz}, and the

passive suffix {-njtz}.

3) It occurs optionally for transitive roots in

the non-potential if the root shape is CVC,

and obligatorily for other shapes.

4) It occurs before the transitive imperative

{-m}.

b. The stem formative derives transitive stems

from noun, positional , and affect roots.

4. Productive

5. Examples:
88

Root or Stem Verbal Noun

na- 'think' (T) -> na:l 'to think'

tzoqpi:- 'set free' (t) -> tzoqpirl 'to set

free''

b'irtz 'song' (N) --

b'i:tzal 'to sing'
si7w- 'gather firewood' (t)-> sl7wal 'to gather
firewood'
naj- 'occupy a house' (T) ^ naja:l 'to occupy
a house'

b'iy- 'kill' (T) -^ b'iyo:l 'to kill'

chuk- 'dissolve' (T) ->- chuku:l 'to dissolve'
b'e:t- 'walk' (I) ->b'e:tal 'to walk'
6. Some CVC roots go to CV:C in the nonpotential

and change the stem formative so as to be

consistent with shape. A few CVC roots pattern

throughout like CV:C stems. Example:

tzoj- 'cough' -> tzojal 'to cough' (not tzoja:l)

2.^.1.1 TRANSITIVE STEM FORMATION

A) 1. {-b'a:} 'transitivizer'
2. -b'a:

3. Derives transitive stems from positional roots,

with the meaning 'put or leave in such a way'.

4. Productive

5. Examples:

mutz- 'upside down' (P) ^ mutzb'a:- 'put upside

down' (t)

tzal- 'to one side' (P) -> txalb'a:- 'put to

one side' (t)
. ; '

89

wank- 'in form of ball' (P) -^

wankb'a:- 'put in form of ball' (t)

5) 1. Lengthened vowel ' transitlvlzer

2. Lengthened vovrel

3. Derives transitive stems from ^positional and

affect roots, with the meaning 'do it in such

a way '

4. Productive

5. Examples:

mok'- 'crouched' (P) ^ mo:k'- 'crouch' (t)

b'otz- 'wrapped up' (P) ^ b'ottz- 'wrap up' (t)

qin- 'stretched' (P) -> qi:n- 'stretch' (t)

lach' 'a big step' (AF) ^ la:ch'- 'walk with

big steps' (t)

pis 'action, break something thin and dry' (AF) ^

pi:s- 'break something thin and dry' (t)

qech 'noise of grinding' (AF) ^ qe:ch- 'grind' (t)

6) 1. {-la:} 'applicative'

2. -la after V7

-la: elsewhere.

3. Derives transitive stems from noun roots and stems.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

a? 'water' (N) ^ a71a- 'water' (t)

a:m- 'skirt' (N) -^ amla:- 'use a skirt' (t)

pa:sb'il 'hat' (n) ^ pasb'la:- 'use a hat' (t)

ma:kb'il 'tool' (n) ->makb'la:- 'use tools' (t)
u:w- 'necklace' (N) ^ uwla:- 'use a necklace' (t)

6. Requires shortening of the preceding vowel.

7) 1. {-v;a} 'applicative'
2. -wa

3. Derives transitive stems from noun roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Example:

si7 'firewood' (N) -> siTwa- 'gather firewood' (t)

8) 1. {-ya} 'applicative'
2 . -ya

3. Derives transitive stems from noun roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

b'e: 'road' (N) ^ b'erya- 'fix roads' (t)

ja: 'house' (N) -v ja:ya- 'roof a house' (t)

9) l.{-yi:} 'applicative'
2. -yi:

3. Derives transitive stems from noun roots.

^. Nonproductive
5. Example:

me:b'a 'orphan' (N) ^ meb'ayi:- 'care for

orphans' (t)

10) 1. {-b'e:} 'causative'

2. -b'e:
: )

91

3. Derives transitive stems from transitive,

intransitive J and unidentified roots.

A. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

aj- 'want' (T) -> ajb'e:- 'want' (t)

oq- 'flee' (I) -> oqb'e:- 'abandon' (t)

*sas- ^ sasb'e:- 'feel pulse, touch, weigh

in hands (t '

*xal- -> xalb'e:- 'step over' (t)

*xjuk'- -> xjuk'b'e:- 'guide, teach how to

work' (t)

11) 1. {-cha:} 'causative'

2. -cha:

3. Derives transitive stems from positional,

affect, and unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples

b'ow- 'swollen part' (P) -> b'owcha:- 'cause

to fall' (t)

k'ow- 'sound of knocking (AF) --

k'owcha:- 'knock on door' (t)

*xmuk- -> xmukcha:- 'joke' (t)

12) 1. {-chi:} 'causative'

2. -Chi:

3. Derives transitive stems from unidentified roots

4. Nonproductive

5. Example:
92

'^ch'up- -y ch'upchi:- 'wash the head' (t)

13) 1. {-chu:} 'causative'

2. -chu:

3. Derives transitive stems from positional, affect,

and unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

b'iq'- 'grain thrown down' (P) ->

b'iq'chu:- '
swallov; something v/hole' (t)

*k'ap- -^ k'apchu:- 'split firewood' (t)

q'am '
sound of breaking cane' (AF) -v

q'amchu:- 'break branches' (t)

t'ab' 'action of snapping at something' (AF) ->

t'ab'chu:- 'snap at something in the air' (t)

1^) 1. {-k'u:} 'causative'

2. -k'u:

3. Derives transitive stems from affect and unidenti-

fied roots.

M. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

jas 'speech in a soft voice' (AF) ->

jask'u:- 'say softly' (t)

*taq- -> taqk'u:- 'cut wood' (t) -

15) 1. {-le:} 'causative'

2. -le:
. :

93

3. Derives transitive stems from intransitive and

unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

iky'- 'pass' (I) -^Iky'le:- 'insult' (t)

*itz'- -> itz'le:- 'stay up late' (t)

16) 1. {-li : } 'causative'

2. -li:

3. Derives transitive stems from unidentified roots

^. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

*eGhaq- -* echaqli:- 'check' (t)

*xpap- -> xpapli:- 'criticize, blaspheme' (t)

17) 1. {-lu:} 'causative'

2. -lu:

3. Derives transitive stems from unidentified roots

4. Nonproductive

5. Example:

*xmej- -> xmejlu:- 'plead' (t)

18) 1. {-mu:} 'causative'

2 -mu

3. Derives transitive stems from unidentified roots

4. Nonproductive

5. Example:

*taq- ^ taqmu:- 'cut sticks into many equal

pieces' (t)
... :

94

19) 1. {-na:} 'causative'

2. -na:

3. Derives transitive stems from unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

*tz'iy- -> tz'iyna:- 'line up' (t)

*maj- -> majna- 'lend' (t)

20) 1. {-ne:} 'causative'

2 -ne :

3. Derives transitive stems from unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Example:

*q'ax- -> q'axne:- 'v/arm oneself by the fire' (t)

21) 1. {-pi:} 'causative'

2 -pi:

3. Derives transitive stems from positional,

transitive, affect, and unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5 Examples

tunk- 'tree without point' (P) -^ tunkpi:- 'fell'

(t)

wiq'- 'in form of ball' (P) -^ wiq'pi:- 'take a

root, rock out of
the dirt' (t)

tuch'- 'work land badly' (T) -y tuch'pi:- 'work

land badly' (t)

*tzaq- -> tzaqpi:- 'jump' (t)

yutz 'fright' (AF) ^ yutzpi:- 'frighten' (t)

:

95

22) 1. {-pu:} 'causative'

2. -pu:

3. Derives transitive stems from positional,

transitive, affect, and unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples

jll- 'hidden under the brush' (P) ->

jllpu:- 'cause to slip; put in, e.g. machete

in sheath' (t)

qltz'- 'tight' (P) ^ qltz'pu:- to tie' (t)

*seky'- -> seky'pu:- 'frighten' (t)

chak'- 'someone asleep in front of house' (P) -

chak'pu:- 'make someone fall' (t)

jas 'action of cutting in one blow' (AF) ->

jaspu:- 'cut with one blow' (t)

jlq- 'pull up just germinating plants' (T) ->-

jiqpu:- 'pull up plants with entire root' (t)

23) 1. {-q'i:} 'causative'

2. -q'i:

3. Derives transitive stems from unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Example:

*mul- -> mulq'i:- 'sink' (t)

24) 1. {-q'u:} 'causative'

2. -q'u:

3. Derives transitive stems from positional, affect.

... : :: :

96

and unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples

plch'- 'head down' (P) -> plch'q'u:- 'let fall

head down' (t)
tzib' 'moment of spilling' (AP) ->

tzib'q'u:- 'spill' (t)

pat- 'thrown down' (P) -^ patq'u:- 'turn (some-

thing flat or earth) (t)
J

'fb'al- -> b'alq'u:- 'roll down' (t)

*b'll- ^ b'ilq'u:- 'swallow' (t)

25) 1. {-sa:} 'causative'

2. -sa: after stems with short vowels;

-sa elsewhere.

3. Derives transitive stems from adjective and

Intransitive roots and stems.

4. Semiproductive

5 Examples

nim 'a lot' (A) -^ nimsa:- 'make big' (t)

no:j- 'fill' (I) -^ nojsa:- 'fill it' (t)

tx'e71 'toasted' (A) -^ tx'eTlsa- 'toast it' (t)

26) 1. {-tzl:} 'causative'

2 -tzi

3. Derives transitive stems from unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5 Examples
. : :

97

*ab'- -> ab'tcl:- 'order ahead' (t)

*b'al- ->b'altzl:- 'roll up (e.g. string)' (t)

27) 1. {-tz'u:} 'causative'

2. -tz'u:

3. Derives transitive stems from affect, transitive,

and unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples

jap 'action of shutting something rapidly' (AF) ->

japtz'u:- 'shut door, chest' (t)

*mel- ->- meltz'u:- 'turn over; close eyes;

exchange' (t)

paq- 'baste, hem' (T) -^ paqtz'u:- 'fold (e.g.

cloth)' (t)

qo7p 'action of lighting a fire or the reflection

of light' (AF) ^ qoptz'u:- 'light instantly,

illuminate' (t)
tarn 'action of cutting' (AF) -> tamtz'u:- 'cut
something solid'
(t)

28) 1. {-we:} 'causative'

2 -we

3. Derives transitive stems from unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Example:

*tzaq'- -* tzaq'we:- 'answer' (t)

29) 1. {-naje:7} 'repetitive'

. : .

98

2. -naje:7

3. Derives transitive steins from transitive stems

and roots, and positional roots.

H. Nonproductive

5. Examples

qej- 'lie down' (P) ^ qejnaje:?- 'lie down every

little while' (t)

qe:l- 'run' (t) -> qelnaje:?- 'run every little

while' (t)

6. Requires dropping of preceding long vowels-.

30) 1. {-7kj} 'processive'

2. -kj after a short stem formative;

-7.-.kj after a short stem formative preceded by

a resonant, in which case the glottal stop

precedes the resonant;

-7kJ elsewhere, with shortening of the stem

formative

3- Derives transitive stems from transitive and

Intransitive stems, adding the meaning 'go and

do it' .

4. Productive

5 Examples

b'i:t2a- 'sing' (t) -> b'i:tzakj- 'go and sing' (t)

ma- 'say' (T) -^ ma7kj- 'go and say' (t)

b'e:ta- 'walk' (1) -^ b'e:takj- 'go and walk' (t)

6. Requires the stem formative.
. .

99

31) 1. {-7tz} 'processive imperative'

2. -tz after short stem formatives;

-7...tz after short stem formatives preceded by

a resonant, in v;hich case the glottal stop

precedes the resonant;

-tz, elsewhere, with shortening of the stem

formative

3. Derives transitive stems from transitive and

intransitive stems, adding the meaning 'go and

do iti '

4. Productive

5- Examples :

ila- 'see' (t) -^ la7tz- 'go and seel' (t)

qe:la- 'run' (t) -> qe:71atz- 'go and run I' (t)

tze:q'a- 'hit' (t) ^ tzerq'atz- 'go and hit I

'
(t)

6. Requires the stem formative.

2.4.1.2 INTRANSITIVE STEM PORIMTION

32) 1. {-n} 'intransitivizer'

2. -n

3. Derives intransitive verbs from transitive stems.

4. Productive

5. Examples:

aq'na:- 'work' (t) -> aq'na:n- 'work' (i)

ki:- 'look at' (t) -^ ki:n- 'look' (i)

wa:7- 'eat (tortilla)' (t) -^ wa:7n- 'eat

(tortilla)' (i)

6. Requires the stem formative.

.:

100

33) I. {-;n} 'affect'

2. -:n

3. Derives affect verbs from ?.ffect steins (see 2.^.^)

^. Productive

5' Examples

wit'- 'standing' (P) -> wit'it'i 'action of going

running' (af) -^ wit 'it 'i :n- 'go running' (i)

pal- 'lying down' (P) -y palala 'action of float-

ing' (af) -^ palala:n- 'go floating' (i)

3^) 1. {-ax} 'vertitive'

2. -i:x after roots or stems of two syllables;

-ax elsev/here.

There are some exceptions, and all adjectives

formed by the suffix {-V-|_C2V-j_ :n} (72) take -ax.

3. Derives intransitive stems from adjective roots

or stems

^. Productive

5. Examples:

saq 'white' (A) -^ saqax- 'become white' (i)

xq'irlan 'green' (a) -> xq'ilanirx- 'become

green' (i)

ni:w 'dirty' (A) -> ni :wax- 'become dirty' (i)

6. -i:x requires shortening of long vowels in the

stem.

35) 1. {-e:7} 'vertitive'

2. -e:b' before vowel initial suffixes (not

. :: ;

101

enclitics)

-e:7 elsewhere

3. Derives intransitive stems from positional roots.

k. Productive

5. Examples

paq- 'lying dovm' (P) -> paqe:7- 'lie dov;n ' (1)

tutz'- 'sitting' (P) -^ tutz'e:?- 'sit down' (1)

txal- 'put to one side' (P) -> tzale:7 'go or put

to one side' (i)

36) 1. {-b'aj} 'passive'

2. -b'aJ

3. Derives intransitive stems from transitive roots

and stems and unidentified roots.

4. Productive

5 Examples

to:q- 'cut' (t) -> to:qb'aJ- 'be cut' (i)

11- 'see' (t) -> ilb'aj- '\/ lab'aj- 'be seen' (i)

*putz- ^ putzb'aj- 'be better'

6. These forms require a directional and do not

permit an agent in the sentence.

37) 1- {-e:t} 'passive'

2. -at after CV:C;

-t after some CV:, CV:7 stems;

-e:t elsewhere.

3. Derives intransitive stems from transitive stems

and roots.
. :
: ;

102

4. Productive

5. Examples

aq'n- 'work' (t) -^ aq'nert- 'be worked' (1)

b'irtz- 'sing' (t) -v b'irtzat- 'be sung' (i)

lo:- 'eat fruit' (t) -> lo:t- 'be eaten' (i)

6. There is never an agent in the sentence. -e:t

requires dropping of any preceding vowel.

38) 1. {-j} 'passive'

2. -1 after CVC

-j after CV:C.

3. Derives intransitive stems from transitive roots

and stems, adjective roots, and unidentified roots.

4. Productive

5. Examples:

till- 'water' (t) ->-

ti:lj- 'be watered' (i)

yu;p- 'put out fire' (t) -> yu:pj- 'be put out' (1)

*me:l- -> me:lj- 'be without comfort' (i)

*q'oJ- ->
q'ojl- 'be angry' (i)

*qoj- -> qojl- 'be overfull' (1)

39) 1. {-njtz} 'passive'

2 -n j t z .

3. Derives intransitive stems from transitive stems.

H. Semiproductive

5 Examples

tzerq'a- 'hit' (t) -- tze:q'anjtz- 'be hit' (i)

103

o:na- 'help' (t) ->- o:nanjtz- 'be helped' (i)

b'lyo:- 'kill' (t) -> b'lyornjtz- 'be killed' (1)

6. Some people In the town use these forms and some

do not. There can be a third person agent in

the sentence. The stem formative is required,

i|0) 1. {-b'a} ' Intransltivizer'

2. -b'a

3. Derives intransitive stems from adjective and

unidentified roots.

H. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

*ky'ix- -> ky'ixb'a- 'be wounded' (i)

kyaq 'red' (A) -> kyaqb'a- 'be angry' (i)

41) 1. {-ch} 'intransltivizer'

2. -ch

3. Derives intransitive stems from transitive stems.

4. Nonproductive

5. Example:

yu:k- 'move it' (t) -- yukch- 'move' (i)

6. Requires shortening of a preceding long vowel.

42) 1. {-chaj} 'intransltivizer'

2. -chaj

3. Derives Intransitive stems from positional and un-

identified roots.

4. Nonproductive
:

104

5. Examples:

b ow-
' 'swollen place' (P) -^ b'owchaj- 'fall' (i)

*q'ip- -> q'ipchaj- 'slip (the hand)' (i)

43) 1. {-paj } ' intransltivlzer'

2. -paj

3. Derives intransitive stems from positional and

unidentified roots.
H. Nonproductive

5. Examples

v/it'- 'standing' (P) -> wit 'paj- 'jump' (i)

*tzoq- -> tzoqpaj- 'escape' (i)

lit'- 'stretched' (P) ^ lit'paj- 'stretch' (1)

*seky'- -> seky'paj- 'bo frightened' (i)

*loq- -> loqpaj- 'wilt' (i)

qin- 'stretched' (P) -> qinpaj- 'stretch' (i)

hh) 1. {-t} 'intransitivizer'

2. -t

3. Derives intransitive stems from adjective roots

and unidentified roots.

H. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

*meq'- * meq't- 'be hot' (i)

lab'- -> lab't- 'bother' (1)

*q'aj- -> q'ajt- 'call, say' (i)

*siky- ^ sikyt- 'be tired' (i)

. : '

105

*tx'uj- ^ tx'ujt- 'flee' (1)

b a7n
' 'good' (A) ->b'ant- 'be well; learn' (i)

^5) 1. {-tz'aj} 'intransitivlzer

2. -tz'aj

3. Derives intransitive stems from positional roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Example:

jom- 'empty stomach' (P) -> jomtz'aj- 'be empty'

(i)

46) 1. {-tz'aq} 'intransitivlzer'

2. -tz'aq

3. Derives intransitive stems from unidentified roots

4. Nonproductive

5. Example:

*kutz- ^ kutztz'aq- 'fall' (i)

47) 1. {-7...al} 'specific termination'

2. -7. . -al

3- Derives intransitive stems from intransitive

roots of motion, adding specificity of end point

of action-

4. Nonproductive

5 Examples

e:l- 'go out' (I) -> e:71al- 'go out to a

specific point' (i)

a:j- 'return' (I) -> a:7jal- 'return from a

specific point' (i)
. :

106

ja:w- 'go up' (I) ^ ja:7wal- 'go up to a

specific point' (i)

o:k- 'go in' (I) ->-

o:7kal- 'go In to a specific
point' (1)

kub'- 'go down' (I) -> kub al- 'go down to a

'

specific point' (1)

2.4.2 NOUN STEM FORMATION

48) 1. {aj-} 'agent'

2. aj-

3. Derives noun stems from noun roots.

4. Productive

5. Examples:

q'l:j 'day' (N) -^ ajq'lrj 'diviner' (n)

me:s 'table' (N) -> ajme:s 'practitioner' (n)

che:j 'mule, horse' (N) -> ajcherj 'mule driver'

(n)

ml:s 'mass' (N) -> ajml:s 'Catholic' (n)

po:n 'Incense' (N) -> ajpo:n 'person of tradi-

tional beliefs' (n)

b'i:tz 'song' (N) -> ajb'l:tz 'singer' (n)

49) 1. {aj-} 'native'

2. aj-

3. Derives noun stems from toponyms.

4. Semiproductlve

5 Examples

Xhni:l '
Colotenango' -> ajxhnlrl 'person from
Colotenango' (n)
107

Pe:tz'al 'San Rafael Petzal' -> ajpe:tz'al 'person from

San Rafael' (n)

ChnaTjal 'Huehuetenango' -> ajchnaTJal 'person from

Huehuetenango (n)'

Kwi:lb' 'Cuilco' ->- ajkwi:lb' 'person from Cullco' (n)

50) 1. {-1} 'agentive'

2. Lengthens the ultimate vowel of a root which

ends in a short vowel (not the stem formative);

-1 elsev/here.

3. Derives noun stems from transitive and some

Intransitive stems.

4. Productive

5. Examples:

yo:la- 'speak' (t) -> yo:lal 'speaker' (n)

aq'na:- 'work' (t) -> aq'na:l 'worker' (n)

wa:7- 'eat' (t) -> wa:71 'someone who eats

tortillas' (n)

b'e:ta- 'walk' (i) ->- b'e:tal 'walker' (n)

6. Requires the stem formative.

51) 1. {-e:nj} 'patient'

2. -e:nj

3. Derives noun stems from transitive stems and roots

4. Productive

5- Examples:

b'ly- 'kill' (T) ^ b'lye:nj 'killed person' (n)

txik- 'cook' (T) -> txike:nj 'that which is

cooked' (n)

chem- 'weave' (T) ^ cheme:nj 'that which is

woven' (n)
. . ::

108

52) 1. {-b'll} 'instrumental'

2. -b'il

3. Derives noun stems from transitive roots or

stems, intransitive, positional, and unidentified

roots

4. Productive

5 Examples

luk- 'pull up' (T) -> lukb'il 'instrument for

pulling up' (n)

o:q'- 'cry' (I) -> o:q'b'il 'something which

causes crying' (n)

tutz''- 'sitting' (P) -> tutz'b'il 'something for

sitting' (n)

po:m- 'perform rites' (t) -> po:mb'il 'place for

performing rites' (n)

6. Indicates either the instrument for doing the action

or the place where the action is performed.

53) 1- {-b'e:n} 'resultant locative'

2. -b'e:n

3. Derives noun stems from transitive roots or

stems, and positional roots.

4. Productive

5. Examples

ju:s- 'burn' (t) -> jusb'ern 'burned place' (n)

aq'n- 'work' (t) -> aq'anb'ern 'worked place' (n)

qej- 'lying down' (P) ->- qejb'e:n 'place where one

has lain down' (n)

54) 1. {-b'an} 'remainder'

. :: . ;

109

2. -b'an

3. Derives noun stems from transitive roots or

stems, and positional roots.

A. Semiproductlve
'
5. Examples '

wa:7- 'eat' (t) ^ wa:b'an 'remains of food' (n)

tx'a- 'chew' (T) ^ tx'ab'an 'something chewed

one tirae' (n)

sji:l- 'slip' (t) -> sji:lb'an 'where something

has slipped once' (n)

xpe71- 'plane wood' (t) ^ xpeYlb'an 'wood

shavings (n)
'

lo- 'eat fruit' (T) ^ lob 'an 'bits of fruit' (n)

qej- 'lying down' (P) -> qejb'an 'where someone

has lain dov;n' (n)

6. The noun indicates that which remains after

completing the action.

55) 1. {-1} 'verbal noun'

2. Lengthens the ultimate vowel of a root which

ends in a vowel (not the stem formative)

-1 elsewhere.

3. Derives a verbal noun from transitive and some

intransitive stems

4. Productive

5 Examples

yo:la- 'speak' (t) -> yo:lal 'to speak' (n)

aq'na:- 'work' (t) -> aq*na:l 'to work' (n)

wa:7- 'eat' (t) -> wa:71 'to eat' (n)

. j
110

b'e:ta- 'walk' (1) -> b'e:tal 'to walk' (n)

6. Requires the stem formative.

56) 1. {-an} 'ordinal'

2. -1 with the root ne :

- 'first';

-an with other numbers.

3. Derives noun stems for ordinal numbers from

the cardinal numbers.

4. Productive

5. Examples:

tnerjal 'first'

tkab an 'second'
'

to:xan 'third'

etc

6. The ordinal numbers are always possessed.

57) 1. {-a:l} 'abstract noun'

2. -a:l after a stem or root with one short vowel;

-al '^ -il after a stem or root with one long vowel;

-i:l after a stem or root with two vowels.

There are some exceptions.

All forms insert a /y/ glide if they occur after

a vowel.

3. Derives abstract noun stems from any class of

root except particles and affect roots, usually

from adjectives.

4. Productive
1

Ill

5. Examples:

q'aq 'black' (A) -> tq'aqarl 'blackness' (n)

yo:xh 'red' (A) -> tyo:xhal 'redness' (n)

a? 'water' (N) -> ta7yil 'the liquid part, e.g.

egg-white' (n)

xtaq'al 'coals' (n) ^ t-xtaq'anl:l 'coals from

the firewood in general' (n)

b ' a7n 'good' (A) -> tb'a:nal 'goodness' (n)

q'ay- 'rot' (I) ^ tq'ayll 'rottenness' (n)

6. Most abstract nouns are always possessed, but not

all. Common exceptions are:

ya:b' 'sick' (A) -* ya:b'il 'sickness' (n)

jb'a:l 'rain' (N) -+ jb'a:lil 'rainy season' (n)

nim 'a lot' (A) -> nimarl 'big, important' (a)

q'i:j 'sun' (N) -* q'l:jal 'dry season' (n)

There are apparently some words which add the

suffix twice and reduce it to - la: or - li :1 :

q'i:j 'sun' (N) -> q'ijli:l 'dry spell in the

rainy season' (n)

ti:b' 'reflexive relational noun' (n) ->

tib'la:! 'form, appearance' (n)

58) 1. {-ab'i:l} 'abstract noun'

2. -ab'i:l

3. Derives noun stems from adjective roots.

4. Productive

5. Examples:

la7j 'lying' (A) ^ tlajab'i:! 'lies' (n)

lo:k 'crazy' (A) ^ tlokab'i:l 'craziness' (n)

. ::

112

tzit 'stuffed' (A) ^ttzltab'i:! 'fullness' (n)

6. The derived noun is always possessed. This

suffix apparently has exactly the same function

as the abstract noun suffix - a :1 , and on many

roots they vary freely. Some roots require

- ab '
i : 1 , hov/ever. Long vowels in the stem are

shortened.

59) 1. {-le:n} 'abstract noun'

2 -le :n

3. Derives abstract noun stems from transitive and

Intransitive roots and stems.

4. Productive

5 Examples

kya:j- 'remain' (I) ^ tkyajlern 'lateness' (n)

o:kx 'enter' (i) -> tokxle:n 'entrance' (n)

b'i:tz- 'sing' (t) - b'ltzlern 'his singing' (n)

to:q- 'break' (t) -> toqlecn 'fracture' (n)

6. The nouns are usually, but not always, possessed.

Preceding long vowels are shortened.

60) 1. {-Ie7n} 'abstract noun'

2. -Ie7n

3. Derives noun stems from any class of root or

stem except particles and affect words.

4. Productive

3- Examples
. : '

113

q'o:j 'anger' (N) -> q'ojle7n 'state of fighting'

(n)

sikyt- 'be tired' (1) -- slkytle7n 'tiredness' (n)

mati:j 'big' (A) ^ tljle7n 'old age' (n)

kab'- 'wound' (T) -y kab'leTn 'wound' (n)

6. Indicates the state signified by the stem or

root. Preceding long vowels are shortened.

61) 1. {-b'ji7b'il} 'nomlnalizer

2. -b'ji7b'il

3. Derives noun stems from adjective stems vzhich

usually have the suffix - b 'a: jal (71), without

a change in meaning.

^. Nonproductive

5 Examples

kib'b'a:jal 'visible' (a) -> kib'jl7b'il 'ease

of seeing' (n)

achb'a:jal 'happy' (a) ^- achb 'aji7b 'il 'happi-

ness' (n)

b'e:yb'il 'poor' (a) ^ b ' eyb '

j i7b il
' 'poverty' (n)

moyb'a:Jal 'easy to dominate' (a) -*-

moyb'ji7b'il 'domination' (n)

6. The suffix is clearly related to the suffix

-b ' a: jal j but not analyzable.

62) l.'{-b'al} 'nominalizer'

2. -b'al

3. Derives noun stems from transitive stems.

^. Nonproductive
11^

5. Example:

b'irnch- 'arrange, do' (t) -v b'lrnchb'al 'arrange-

ment' (n)

63) 1. {-b'atz} 'nomlnalizer'

2. -b'atz

3. Derives noun stems from transitive roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Example:

xl:m- 'think' (t) -^xirnb'atz 'thought' (n)

64) 1. {-1} 'nominalizer'

2. -1

3- Derives noun stems from intransitive roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

ja:w- 'go up' (I) ^ ja:wl 'ascent' (n)

kub'- 'go down' (I) -^ kub 1

' 'descent' (n)

65) 1. {-tl} 'nominalizer'

2. -tl

3. Derives noun stems from unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive
5. Example:

*aq'un- ^- aq'u:ntl 'work' (n)

66) 1. {-tz} 'nominalizer'

2. -tz

3. Derives noun stems from transitive and intransitive

. :

115

roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

iq- 'carry' (T) -> iqtz 'load' (n)

q'aTj- 'ride a horse' (T) -> q'a7jtz 'bench (for

mounting horses) '(n)

o:k- 'enter' (I) -> no:ktz 'entrance' (n)

2.i|.3 ADJECTIVE STEM FORMATION

67) 1. {-7n} 'participial'

2. -h after a short stem formative;

-7...n after a short stem formative preceded by

a resonant, in which case the glottal stop

precedes the resonant;

-7n elsewhere.

3. Derives the past participle from transitive stems.

4. Productive

5 Examples

sb'i:t'a- 'rip' (t) -> sb'i:t'an 'ripped' (a)

ju:la- 'suck sweets' (t) -y ju:71an 'sucked' (a)

txaqo:- 'light' (t) -> txaqo7n 'lit' (a)

6. Requires the stem formative. If the stem formative

is a long vowel, it is shortened.

68) 1. {-na} 'participial'

2. -na

3. Derives the past participle from some transitive

^

116

and intransitive roots or stems.

^. Productive

5. Examples:

yu:p- 'put out fire' (t) -> yupna 'put out' (a)

to:q- 'break' (t) -* toqna 'broken' (a)

kyim- 'die' (I) -^ kyimna 'dead' (a)

no:j- 'fill' (I) -> nojna 'full' (a)

6. Requires shortening of a preceding Ion vowel.

69) 1. {-naj } 'participial'

2. -naj

3. Derives the past participle from transitive and

intransitive roots and stems, and unknov/n roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

*mal- > chmalnaj 'humid' (a)

yu:p- 'put out fire' (t) -> yupnaj 'put out' (a)

xo:p- 'perforate' (t) -> xopnaj 'perforated' (a)

q'a:y- 'rot' (I) ^ q'aynaj 'rotten' (a)

6. Requires shortening of preceding long vowels.

70) 1. {-1} 'positional adjective'

2. -ch after /I/ terminal roots and sometimes after

/I/ initial roots

-1 elsewhere.

3. Derives positional adjectives from positional roots

A. Productive.
117

5- Examples:

tutz'l 'seated'

koxhl 'lying down'

txulch 'quiet'

molch 'crouching'

lach'l 'standing with feet apart'

leq'ch 'far'

71) 1. {-b'a:jal} 'facility'

2. -b'a:jal

3. Derives adjective stems from positional and

transitive roots and transitive stems,

4. Productive

5. Examples:

txik- 'cook' (T) -> txikb'a:jal 'easy to cook' (a)

b'i:nch- 'do' (t) ^ b inchb 'a jal 'easy to do'

'
:
(a)

tutz'- 'sitting* (P) ->- tutz'b'a:jal 'easy to seat'

(a)

6. Requires shortening of preceding long vowels.

72) 1. {-ViC2V-^:n} 'facility'

2. -V^C2V^:n

3. Derives adjective stems from transitive roots

or stems.

4. Productive

5. Examples:

to:q- 'break' (t) ->- toqoqo:n 'breakable' (a)

ll:ch'- 'break' (t) -^ lich'ich'i:n 'breakable' (a)

: ' . :

118

mo:l- 'burn' (t) -> mololorn 'easily v/ilted' (a)

6. Requires shortening of preceding long vowels.

73) 1. {-chaq} 'distributive'

2. -chaq on all numbers and some quantity words;

-kaj optionally on kab '2', ox - '3';

-kyaj optionally on kyaj - 'V;

-7ix optionally on ox - '3'.

3- Derives distributive adjectives from numbers and

some other quantity words.

h. Productive

5 . Examples

jweTchaq 'five to each, five for one, five

by five J five each'

Qaqchaq sects k'um wu7na.

'I bought the squash for 6<i^ each .

'

qaqchaq se:tz k'-um wu7na

6(J; each it went out squash by me

Kab kaj tte:n q'ornkaxa tuj k'il.

'

'Put it in the pot two by two .

kab 'kaj ttern q'ornkaxa tuj k'il

two by two it is put it down in it pot

Jwe7chaq se:tz q'o7n q'i:nan te:.

'They gave the hog plums at five for 1^

jwe7chaq se:tz q'o7n q'i:nan te

five for 1^ it was given out hog plum it
. . :

119

7M 1. {-ka} 'atenuator'

2. -ka

3. Derives adjective stems from adjective and noun

roots

4. Productive

5. Examples:

neqa:7 'close' (A) ->- neqa:7ka 'a little close' (a)

b'aTn 'good' (A) -vb'aTnka 'a little good' (a)

spirky'an 'clear' (a) -> spi:ky'anka 'a little

clear' (a)

chib aj ' 'meat' (n) -> noqax chib'ajka 'meat that's

so-so' (a)

75) 1. {-maj } 'emphatic'

2 -maj

3. This is added to the participle formed by - 7n

to give emphasis, without change in class or

other change in meaning.

4. Productive

5- Examples

tx'e:7man 'cut' -v tx'e:7manmaj 'cut'

aq'na7n 'worked' -> aq'na7nmaj 'worked'

sb'i:t'an 'ripped' -^ sb'i:t'anmaj 'ripped'

76) l.{-an} ' adjectivizer

2 . -an

3. Derives adjective stems from noun roots.

4. Productive
'

120

5. Examples:

xaq 'stone' (N) ->-

xaqan 'made of stone' (a)

tz'i:s 'garbage' (N) - tz'l:san 'clean' (a)

tx'otx' 'earth' (N) -> tx'otx'an 'made of earth'

(a)

lo:q' 'adobe' (N) ^ lo:q'an 'made of adobe' (a)

77) 1. {-an} 'adjectivizer

2. -an

3- Derives adjective stems from transitive roots

or stems and unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

*t'ut'- -> t'ut'an 'squishy' (a)

ju:k- 'burn' (t) -> ju:kan 'burnable' (a)

*b'u:n- ->- b'u:nan 'soft ground' (a)

*lu:b'- -> lu:b'an 'stretchy' (a)

78) 1. {-C2_aj} 'adjectivizer'

2. -C^aj

3. Derives adjective stems from positional and

unidentified roots.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

*chap- -> chapchaj 'tasteless' (a)

lln- 'laid out' (P) -> linlaj 'laid out' (a)

*meq'- ^ meq'maj 'hot' (a)

*maq- -> kyaqmaqmaj 'stuttering' (a)

121

*txub'- -> txub'txaj 'tasty' (a)

*k'at- -> xhk'atk'aj 'content' (a)

2.^.i| AFFECT STEM FORMATION

79) 1. {-an}

2. -an

3. Derives affect stems from positional roots,

transitive roots and stems, and affect roots.

4. ?

5. Examples:

qit- 'untied' (P) ^ qitan 'the action of coming

loose' (af)

qor 'noise of a turkey' (AF) ->- qoran 'noise of

a turkey' (af)

qltz'- 'squeak' (T) -+ qitz'an 'the squeak that the

bed makes (e.g.) when it
Is moved' (af)

80) 1. {-V-lC2V^}

2. - V^C^Vi
3. Derives affect stems from positional, affect,

and unidentified roots.

4. Semiproductive

5. Examples:

txul- 'quiet' (P) -- txululu 'action of walking

without speaking' (af)

qitx' 'noise that pigs make with their teeth' (AF)

->- qitx'itx'i 'grinding of teeth' (af)

wit'- 'standing' (P) -> wit'it'i 'action of

going running' (af)
. :

122

*wul- - wululu 'noise of several people

talking' (af)

6, These forms are the bases from which affect

verbs are derived (#33).

81) 1. {-ch}

2. -ch

3. Derives affect stems from positional and unidenti-

fied roots.

4. Nonproductive

5 Examples

qej- 'lying down' (P) ^ qe j ch 'the action of

lying down' (af)
*qora- --
qomch 'the sound of v.'ater falling in
a jar' (af)

2.4.5 DERIVED ADVERBIAL FORMATION

82) 1. {-nax} 'direction'

2. -nax

3. Derives directions from intransitive verbs of

motion.

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples:

j a w-
: 'go up '
( I ) --
j awnax '
up '

e:l- 'go out' (I) -V elnax 'west'

o:k- 'go in' (I) -> oknax 'east'
u:l- 'arrive here' (I) -> ulnax 'close'
kub'- 'go down' (I) -^ kub'nax 'down'
. '

123

6. Requires shortening of preceding" long vowels.

83) 1. 'time In future'

2.

3. Derives time In future from numbers and number

compounds.

^. Nonproductive

5. Examples (only these exist):

ka:7j 'In two days'

oxj 'In three days'

koj ' In four days

qu:b'x 'In a week' (seven days)

kyajlotj 'in two weeks' (fourteen days)

wi:nq'aj 'In three weeks' (twenty days)

jnab' 'In a year'

kob'ab' 'In two years'

oxab ' 'In three years'

8^) 1. 'time In past'

2.

3. Derives time in the past from number and number

compounds

4. Nonproductive

5. Examples (only these exist) :

kab'aje: 'day before yesterday'

oxoje: 'three days ago'

qub xe' : 'a week ago' (seven days)

12iJ

kyajloje: 'two v/eeks ago' (fourteen days)

v:inq'aje: 'three weeks ago' (twenty days)

jna:b'a 'a year ago'

kob'a:b'a 'two years ago'

oxa:b'a 'three years ago'

2.4.6 HOW ROOTS AND STEMS ARE DERIVED (IN REVIEW)

So far eighty-four derivational affixes have been

found. Of these, only thirty-eight are productive. Many

of the nonproductive affixes seern to have the same function

(for instance, all of the causatives), but because they

are nonproductive it is impossible to decide if the

functions were once somewhat different or not. It

will also be noted that many of the nonproductive

affixes with similar functions have closely related

phonological shapes. For instance, all of the

'applicative' suffixes begin with resonants , while the

'causative' suffixes have sets which begin with the

same consonant and have several different vowels. In

the latter case vowel dissimilation seems to have been

at least part of the reason for the proliferation of

forms, but such dissimilation is not consistent in the

forms today. Analyzing the base forms of these

apparently related affixes is a problem for the

historical linguist.

The productive affixes have little overlap in

'

125

function. Most of them either have very different

functions, or go with different roots, or are distinguished

seraantlcally. A few are not apparently different,

however, such as #57 and #58, both of v/hich derive the

abstract noun from adjectives. Where no difference

in the function of the affixes was indicated In the

above listing, none was found. The charts vfhich follow

review the derivational process, by root or stem class.

Productive affixes are Indicated by (vr) , semlproductlve

affixes are indicated by (s), and affixes not marked

with either are nonproductive.

Root or Stem Derived Stem By

Class Class

transitive -> transitive 1) s-'^^xh-^x-'^^ch- (pr)

3) stem formative (pr)

10) -b'e: 'causative'

21) -pi: 'causative'

22) -pu : 'causative'

27) -tz'u: 'causative'

29) -naje:7 'repetitive'

30) -7kj 'processive' (pr)

31) -7tz 'processive (pr)

imperative

transitive -> intransitive 52) -n 'Intransitivlzer ' (pr)

36) -b'aj 'passive' (pr)

' ' '

l26

Root or Stem Derived Stem

Class Class

transitive intransitive 37 -e:t 'passive' (pr)

38 -j 'passive' (pr)

39 -njtz 'passive' (s)

41 -ch ' intransitivizer'

noun 50 -1 'agentlve' (pr)

51 -e:nj 'patient' (pr)

52 -b'll 'instrument' (pr)

53 -b'e:n 'locative' (pr)

54 -b an' 'remainder' (s)

55 -1 'verbal noun' (pr)

59 -le :n 'abstract noun' (pr)

60 -le7n 'abstract noun' (pr)

62 -b al' 'nominallzer

63 -b'atz 'nominallzer'

66 -tz 'nominallzer'
adjective 67 -7n 'participial (pr)

68 -na 'participial' (pr)

69 -naj 'participial'

71 -b'a:jal 'facility' (pr)

72 -VlC2V-^:n 'facility' (pr)

77 -an ' adjectivlzer

-> affect stem 79 -an (?)
intransitive ->- transitive 10 -b'e: 'causative'

15 -le : 'causative

25 -sa: 'causative' (s)

'

127

Root or Stem Derived Stem By

Class Class

intransitive -^ transitive 30) -7kJ 'processlve' (pr)

31) -7tz 'processive impera-

tive' (pr)

-> intransitive ^7) -7..-al 'specific end'

-^ noun 50) -1 'agentive' (pr)

52) -b'il 'instrument' (pr)

55) -1 'verbal noun' (pr)

57) -a:l 'abstract noun' (pr)

59) -le:n 'abstract noun' (pr)

60) -le7n 'abstract noun' (pr)

64) -1 'nominalizer

66) -tz 'nominalizer'

-> adjective 68) -na 'participial' (pr)

69) -naj 'participial'

-> adverbial 82) -nax 'direction'

positional ->- transitive 3) stem formative (pr)

4) -b'a: ' transitlvizer' (pr)

5) -V: 'transitlvizer' (pr)

11) -cha: 'caus.ative'

13) -chu: 'causative'

19) -na: 'causative'

21) -pi: 'causative'

22) -pu : 'causative'

24) -q'u: 'causative'

29) -naje:7 'repetitive'

-> intransitive 35) -e:7 'vertitive' (pr)
'

128

Root or Stem Derived Stem By

Class Class
positional -y intransitive ^2) -chaj ' intransltivlzer
^3) -paj 'intransltlvizer'
^5) -tz'aj 'intransltlvizer'
" ^^^ 52) -b'll 'instrument' (pr)

53) -b'e:n 'locative' (pr)

54) -b'an 'rem.ainder' (s)

57) -a:l 'abstract noun' (pr)

60) -le7n 'abstract noun' (pr)

-^adjective 70) -1 'positional adjective'
(pr)

71) -b'a:jal 'facility' (pr)

78) -C^aj 'adjectivizer'

-> affect stem 79) -an (?)

80) -V-^C^V^ (s)

81) -eh
noun ^ transitive 3) stem formative (pr)

6) -la: 'applicative'
7) -wa 'applicative'

8) -ya 'applicative'

9) -yi: 'applicative'
noun 1) s-'\^xh-'\>x-'\jch- (pr)

48) aj- 'agent' (pr)

49) aj- 'native' (s)

57) -a:l 'abstract noun' (pr)

58) -ab'i:l 'abstract noun'(pr)

' '

129

Root or Stem Derived Stern By

Class Class

noun -> noun 60 -le7n 'abstract noun' (pr)

-> adjective 74 -ka 'atenuator' (pr)

76 -an 'adjectivizer ' (pr)

adjective -> transitive 25 -sa: 'causative' (s)

-* intransitive 34 -ax 'vertitlve' (pr)

38 -j 'passive' (pr)

40 -b a ' ' intransltivlzer

44 -t 'intransltivlzer'

noun 1) s-^ xh-n.x-A/Ch- (pr)

56 -an 'ordinal' (pr)

57 -a:l 'abstract noun' (pr)

58 -ab'l:l 'abstract noun'(pr)

60 -le7n 'abstract noun' (pr)

61 -b'ji7b'll 'nominalizer

adjective 1) s-^xh-^x-^ ch- (pr)

73 -chaq 'distributive' (pr)

74 -ka 'atenuator' (pr)

75 -maj 'emphatic' (pr)

adverbial 83 'time in future'

84 'time in past'

affect transitive 3) stem formative (pr)

5) -V: ' transitivizer ' (pr)

11 -cha: 'causative'

13 -chu: 'causative'

14 -k'u: 'causative'
130

Root or Stem Derived Stem By

Class Class

affect -* transitive 21) -pi: 'causative'

22) -pu: 'causative*

2h) -q'u: 'causative'

27) tz'u: 'causative'

-> intransitive 33) -:n 'affect' (pr)
^ affect 79) -an (?)

80) -ViC^V^

2.5 PHRASE FORMATION

Mam has verb, noun, and adverb phrases.

2.5.1 VERB PHRASES

There are two types of verb phrases: transitive

and Intransitive. The elements in the verb phrase

have already been discussed (2.2.1), with the major

exception of directionals . Directionals are auxiliary

elements in the verb phrase which indicate direction

of movement and are derived from intransitive verbs

of motion. The simple directionals and the verbs

from which they derive are:

Directional :
Intransitive Verb :

xi 'away from' xi7 'go'

tzaj 'toward' tza:j 'come'
ul 'there to here' u:l 'arrive here'
' ' ' ' ,

131

pon 'here to there' po :n 'arrive there'

kub' '
dovm kub' '
go dov/n

Jaw 'up' ja:w 'go up'

el out e:l go out '

ok 'in' o :k: ' go in

kyaj 'remaining' kyaj" ' remain

aj 'returning from here' a:j 'return

iky' 'passing' iky' 'pass by'

b'aj 'complete' b'aj 'finish'

The primary derivational process involved is that a

long vowel in the verb form shortens in the directional.

Xi and tza j commonly combine with other directionals

according to the semantics, to add the elements 'away'

or 'toward'. They are suffixed to the directional v;hich

they modify and xl has the allomorph -x while tzaj has

the allomorph -t_^ in this position. Eleven compound

directionals are formed in this way:

ku7x < kub ' + xi

< kub ' + tzaj

< jaw + xi

< jaw + tzaj

< el + xi

< el + tzaj

< ok + xi

< ok + tzaj
. '

132

iky'x 'passing to other side' < iky' + xi

iky'tz 'passing to this side' < iky' + tzaj

The first directional in such a compound drops a final

/I/ or /w/.

In rarer cases other directionals combine with each

other, for example:

17pan 'passing there' < iky' + pon

japan 'up there' < jaw + pon

ajk 'returning doxvn' < aj + kub

ku7xb aj' 'down there complete' < kub' + xi + b'aj

etzb'aj 'out here complete' < el + tzaj + b'aj

Directionals can be a part of the verb phrase, in

which case they have an effect on the structure of the

phrase

2.5.1.1 THE TRANSITIVE VERB PHRASE

The simple transitive verb phrase without directionals

has a structure as shown in the following chart. In

all the charts, double lines indicate juncture or places

where elements are sepat^able from the phrase ^ + indicates

an obligatory element while indicates an optional

element. The horizontal lines show that either the

first five aspects or mode is obligatory, but that they

do not co-occur. The aspect ok is optional with the

potential mode.
133

Aspect
13^

(Imperative)

Patient
135

ku7x ^ kax etz -> atz

J ax -> jx ok -> k

jatz ->-
jtz oktz -V ktz
el -V al okx -> kx

ex ax kyaj ^ kaj

2.5.1.2 THE INTRANSITIVE VERB PHRASE

The simple Intransitive verb phrase without direction-

als has the following structure:

Aspect
136

With directionals

Aspect
: : : j

137

Examples

Simple intransitive verb phrase:

ma chinb'e:ta 'I walked'

ma chin b*e:t a
aspect subject stem (mode) enclitic

Intransitive verb phrase with directionals

ma jaw b'i:t'j 'it exploded'

ma j aw b ' i t
:
'

aspect subject direc- (mode) (compound stem enclitic

tional direc-
tional)

(ok) qojarwaxa 'we will come up'

(ok) qo ja:w al x a
aspect subject stem mode compounding enclitic
directional
Imperative

chlmok'e :kaxa 'crouch dovml'

chl mok'e:7 ku7 x a

subject stem direc- mode compounding enclitic
tional directional

2.5.2 NOUN PHRASES

There are two main types of noun phrases : third

person noun phrases and pronominal phrases.

2.5.2.1 THIRD PERSON NOUTvI PHRASES

The head of a third person noun phrase is a

third person noun. Third person noun phrases indicate

the subject, agent, or patient of the verb, or the

noun possessor. The immediate constituent structure

of the noun phrase follows :

138

<

:=)
o
w
Eh

O
W
K
E-H
o
Eh
CO P-i O
Eh

w 0)

Eh
H vo
ca
00 0)

o
o
Eh
<
M LTN
Q
W

>
-p

U
m
C
o
B
0)
Q
: j ' j '

139

Numbers In parentheses on the table are keyed to

the follov/ing discussion. If there are no other elements

before the noun the adjective precedes it. In this

position the adjective may actually be functioning as

a pronoun phrase (2.5-2.2), but since the person is

unmarked on a third person pronoun, and translation does

not reveal a difference in structure, the reordering may

not indicate a change in structure. A few adjectives

commonly precede nouns even if they are also preceded by

other elements; these are mat i :

'big', nim 'a lot',

ni 'small', and tal 'small'.

1) Noun :

The noun consists of any simple or compound noun

stem. It may be the only element of the noun phrase.

Nouns can be conjoined by the particles b 'ix 'and' or

mo 'or'. Examples:

Ma tz'o:kx we ch : .

'The fox went in.

ma tz'o:kx we ch
:

It went in fox

Nti7 o:k ninq' i :

.

'There wasn't a celebration .

nti? o :k ninq'i j :

there isn'.t it went in celebration

Ma chitzyu:n xi :naq .

'The men grabbed it.'

' . '

1^0

ma chitzyu:n xi:naq
they grabbed men

T17jla qa wltz b'lx chik'u:! . .

Behind the hills and forests . .

.

tl7jla qav/itz b'lx chlk'u:l

behind hills and forest
2) Possessor :

If the noun Is possessed It Is Inflected for the

possessor by Set A prefixes and is followed by another

noun phrase which indicates the possessor. If the second
noun is deleted it can be specified by a noun classifier

which is attached to or follows the possessed noun.

(See the end of this section for a discussion of the

noun classifier.) The objects of relational nouns are

always the possessors of these nouns (2.2.2.1). Examples:

At tnarbll.

'It is his thought.'

at tna:b'il
there is his thought

Ntzaj tma7n nma:na.

'
My father said it'

ntzaj tma7na nma:na

he said it away my father

... ma X : t_j a : xj a 1
: .

'
. . .up to the person 's house.

ma:x tja: -xja:l

up to his house person
:

I4l

tuj XQ eh
:

'in the well'

tuj xo:ch
Its inside well

twitz swe7j_
'
his head the old man '

twitz sv;e7j
his head old man (noun classifier referring to
deleted nma na 'my father')
:

The possessor may also be possessed in the same way,

giving a string of possessed nouns. Examples:

twa: tb'anal axi7n

'his food of good corn'

twa: tb'anal axi7n

his food its goodness corn

tuj kywitz xja:l

'in the people's heads'

tuj kywitz xja:l

its insldes their heads person

3) Plural Clitic :

There is a clitic q^a which is optional to Indicate

plural. It usually precedes the noun. Examples:

Nti7 a[aqpwa:q.

'There isn't any of our money.'

nti7 qaqpwa:q
there isn't our money plural

ti7j gab e '

'on the roads'

'

1^2

tl7j qab'e:
on it roads

^1) Adjectives :

A noun can be modified by an adjective or conjoined

adjectives. The adjective precedes the noun unless

there are other elements preceding the noun, specifically

a demonstrative, number, other noun or pronoun, a negative,

or other particles. In this case the adjective follows

the noun. Exceptions are mati:j 'big', nlm 'a lot',

nij_ 'small', and ta^ 'small', which can follow or precede

the noun even if there are other elements preceding it.

Adjectives can be conjoined by the particles b 'ix 'and'

or mo 'or'. Adjectives must be conjoined by one of

these particles; they cannot be listed. There are
almost never more than two adjectives conjoined in

this way. Examples:

q'ayna lo7j
'
rotten fruit'

q'ayna lo7j
rotten fruit

nuch b'ix sib tx'ya:n

'
small and gray dog'

nuch b'ix sib' tx'ya:n

small and gray dog

spiky 'a twitz tx'otx'

'
clear morning'
: : j ' 1 j

1^3

spiky' a tv/itz tx'otx'

clear above It earth

ju:n twi :xh sag

*a white cat

ju:n twirxh saq

one his cat white

tu:k' tib'la:! cha7x b ix nk'ant '

'with its blue and brilliant color'

tu:k' tib'la:l chaYx b'ax nk'ant

with it its color blue and burning

kab ' mati :

xj a :

'two important men'

kab' mati:j xja:l

two important person

ju:n kastirwa mati :

'a big punishment'

ju:n kasti:wa mati:j

one punishment big

5) Number :

Number precedes the noun. The number one is also

the indefinite article. The number one has the following

allomorphs

jun before an unpossessed noun;

ju:n before a possessed noun or with no noun.

Examples

at ju:n njarya

'it is my ( one ) house'

' n
un

at jun ja:

'it is a house

at ju:n

'it's one ; there's one '

Ju:7n 'each' is also derived from j u : 'one' and

behaves like any other number. The ordinal numbers are

not like cardinal numbers because the ordinal numbers

are possessed nouns and therefore are in the noun

position (see 2.4.2 #56 for their derivation). Numbers

are not used in a noun phrase which is headed by an

ordinal number. Examples:

at gag xja :1

'there are six people'

at gag xja:l-
there is six person

jun tx 'yarn g'ag

:

'
one black dog'

jun tx'yarn g'ag

one dog black

kab '
twitz axlTn
'
two grains of corn'

kab' twitz axi7n

two its head corn

ju:7n xo ch :

'each well'
)

1^15

6) Measure :

Measure words form a constituent v;ith number and

together they modify the noun. Measure words are alv/ays

preceded by numbers or the interrogative particle jte?

'how much, how many?'. Examples:'

jun lag ka:lt

'a plateful of soup'

kab' ma71 tk'aTya q'e7n

'two shots of booze'

kab' ma71 tk'aTya q'e7n

two shot your drink booze

7 Demonstratives :

The demonstrative is the first element in the noun

phrase. Demonstratives which function in the noun phrase

are aj_ or ajaj 'this, that', b 'ixh 'this, that (female)',

and nag 'this, that'. Examples:

aj kab ' sama:n

'
these two weeks'

aj matirj k'uxb'il
'
that big tool'

nag ju:7nqa xja:l

'all those people'

nag ju:7naga xja:l

that each plural person

aj aj o:x tx'ya:n sag

'these three white dogs'

li|6

Noun Classifier :

A third person noun may be further specified by

one of a set of enclitics which serve as noun classifiers

and act like pronouns. The enclitics are only used when

the noun or noun phrase to which they refer is deleted,

in which case they follow the constituent immediately

preceding the deleted element. Most of the noun

classifiers are derived from common nouns. They are:

Noun Classifier Common Noun

jal
1^7

tkule:n telq'a7nma pv:aq

because he (man) stole money (refers' to deleted
Makal Tls 'Marcos Ortiz')

2.5.2.2 PRONOUN PHRASES

Pronoun phrases can serve the same functions as

noun phrases and in addition can be the only constituent

in a sentence. Pronoun structure of both the independent

and locative sets of pronouns is discussed in 2.2.2.5;

pronominal phrases functioning as simple sentences are

discussed in 2.6.1.1. There are no elements in the

pronoun phrase other than the pronoun, the noun classifier

and the plural enclitic. Third person pronouns are often

further specified by the addition of a noun classifier,

especially if the pronoun is an independent pronoun. The

plural clitic is only used with the third person plural

of the independent pronouns, and is obligatory in this

case. Examples:

Pronoun Alone :

A:x qo7ya nau:l b'i:nchal tete : .

'We came to fix it.'

a:x qo7ya nqu:l b'i:nchal tete:

the same we we came to fix it

te7 neqa:7 yi:n

'
those who are a little closer'

te7 neqa:7 yi:n

they are close a little
'

li|8

Baqa at_ kab'rna at amb'il kyi7j .

'
There are hardly two men who have time.'

baqa at kab'rna
hardly there is two men (noun classifier)

at amb'il kyi7j
there is time by theiti

At na:n V/i:t? Ti :na .

'
Is Natividad there ? I'm here .

at na:n wi:t ti:na

is there ma'am Natividad I'm here

aja Lo:xh Tmirnk b'ix qi :na

'that Alonso Domingo and !_'

aja Lo:xh Tmimk b'ix qi :na

that Alonso Domingo and I

Pronoun + Noun Classifier :

A:tzan swe7j aj q'il twitzxax.

'
It's he (old man) who plans.'

a:tzan sweTj aJ q'il twitzxax

well it's old man who giver his head

Pronoun + Plural :

a:tzanqa nja:w tx'otx' kyuTn tu7n traktorr

'
those who lift the dirt with tractors'

aitzanqa nja:w tx'otx' kyu7n

well they it is going up 'earth by them
tu7n trakto:r
by it tractor

Pronoun + Plural + Noun Classifier :

Baqa ax a:qama iqa:nan ti7j o:nb'll.

'They (man) hardly asked for help.'

: 1

1^19

baqa ax a:qama iqa:nan tl7j

hardly also they men they asked for about it

o hb 1
: '

help

2. 5. 3 ADVERB PHRASES

Adverb phrases consist of or are Introduced by

adverbial words (particles, 2.2.5; some adjectives, 2.2.3;

affect words, 2.2.4; or derived adverbials, 2.4.5), or

consist of noun phrases with adverbial functions.

2.5.3.1 ADVERBIALS

Most adverbials are used alone or in a string with

other adverbials. A few introduce phrases; for example,

the locative particle ma:xa 'until, up to' has a toponym

or place as its object, as does asta 'until, up to'.

Examples

B 'ala ja7ka chitzan q'ankyorq.

'" Maybe so " said the lightning'

b ala ja7ka chitzan

' q'ankyoiq
maybe yes well he said lightning

Ka;si ma: 7 txi b a j ma:x Tuj Ch'yaq.

'

'It's almost finished up there in Tuchiac.

ka:si ma: 7 txi b'aj ma:x tuj ch'yaq

almost it finished up there Tuchiac

Atx o:x ta:nka tu7n tb'ant ja71a .

'There are still three tanks which have to be made now.'

'

150

^^^ o:x tarnka tujn tb ant ja71a '

there is still three tank that is made now

Nog git tjav; b'lrt'j na: j .

'
Only at tines it explodes guickly .

nog qit tjaw b'iit'j na:j

only at times it explodes up quickly

2.5.3.2 ADVERBIAL NOUN PHRASES

An adverbial noun phrase is always headed by one

of the relational nouns (2.2.2.1). It has the same struc-

ture as any other noun phrase, with reduced elements.

The
possible elements are:

possessor noun possessor

Set A

As with other noun phrases the possessor may

itself be
possessed, resulting in a noun phrase which contains

other noun phrases. Adverbial noun phrases indicate

location or time. Examples:
ma:tagx tel spiky'a twitz tx'otx' te : pri :m
'from when it gets light in the morning '

ma:tagx tel spiky'a twitz tx'otx' te: pri:m

It had risen clear its face earth in the morn-;
ing

Na7x tku7x b aj kymaquTna tjag' tx'otx'

'
?

'You-all still haven't buried it under the ground ?'

na7x tku7x b'aj kymagu7na tjag' tx'otx'

still not they buried it down away under it earth
' '

151

To:ns matzan tz'o:kx we:ch tuj tja: toky' xaq .

'Then the fox went In his house in the hole In the

rock .

to:ns matzan tz'o:kx we:ch tuj

then well he entered away fox in it

tja: toky' xaq

his house its hole rock

Nti7 a? tzi kyja: .

'There isn't water by their house .

nti7 a? tzi kyja:

there isn't water its entrance their house

Ma:x tokx ma: ti:h' pwe:nt tuj kyqa7 .

'There it is above the bridge by the hot springs .'

ma:x tokx ma: ti:b' pwe:nt

up there it enters there above it bridge

tuj kyqa?
in it hot water

2.6 SENTENCE FORMATION

This section describes simple sentences and their

constituents J sentence level syntactic enclitics and

their functions, and complex and compound sentence

formation.

2.6.1 SIMPLE SENTENCES

There are three types of simple sentences: linking.

Intransitive, and transitive. The types are defined by

the constituents which occur with each.

. ' '

152

2.6.1.1 LINKING SENTENCES

The single necessary constituent in a linking

sentence is a pronoun phrase of either the locational or

independent type. The pronoun contains the subject,

indicated by the person markers, and the linker. If the

pronoun is of the independent type, the linkage is of

a copulative or equative nature, while if the pronoun

is locative the linkage is of a locative or existential

nature

The base of a copulative or equative pronoun is

the attribute, and consists of a demonstrative, other

adjective, or noun (2.2.2.5). The attribute is not

necessarily part of the base, however, but may consist

of a separate phrase or embedded sentence.

The base of a locative pronoun signals its type.

The pronoun is usually accompanied by a locative phrase.

If there is no locative phrase, then the sentence is

existential, and the locative marker signals the existence

of the person indicated by the person markers. Third

person subjects can be specified in a separate noun

phrase (and usually are). Examples:

Equative : (+ attribute + subject)
Xja:l qi:na.

' I am a person.

Saq.

It is white.
' . '' ' '

153

Sikynaja.

'You are tired.

Locative: (+ subject + locative)

Te7 ti7j Ra:nch.

'They are (in) Turrancho.'

Tzlu:7 at jun aq'u:ntl.

Here is work.

To7 neqa:7.

'We are near.

Existential : (+ subject)

Ti :na.

I am .
'

At pwaq.

'There is money .

Other constituents which can occur v;ith linking

sentences are temporals and other adverb phrases not

including those that indicate manner. Examples:

Baqa at amb ' i1

'There's hardly time.'

baqa at amb'il
hardly there is time

At jun aq'u:ntl ojtxa .

'There was work before .

at jun aq'urntl ojtxa

there is one work before
. '

15^

B* ala at qaq xja:l. .

'
Maybe there are six people.'

b'ala at qaq xja:l

maybe there Is six person

Sikynaj qi:na j_a71a_.

'I'm tired now.

sikynaj ql:na ja71a

tired I'm now

It Is Important to note that the pronouns do not

always act as links in this type of sentence. The

Independent pronouns can also indicate the actors in

place of noun phrases. Linking sentences, however,

require pronoun phrases. If the subject is further

specified by a noun phrase it follov/s the pronoun

phrase. Temporals come last in the sentence, other

adverblals are first, and locatives may come first or

last

2.6.1.2 INTRANSITIVE SENTENCES

Intransitive sentences are headed by intransitive

verbs (2.2.1.2 and 2.5.1.2). These are inflected for

aspect or mode and for subject. In addition the

intransitive sentence may include a noun phrase indicating

the subject. Examples: (In these and similar examples

the numbers refer to the underlined phrases. Note that

the English phrase order is different from the Mam, and

that the numbers refer back to the Mam.)

: ' '

155

Ma b e ' : t xu7j

1 2

"The woman walked 1

2 1
subject verb

Chinxe :1a .

'I will go.

1
verb

Other constituents which may occur in the intransitive

sentence are the adverbials (locative, manner, temporal,

other adverbials) and relational noun phrases indicating

locative, causative, instrument, associative, topic, and

benefactive (2.2.2.1). Adverbials generally occur

first or last in the sentence. The subject follows the

intransitive verb, and the relational noun phrases follow

the subject. If there are a number of relational noun

phrases in the sentence they apparently occur according

to a preferred order, all the details of which are not

understood. The order is:

Locative + Instrumental + Associative + Benefactive

One of these elements can precede the verb for emphasis.

Examples

Ma aq'na:n Kye

'
12 :1 tjaq' kjo7n tu7n asdo:n tu:k' Chep

Miguel worked in the cornfield with a hoe with Jose

3 ^ 5
.

.
'

2 1 3 ^ 5
subject verb locative instrument associative
' ': '

156

12
tza:laj xj a : 1 tl7J tpa .

13
3

"Tlie person was happy about his bag .

'

2
subject verb topic

Nne tztzanta nlma:l axl7n ja71a

: ,

1 2 3

'
The corn comes out now.
2 1 3
subject verb temporal

Ikytzanjo ma

'
12 : 7

The anger of the people came like this

tza : j kyq'o:j xja:l
3
.

.
'

3 2 1
subject verb manner

12
Kjapane Ixta a7 ma:x tuj Ch'yaq
:

"The water will arrive up there in

3
.

Tuchiac '

2 1 3
subject verb locative

2.6.1.3 TRANSITIVE SENTENCES

Transitive sentences are headed by a transitive

verb (2.2.1.1 and 2.5.1.1) which is inflected for aspect

or mode and for agent and patient. The transitive

sentence may include noun phrases for agent and patient.

Examples:

Ma kub ' kytzyu7n xi :naq che :

j .

1 2 '
3

* The men grabbed the horse

agent
2 13
verb patient
.
' . '

157

Ma chlnok ttze:q'ana .

'
You hit me .

1
verb

The transitive sentences can include all possible

sentence constituents. In addition to those already

listed for intransitive sentences these include the agent

and patient, and the dative (indirect object, expressed

by a relational noun phrase headed by the relational noun

-ej_) . Normal ordering of these constituents is:

verb + agent + patient + dative

As with intransitives , adverbials usually occur before

the verb or last in the sentence, and other relatlonals

follow the dative. Examples:

Ma txi tyek'an Chep u7j te : ti7jxja:l tu7n tqan q'a:q '

1 2 3
'

5 5

'
Jose showed the book to the man by the firelight. '

2 1 3 ^ 5
agent verb patient dative instrumental

Ma b a j taq'na7n Chep tjaa' kJo7n tu

' :k' Xwa:n te : xja:l .

1 2' ^
3 5

'
Jose worked in the cornfield vfith Juan for the person .

2 1 3 ^ 5
agent verb patient associative benefactive

B '

12
i s an kye tzanma ma txi 7 qq'o7na kyaqi:lkax o:nb'il
:

3 ^

'
Soon

temp,
132 vie gave them all the help

verb dative patient

^
.
'
. 7
158

2.6.2 VARIATIO'TS OF SIMPLE SENTENCES

The creation of negatives, interrogatlves , passives,

and Imperatives from simple sentences is described here.

2.6.2.1 NEGATIVES

Negation of any part of the sentence occurs through

use of the appropriate negative particle. The negative

particle usually occurs first in the sentence or part

being negated. See section 2.6.5 for some aspects of

negation peculiar to complex sentences. The following

examples illustrate the use of negative particles with

various types of sentences.

1) Equative Pronouns : Negated by nya: or mya :7 .

Xi:naq qi:na. ' I am a man.'

Nya:7 xi:naq qi:na. 'I am not a man.'

2) Locative and Existential Pronouns : Negated by mi7a :1

if they refer to people. Mi7a:l takes the place of the

locative and is inflected in the same way.

Ti:na tzlu:7. 'I am here.'

iyii7a:l qi:na tzlu:7. 'I'm not here.'

At a tzlu:7. 'You're here.'

Mi7a:la tzlu:7. 'You're not here.'

3) Locative and Existential Pronouns : Negated by nti7

or miti7 if they refer to third person non-human noun

phrases
159---

At chlb'aj. 'There Is meat.'

Nti7 chlb'aj. 'There Isn't meat.'

At a? tzl qja:y7. 'There's water by our house.'

Ntl7 a? tzl qja:y7. 'There isn't water by our house.'

4)I' Intransitlve and Transitive Sentences : Negated by

nti7 or mltl7_, or by mi :7n . Mi :7n implies the potential

and does not need to be marked as such. Nti7 only

occurs with the nonpotential in simple sentences, and

even then often requires subordination (see 2.6.5.3).

tz'etz nlaq'o7na. 'I bought it.'

Ntl7 o tz'etz nlaq'o7na. 'I didn't buy it.'

Ma chinb'erta. 'I walked.'

Nti7 ma chinb'erta. 'I didn't walk.'

Ktza:jal jb'a:l ja71a. 'It will rain today.'

Mi:7n tza:j jb'arl ja71a. 'It won't rain today.'

5) Imperatives : Negated by ml :7n .

B'e-.ta. 'Walkl'

Ml:7n b'e:ta. 'Don't walk!'

Tzyu:ma. 'Grab it.''

Mi 7n tzyu:ma.
: 'Don't grab it I'

6) Negation of Certain Words and Constructions :

waja 'I want' nky'17ya 'I don't want'

: ) :

160

(Both of these are verbs which take all Set A prefixes

for person".

ju:7n 'each one' mlju:n 'no one, nothing'

ja7ka 'it's possible' nla:y 'it's not possible'

kukx 'still' na7x 'still not'

jo: 7 'yes' mi:7n 'no'

7) In addition, the negative particle mi can combine

with other particles to form negatives. Examples:

iky' 'like this' miky ' 'not like this'

qa 'if qami : 'if not'

2.6.2.2 INTERROGATIVES

There are two types of interrogatives : yes/no

questions and information questions. Yes/no questions can

be indicated by the interrogative enclitic pa or by

rising intonation on the last word in the question,

rather than the declarative falling intonation. Example:

At a:tz'an. 'There is salt.'

At a:tz'an? 'Is there salt?'

Atpa a:tz'an? 'Is there salt?'

Information questions are Introduced by one of the

interrogative particles (2.2.5.1) There are no other

basic changes in the sentence. The use of interrogatives

in complex sentences is discussed in section 2.6.5.

Examples
'

161

Jatuma tzajal qi:7n t-xe:l kypwa:qa?

'
Where are we going to get the replacement of their
money?

jatuma tzajal qi:7n t-xe:l kypwarqa

where will we get its replacement their money

Ti: tz'okx qse7n?

'
What are we going to do?'

ti: tz'okx qse7n

what do we do

Jte7 tzan pwaq jaka txi ti-:7n?

'
How much money can he take?'

jte7tzan pwaq jaka txi ti:7n

well how much money is it possible he takes away

Tza7n ta7ya?
'
How are you?'

tza7n ta7ya
how are you

2.6.2.3 PASSIVES

Passive derivation is discussed in section 2.4.1,2

(#36 - 39). So far four different passive suffixes have

been identified, and each has a somewhat different function

{-e:t} (37) forms the medio-passive . The action

occurs without an agent. It should be noted here that

all transitive verbs can drop the agent to express an

unknown agent , without any further change in structure.

The difference between a medio-passive formed with {-e:t}

:

162

and an agentless transitive verb is very slight.

Examples

ma ttzuy 'he grabbed it' (transitive)

ma tzuy '"they" grabbed it' (agentless transitive)

ma tzyert 'it was grabbed (by someone)' (medio-passlve)

{-j } (38) forms a passive which can occur v;ith an

agent (expressed by the relational noun - u7n ) . If the

agent is not used, it implies that there is no agent,

not that there is an unknown agent. Examples:

ma ku7x tyu:pana 'he put it out' (transitive)

ma ku7x yu:pj 'it went out (by itself)' (passive)

ma ku7x yu:pj wu7na '1 put it out' (passive, agent)

{-njtz} (39) forms passives which can take a third

person agent but no other agent. Again, the absence

of a noun phrase indicating agent implies absence of an

agent. Examples:

yu:panjtz 'it was put out (by itself)' (passive, no

agent)

yurpanjtz q'a:q' tu7n xja:l 'the fire was put out

by the person' (passive, agent)

These constructions are used by some people but not

by others in the town. All, however, accept constructions

with {-njtz} of the following type:

nach tk'a:njtz a7 'it's bad to drink water'

ml:b'an twa:7njtz 'It's not edible'

! ' '

163

In these constructions the sentence containing the verb

with -njtz is subordinated to a sentence consisting of

a pronominal phrase, and is the subject of the phrase:

nach tk' a:njtz

pronoun phrase subordinated'

it's bad that water is drunk

-b aj
' (36) forms passives which always occur with

directionals and never take agents. Examples:

xi7 to:qb'aj tal tze:7

'the tree was cut'

xi7 to:qb'aj tal tze:7

it was cut small tree

tzul q'ab'aj

'it is left there'

2.6.2.4 IMPERATIVES

Imperative formation is described in section 2.2.1,

2.5.1.1, and 2.5.1.2. The imperative verb usually occurs

first in the sentence (although adverbials may precede it),

and other changes are those noted in the formation of

the verb phrase. The imperative occurs with a full

person paradigm, although the second person forms are

the most common. Examples:

Kyyo :ma ma :
j an
'
Look for workers (you-all) I

Ku :7txqaya ja71al

'Go away for ever now I

164

Chl mok' e :kaxa kyja7wl

'
Crouch dovm like this (you-all)I'

Ghurxhaq kyl 7ntz xb'u7qa je7yl

:

'Hurry and bring your rags (you-all)I'

2.6.3 SENTENCE LEVEL CLITICS

There are a number of enclitics with syntactic

functions. They operate within phrases, within simple

sentences, or within complex and compound sentences,

and will be described here as a group. Some are related

in both form and meaning to words or affixes ; others

are not. The enclitics are described according to

the following format:

1. number, form

2. related words or affixes, if any

3. functions, glosses
4. examples

1) 1. X

2. a:x 'the same'

3. This enclitic has at least four functions, or

there are four homophonous enclitics:

a) Means 'the same' and occurs v;ith relational

nouns and the particle iky 'like this'.

b) Means 'only' and occurs with numbers and the

particles o7k and nog 'only'.

. 7
165

c) Means 'still' and occurs with the pronoun

at 'there is', the negative particle ntl_7

'there isn't', and the particle kuk -

( kukx 'still' )

d) Means 'always' and occurs iirith negatives,

several particles, and verbs.

^. Examples:

a) kyu7nxla xja:l 'by the same people'

kyuYnxla xja:l
by them the same person

ax ax71kyx aja tnarchal at kyu:kalma

'also it's the same inconvenience with the men'

ax ax7ikyx aja tna:chal

also like this the same that badness

at kyu:kalma
there is with them men(noun classifier)

b) nimpatzan jun sye:ntx ne :

'well, it's not much, only a hundred'

nimpatzan jun syerntx ne:7

well big one hundred only small

qama tz'ok tq'o:n ti:b' ju:nx xja:l

'if only one person will give'

qama tz'ok tq'o:n ti:b' ju:nx xja:l

if he will give in himself only one person

noqx kye:ka '

only for them''

noqx kye:ka
only for them
166

c) per atx ch'l:ntl taj

'but it still wants a little more'

per atx ch'i:ntl taj

but still there is a little more it
wants

atx o:x tarnka 'there are still three

t anks

^tx o:x tarnka

still there is three tank

ntlTx kub' tuj kywitz nema:stl xjarl

'the rest of the people still did not

accept it
ntl7x kub' tuj
still there is not it went down in it

kywitz nema:stl xja:l

their head the rest person

d) pera tzu:lx tu7n ju:n tb'a:nal

'but it always comes in good condition'

pera tzurlx tu7n ju:n tb'arnal

Dut It always comes by one its goodness

artzan irlxna 'it's always necessary'

a:tzan i:lxna
well it is always necessary

jomajx kyaqi:l q'i:j

'
always every day'

jomajx kyaqirl q'i:j

always all day

2) 1. tl

2.

3. 'again, other'
. : ' '

167

k. Examples:

Nxi7 tk'antl txu:b'aj txqantl a?.

'The mother was drinking again another quantity

of water.

nxiy tk'antl txu:b'aj txqantl

she was drinking again mother a lot again

a7
water

Nqe :xtzantla q'ama:l te : kye : qu:k'ala.

'And we went out again to tell the others.'

nqe:xtzantla q'ama:l te:

well we v/ent out again to tell it

kye: qu:k'ala
them with us

OYktzan ntza:j tchi: kyl7j xja:l ti7jaj ch'l :ntl.

'The people are afraid only because of another

bit (of money) .

o7ktzan ntza:j tchi: kyi7j xja:l

well only it comes its fear to them person

ti7jaj ch'i:ntl
about it another little bit

b ix ju:nt]^ wiq xaq

'

'and another type of rock'

b'x ju:ntl wiq xaq

and another type rock

3) 1. jo

2. aj 'this, that'; jo: 7 'yes, that's it'

3. Demonstrative, 'this, that'

4 Examples
: ' '

168

a:tzanj_o '
this is it'

mya:7io_ '
that 's not it'

q' 1 :ntzajo 'bring that I

iky j o ' like that '

tuj xo:chj_o 'in that well'

4) 1. ka

2.

3. Means 'but'. It is a sentence level conjunction.

The Spanish pero has also been borrowed, but

the two can never be used together.

4. Examples

Ma chiinxa aq'na:l b'ala mi:ka_ chin7u;la.

'I'm going to work, but maybe I won't come here.'

ma chi:nxa aq'na:l b'ala ml:ka chin7u:la

I vflll go to v/ork maybe but no I arrive here

Noqax nimka jun aq'u:ntl tiTjaj .

'
But there's so much work on this.'

noqax nimka jun aq'urntl tiTjaj

still but a lot one work about it

B'alq'aje:? qanimarl tuj sesyorn, nkub'katzan

tuj qwitzma.

'They wavered in the meeting, but at last they

accepted it .

b'alq'aje:? qanima:l tuj sesyorn

they wavered those in it meeting

nkub'katzan tuj qwitzma

but it went down in it our head man
j .

169

5) 1. tzan

2.

3. Means 'well, then'. This is a sentence level

coordinator which maintains the flow betv^een

sentences

4. Examples:

Ntza: tzan nqoku7 tzan te:na yo:lal tu:k'alma.

'And then we started, well, to talk with him.'

ntza:jtzan nqokuTtzan
well it was coming well we were going down

te:na yo:lal tu:k'alna

it is to talk with it man (classifier)

A: tzan nb'antl ti7j ja71a.

'Well, that's what is being arranged now.'

a: tzan nb'antl ti7j Ja71a

well it is it is made again about it now

6) 1. taq

2.

3- Perfective; indicates that an action is complete

when another action occurs. Taq occurs with

separable aspects or with particles. The other

clause in the sentence is dependent on the clause

which contains t aq .

5. Examples:

0:taq b'aj wa:7n xi q'o7n tk'a:7.

'He had eaten v:hen they gave the drink.'

:

170

o:taq b a j wa:7n xi q'o7n

' tk'a:7
he had eaten when It gave his drink

0: taq b '
a j wa:7n ok ttzaj q'o7n tk'a:7.

'He will have eaten when they give the drink.'

o:taq b a j v;a:7n ok
' ttzaj q'o7n tk'a:7
he had eaten when it gives away his
drink

Kyja7 taq tojlarn xi q'amo7n ju:ntl aq'urntl te:

'He was going to rest when they gave him

another job .
'

kyja7taq tojlain xi q'amo7n jurntl

like this had rested it gave another

aq'u:ntl te:
work him

Ch' i :n taq txi7 sajtz i:lan V7i7ja.

'He had walked a little when they scolded me.'

ch'iintaq txi7 sajtz i:lan wi7ja

he had gone a little it scolded about me

7) 1. la

2.

3. Indicates doubt.

4. Examples

Abe :r ma:xala.

'Who knov/s until v/hen. '

abe:r ma:xala
who knows until when

Ma:7tzan po:n yi:n qochiwlajo ma:x qxo:la.

'Let us say that it has arrived among us.*

'

171

ma:7tzan po:n yl:n qochiwlajo

well nov; It arrived a little let us say that

ina:x qxo:la
until among us

Per ortla. tz'o:k tya:b'jal tne:jal.

'But maybe it was damaged from the beginning.

per ortla tz'o:k tya-.b'jal

but maybe it entered its illness animal

tne jal
:

first

8) 1. wt and w(a)la

2.

3. These two enclitics indicate contrary to fact.

The /t/ in vrt probably comes from the perfective

tag and indicates that the action would have

happened in relation to another action. The wt_

therefore marks the 'if clause in a conditional

sentence. The la of v;(a)la is the enclitic

la which indicates doubt, and this form is used

in the 'then' clause of a conditional sentence.

Both forms occur in the conditional potential.

4. Examples:

0:taq wala chinb'aj wa:7na xhurl noqawttzaj

kyma7n o:r.

'I would have been finished eating when they

arrived if they had told me the time.'
' a
172

ortaqwala chinb'aj wa:7na

I would have finished eating

xhu:l noqawt tzaj kyma7n o:r

when they arrived if only they said hour

Ma w la chinwa:7na noqawt tzaj kyma7n o:r.

'I would have eaten if they. told me the time.'

mawla chinwa:7na noqawt tzaj kyma7n o:r

I would have eaten if only they said hour

Mawla aq'na:na ntl7wt tkub' tto:qan tq'ab'a.

'You would have worked if you hadn't broken

your hand.

mawla aq'na:na nti7wt tkub' tto:qan

you would have worked If not you broke

tq' ab '

your hand

Aj a:wt_ tzaj tma7na aj tnerjal.

'You could say the first part.'

aJ a:wt tzaj tma7na aj tne:jal

that could you say that first

Ma:7tzan po:n yi:n qochi wlaj o ma:x qxo:la,

'Let's say that it arrived among us.'

ma:7tzan porn yi 'n

well now it arrived a little

qochiwlajo ma:x qxo:la

let us say that until among us

9) 1. pa

2.

3. This enclitic has two functions:

: '

173

a) Interrogative, used to indicate yes/no

questions.

b) 'even'

A . Examples

a) B'aTnpala jun aq'u:ritl?

Will the work be good?'

b'aTnpala jun aq'u:ntl

good? one work

U:lpa? 'Did he arrive?'

Xja":lpa? 'Is It a person?'

b) Miky Ipa txi7 t-xe :wal Ich' wuYna tuj

' xo:chjo,

'I didn't even perceive the odor of the mouse

In that well.

mlky'lpa txl7 t-xe :wal ich' wu7na

not even It went its odor mouse by me

tuj xorchjo
In it that well

A rlpatzan qa tky'17ya mi:wttzan sati:7na.

'Well, if you don't even want it you

shouln't have brought it.'

arlpatzan qa tky'17ya mirwttzan

well even if you don't want well should not

sati:7na
you brought

10) 1. na

2.

3. Emphatic, affirmative.
4. Examples:
17^

Ba:ya ma:7na, tz'e:tz o:x naq'ati: bye:t te

sye :nt

'Well, now, they did get three bills of a

hundred.

ba:ya ma:7na tz'ertz o:x naq'ati:

good nov/ it did get three those

bye:t te : syernt
bill of 100

I:lxna. 'Yes, it's always necessary.'

Atna. '
Yes , there is.'
Ma kub'na tutz'e:7. 'Yes, he sat down.'

11) 1. :7

2.

3. Emphatic. This lengthens the vowel and adds

glottal stop to a word being emphasized.

4. Examples:

Ma: 7 po:n tzi kyja:

'Now it arrived at the house.'

ma:7 po:n tzi kyJa:

now it arrived its entrance their house

OjJZtzan txi7 maqu:tjal tjaq' tx'otx'.

'Well, now it was buried in the ground.'

o:7tzan txi7 maqu:tjal tjaq'

well now it was buried animal under it

tx'otx'
earth

Baqa ch'i^JZn. 'It's scarcely a little .

'

B'ala ja^ka. 'Maybe yes. '

: s .

175

12) 1. Set A emphatics, preposed

2. Same forms as Set A person prefixes. The w

allomorph of first person singular is always

used.

3. Used on already possessed nouns to emphasize

possession. Person enclitics are deleted, but

the forms are understood as if they were present,

so they only refer to first person exclusive

or second person.

4. Examples

wnja: 'my; house'

ttja: ' your house'

2_qja: 'our house (not yours)'

kylyja :
'
you-all ' house'

13) 1- Set A emphatics, postposed

2. Same forms as Set A person prefixes. The w

allomorph of first person singular is always

used.

3. These are used on nouns and verbs to emphasize

the possessor, the agent, the patient, or subject

They are postposed to the stem immediately before

the person enclitics, which are required.

Therefore again only first person exclusive and

second person can be emphasized in this v^7ay

4. Examples:
176

Noun

nja:wa 'irn/ house'

tja:t_a '
your house'

qjar^a '
our house (not yours)'

kyjarkya '
you-all' house'

Transitive Verb, Agent Emphasis

ma ntze:q'awa '!_ hit it*

ma ttze:q'a;^a ' you hit it'

ma qtze:q'aq^a 'we_ hit it (not you)'

ma kytze :q' akya '

you-all hit it'

Transitive Verb , Patient Emphasis

ma chlnttze ;q' awa 'you hit me '

ma ntze:q'at_a 'I hit you '

ma qottzerq'a^a 'you hit us '

ma chiqtze :q'akya 'we hit you-all '

Intransitive Verb, Subject Emphasis

ma chlnb'e:twa 'I walked'

ma b'e:tt_a ' you walked'

ma qob'eitg^a 'we walked'

ma chib 'e :tkya ' you-all walked'

1^) 1. chaq

2. -chaq 'distributive' (see 2. 4. 3, #73).

3. This has been found so far with interrogatlves

and apparently functions like the distributive.

4. Examples
: : : ' 7 :

177

Ja chaq tzantuma kb'el qe:7 ju:n?

'Where then will each be constructed?'

ja: chaqtzantuma kb'el qe: ju:n

well where each will be constructed one

A:x qo7ya tl chaq tqal aq'u:ntl taj tl chaq

tqal pa:lt?

'We're the same ones who do whatever work

and whatever error.'

a:x qo7ya ti:chaq tqal aq'u:ntl

the same we whatever what work

taj tl:chaq tqal pa: It

It wants whatever what error

15) 1. ta

2.

3. Apparently another emphatic.

4. Examples

Mati:jta nlma:l xaq.

'The rock is very big.

mati:jta nima:l xaq

very big big rock

Atta a7 po:n.

'The water did arrive.'

atta a? po:n
there is water it arrived

Komo tb'a:nalta nima:l axi7n ta7 Liberta:.

'Because there's very good corn in La Libertad.'

komo tb'a:nalta nima:l axi7n ta7

like its goodness that corn it is

Liberta:
La Libertad
178

16) 1 . ch

2. Chi- 'say', intransitive verb.

3. Quotative enclitic. Usually the full verb form

is used, but the enclitic can be substituted,

if the referent is third person singular.

h. Examples:

At jun xaqch. '"There's a rock," he says .

B'aTnch. '"It's good," he says.'

The enclitics can combine. As far as has been

determined, they combine according to the following

order:

:7
. s
179

are half Spanish loans (ij_, pera , ento :ns , pwe : ,

slneke ) . Examples:

Ento :nstzan la nb a j nlma:l tk'alo:n titb'jal,

'

b ix nxl7
' jak'u7njal ento :ns b'17xla to:qjal.
'
Then maybe it started to be tied up all by itself
and it was pulled, and then all at once it broke.'

nb'aj nimarl tk'alorn ti:b'jal

^
it was finishing
-^^
big one tying up itself animal

nxi7 jak'u7njal
^ ^
V
it pulled away animal

b'i7xla
^^ ^
to:qjal

all at once it broke animal

B'a7n chichi tzan xjarl, pera a:xaxta pwaq

'That!s fine said the people then, but what's

important is the money.'

b'
180

2.6.5 COMPLEX SENTENCES

Three of the principal ways In v;hich subordinated

clauses are Indicated are 1) by the use of a verbal

noun phrase, 2) by the substitution of Set A person

markers for Set B person markers -

(2 .2 . 1. 1 , 2.2.1.2),
and 3) by the use of the subordinate aspects {x-}

or {0} (2.2.1). These subordinate constructions are

described here.

2.6.5.1 VERBAL NOUNS

One verb can be subordinated to another by use of

a verbal noun. The independent verb is always an

intransitive verb of motion or the intransitive verb

te_rn- 'be in a place'. The following subordinated verb

is formed by the verbal suffix {-1} (2.^1.2 #55). It
must be followed by a noun phrase indicating patient. The
first noun may be followed by a noun phrase for the

subject; the agent is always deleted in the verbal noun

phrase because it is the same as the subject of the

intransitive verb. Adverbials, if any, accompany either

clause. Other noun phrases headed by relational nouns
can follow the verbal noun. Examples:
Nqu:l b'irnchal tete:.
1 2 3~
'
We came to arrange it .

1 2 3
verb verbal noun patient
' ':

l8l

12
Tne jal ul a:j qo7ya awtorlsa:7ral te
:

3 5
: komite
5

tuj ChnaTjal .

'

13
First we

time
came to authorize the committee
2
subject verb verbal noun
^ 5
patient

in Huehuetenango .

locative

Nchlku? te:n xja :1 bela :ral te : jun we :ch .

1 2 3 ^

'

2
subject verb
13
The people began to watch

verbal noun
the fox.
^
patient
'

12
Nchork te:n ta :1 o :q* al
3
tl7j
4
.

'
The offspring started to cry
2
subject verb
13 verbal noun
about her

topic
5
.

2.6.5.2 SUBORDINATION WITH SET A PERSON MARKERS

When one clause is subordinated to another by

use of Set A person markers, then these markers take the

place of Set B (patient of the transitive verb or

subject of the intransitive verb) in the base sentence.

Some of the conditioning factors which require this

type of subordination are quite clear; others are not

yet well understood.

1) Set A is always substituted for Set B in a clause

introduced by the relational noun -u7n, with the meaning

'in order to; so that'. Examples:

182

Ya: nku7tzan.qxl:7mana ti7j tu7n te:tz ornb'il.

And we were thinking about It so that help would

c ome .
*

ya: nku7tzan qxl:7mana ti7j tu7n

now we were thinking about it so that
te:tz ornb'il
it v/ould arrive help

Ti:tzan tqal mo: da kb'ante:! qu7n tu7n tjaqe:t xaq?

'What are we going to do in order to open the rock?'

tl:tzan tqal mo:da kb'ante:l qu7n tu7n

well what what manner will do by us so that
tjaqe:t xaq
it is opened rock

Nkub' tq'a:q' xja:l tu7n tmeq't twa:7.

'The person was making a fire so that he could
heat his tortillas.'

nkub' tq'a:q' xja:l tu7n

it was going down his fire person so that

tmeq't twa :

be heated his tortilla

2) Set A subordination always occurs with the particles

ok 'when, potential' and aj_ 'when, nonpotential' , and

sometimes with the particle kwanto 'when'. These
particles can be deleted. Examples:
Ok tku7x kyawa7n xja:l kjo7n b'i7x nxi7 che:naq' ti7j

'When the people plant the cornfield at the same

time beans are put in.'

ok tku7x kyawa7n xja:l kjo7n

when they plant down person cornfield

b'i7x nxi7 che:naq' ti7j

all at once it is going bean about it
'

183

tzarlaj xja:l tl7j tpa : aj_ t^kanert prl:mx.

'The person v;as happy about his bag when it was

found soon.

otza:laj xja:l ti7j tpa: aj

he was happy person about It his bag when

tkane:t prirmx
it was found early

Kwanto tkane:t sa:nt te : lYtzal...

'
When the patron saint of Ixtahuac^n was found...'

kwanto tkane:t sa:nt te: i7tzal

when it was found patron saint of Ixtahuacan

Nchi7o:q' t_po:n kytxu:7.

'They were crying when their mother arrived.'

nchi7o:q' tpo:n kytxu:7

they were crying when she arrived their mother

3) Subordination by Set A affixes always occurs after

affect words or affect verbs. Examples:

Palala:n t_iky' nima:l ich'.

'The big rat passed by floating.'

palala:n tiky' nima:l ich'

floating it went by big one rat

Malala:n t-xi7 tze:7 ja71a.

'Now the tree vient swelling. '

malala:n t-xi7 tze:7 ja71a

swelling it went tree nov;

Ch'uq t_e:l t-xa:jb'a.

'Ch'uql he took off his shoes.'

184

ch'uq te:l t-xa:jb'a

ch'.uql it went out his shoe

Xumaja t_e:x b'a:q kyu7n.

'XumI they threw the bones I'

xumaja te:x b'a:q kyuTn

xumI It went out bone by them

4) The particles b'a:ka 'little by little', qlt 'at

times', and j_ 'that' always require Set A subordination.

Examples

Noq git t_ja:tz nima:l a7

'Only at times did the water come out.'

noq qit tja:tz nima:l a?

only at times it went up away big one water

B'ix baqa qit ojla:n.

'And at times we hardly rested.'

b'ix baqa qit qojlarn

and hardly at times we rested

B'a:ka tzan twe? ju:n tajla:l qu7na.

'Little by little we got up the quantity.'

b'arkatzan twe? ju:n tajlarl qu7na

well little by little it stood one quantity by us

B' a:ka t_japan te: v;i:nqan la:j.

'Little by little it rose to thirty.'

b'arka t japan te wl:nqan la:j

:

little by little it rose to it twenty ten

I tja:tz ml:j mange :ra lj_ t_-xi7 tzi kyjarqaj.

'Half the hose has to be taken up so that it goes to

their houses .
185

i: tja:tz mirj mange -.ra i: t-xi7

that it goes up half hose that It goes

tzl kyja:qaj
its entrance those their houses

5) The negative particle naTx 'still not' always requires

Set A subordination. Examples:

NaTx tzan tex qlaq'o7n k'uxb'ila noqtzan.

'We still haven't bought the tool.'

na7xtzan tex qlaq'oTn k'uxb'ila noqtzan

well still not we bought out tool well only

Na7x t^po :n a7

'The water has still not arrived.'

na7x tpo:n a7
still not it arrived water

6) Relative clauses frequently take Set A subordination,

but also are subordinated by the subordinate aspects.

The differences in distribution are not well understood.

Examples:

jun serkya:n t_o:kx lu:7'

'a serpent that is in here'

jun serkya:n to:kx lu:7

one serpent that is in here

B'a7ntzan qxi7 lol tete:.

'It is good that we see it.'

b'a7ntzan qxi7 lol tete:

vjell good that we go to see it

Chep To:ntz t_jax ti:b'aj qja:y7

'Jose Ordonez who is above our house'

186

chep to:nt2; tjax ti:b'aj qja:y7

Jose Ordonez he goes up above it our house

chq'ala:j t_oktz tumal kyja: tl: Lo:xh Lip

the plain vjhere the house of Alonso Felipe is'

chq'alarj toktz tumal kyja: tl:

plain it enters where their house big

lo:xh lip
Alonso Felipe

masa:t kyki :nx xhli:kyj

'the deer that they sav; standing'

masa:t kyki:nx xhli:kyj

deer that they saw standing

7) The particles kyja? 'like this', asta 'up to, until',

and ma:x 'up to, until' sometimes take Set A subordination,

but also occur v/ithout subordination or with the subordi-

nate aspects. The circumstances under which they require

Set A subordination are not clear. Examples:

asta tiky'al ka:nan tzi a?

'until it arrived at the edge of the sea'

asta tiky'al ka:nan tzi a7

until it arrived passing its entrance water

ma:x t_okx ma: ti:b' pwe:nt tuj kyqa?

'it is up there above the bridge at the hot springs'

ma:x tokx ma: ti:b' pwe:nt tuj

until it enters up to above it bridge in it

kyqa?
hot water
187

kyja7 tzan t_te:nx

it's like that'

kyjaTtzan tternx
well like that it is

2.6.5.3 SUBORDINATION WITH SUBORDINATE ASPECTS

Another type of subordination is 'marked by use

of the aspects {x-} 'near past' or {0} 'past' in the

subordinate clause. While it is easy to identify the

subordinate markers and it is clear that subordination is

occurring, the conditioning factors of this type of

subordination are not clear. Almost all factors

present with these aspects can also occur with subordi-

nation by Set A prefixes, or v/ithout subordination.

Set A subordination never occurs at the same time v;ith

these aspects. It should be noted that this type of

subordination only occurs with the near past and past

aspects, so that the same sentences in the progressive

or potential will not be subordinated.

1) The most common use of the subordinate aspects is

in relative clauses. The differences between these

and relative clauses with Set A subordination are not

clear. Examples:

xja:l s_akyi:7n

'the people that they brought'

xja:l sakyl:7n
person that they brought
188

A:tzanjo _etz tl:7nma.

'This is that which he brought'

a:tzanj*o etz ti:7nma

this is that which he brought man

tmarcht _jaw ti:7n

'the machete vjhich he lifted'

tmarcht jaw ti:7n

his machete which he lifted

kab ' sama:n xqote:n ma: elnax

'the two weeks when we vjere there'

kab' sama:n xqotern ma: elnax

two week vihen we are up to west

hoq ch'inne:7 _e:l

'only a little that it opened'

noq ch' inne 7

: e :1
only a little small that it went out

kab' katekyi:sta _i7ok lape:7 qi7ja

'two catechists who followed us'

kab' katekyi:sta i7ok lape:7 qi7ja

two catechists who followed about us

nlm xkypi :k

'it is a lot that they damaged'

nim xkypi:k
a lot that they damaged

2) Interrogative particles sometimes take the subordinate

aspects, although they also take nonsubordlnate

constructions (see 2.6.2.2). Examples:

. a '

189

Ja s_a:ja qchi? tu7na?

'Where did you get our meat?'

ja sa:ja
.'J. qchi? tu7na
where it returned our meat by you

Porke xhib 'antky?

'How did they prepare?'

porke xhib antky

'

how did they make it

3) The negative mitiT or nti? can be followed by these

aspects, but not always (see 2.6.2.1). Example:

Miti7 xhikumpli 7ranq a

: '

'They did not complete it.'

mlti7 xhikumpli :7ranq'

no they completed it young man

4) Other examples:

asta a:xqaq'a xhikyim

'until they themselves died'

asta a:xqaq'a xhikyim

until the same ones they died

Ma:taq nchimb'e:ta s_ok nki:n wi:b'a tu:k' Jun xja:l

'I was walking when I met a person.'

ma:taq nchimb'e:ta sok nki:n wi :b a tu:k' '

I had walked when I saw myself with him

jun xja:l
one person

Kwanto s_o:kl tzlu:7 xku7 kyiyiji7n.

'When he arrived there they took care of him.

190

kwanto so:kl tzlu:? xku7 kylyijiyn

when he went In there they took care of

ikytzan xb'aj tma7na

'like that which you just said'

ikytzan xb'aj tmaYna

well like that you said

Pwe:s s_aj wi:7na.

'Well, I brought it.

pwe:s saj wi:7na

well I brought it

Toms xhe:ltl jaTla.

''Then they went now.'

to:ns xhe.-tlt jajla

well they went again now
3. VERB SEMANTICS

Verbal semantic categories as revealed through

directional use are important to an understanding of

how Mam works. The structure of the verb phrase with

and without directionals was described in section 2.5-1;

what remains to be done is an analysis of how directionals

are used and what is their relation to verb semantics.

Most transitive verbs in Mam almost require

directionals. While theoretically possible to use

these verbs without a directional, the native speaker

much prefers to use one, and even has difficulty

accepting forms without directionals for some verbs.

Therefore in eliciting a finite transitive verb, the

form given almost always Includes a directional. If

the form is requested without a directional, the native

speaker invariably responds with an intransitive

rather than transitive form. With repeated eliciting

it appears that each verb chooses a single preferred

directional for the finite citation form, and that

there is general consensus among speakers as to which

directional should be used for this form. The specific

directional chosen by each verb depends on semantics;

it agrees with the basic meaning of the verb. Other

191
192

dlrectionals may be used with the verb and will

affect the meaning in some way. Not all verbs can

take all dlrectionals; the particular dlrectionals which

can go with any verb are also dictated by verb

semantics.

An example of a verb with each of the twelve simple

dlrectionals and eleven compound dlrectionals follows.

The verb stem is i :7n- 'bring/take'.

ma t2ci^ wi': 7na 'I took it'

ma tzaj wi 7na :
'I brought it'

ma tzul^ v;i :7na 'I brought it here'

ma pon wi 7na : 'I took it there'

ma kub wi :7na 'I lowered it from someone's back'

ma ku7x wi :7na 'I took it down'

ma ku7t wi:7na 'I brought it down'

ma jaw wi :7na 'I lifted it on something'

ma J ax wi 7na
: 'I took it up'

ma jatz wi :7na 'I brought it up'

ma tz'el_ v/i :7na 'I took it away from something'

ma tz 'ex wi :7na 'I took it out

ma tz' etz wi:7na 'I brought it out'

ma tz' ok wi 7na : 'I took it east'

ma tz' okx wi:7na ' I took it inside

ma tz oktz V7i:7na
'
'I brought it inside'

ma kyaj wi :7na 'I detained it'

ma tz'aj_ wi :7na 'I took it on my return'

ma tz' ajtz wi:7na 'I brought it on my return'

193

ma tziky' wl:7na 'I passed by bringing it'

ma tz iky'x wi:7na 'I took it to the left'

ma tz iky tz wi:7na
' 'I brought it from the left'
ma b '
a,1 wi 7na
: 'I took, brought, or remained with
everything'

There are three ways of looking at the problem of

analyzing the semantics of verbs and directionals : 1) an

examination of the semantic extensions of directionals

as they are used with different verbs, 2). an analysis

of the semantic class of each verb through the directional

it takes in the citation form, and 3) an analysis of the

distribution of occurrence of the different directionals

with the different verbs. The analysis which follows is

based on 300 transitive verbs which were elicited with

all possible directionals.

3.1 SEMANTIC EXTENSIONS OF DIRECTIONALS

An examination of each directional as it is used with

different verbs shows that the motion referred to by

the directional can be of various types. It can refer

to the motion made with emphasis on the agent, the

patient, the Instrument, or even some abstract participant.

This depends on the particular verb and the context.

Some directionals also have extended meaning beyond the

basic direction they generally describe.

Xi has the basic meaning of motion away from a

19^

point (generally the speaker) but also is used in the

very general sense of 'go and do something', which of

course derives directly from the related intransitive

verb. In this more general sense x_ indicates incipience

or intent and is one of the mosf neutral directionals

with regard to actually describing direction. It is

one of the most frequently used elements, and can occur

with a number of verbs which do not permit other

directionals. B aj
' , which is the only member of the
class which does not refer specifically to direction, is

almost equally general in occurrence.

El indicates motion toward the west in addition

to motion outward, just as ok indicates motion toward

the east and motion inward. This is related to the

use of the verbs e :1 and o:k for sunset and sunrise

respectively (the exit and entrance of the sun).

AJ_ basically means 'return from here' but also can

indicate motion behind or to the back. Ajtz 'return
from there' is also used for repeated action. If aj_

means starting there and then returning to there, and

the addition of /-tz/ adds the element 'from there

to here', then we have an action that began there, returned

there, and then returned here; that is, it was repeated.

Kyaj in its sense of 'leave here' includes the

notion of completive; something is left behind and for

that the action must be complete. B'aj is another type

X .
195

of completive in that it generally refers to the

performance of the action on everything.

Iky' 'pass to the other side' also indicates

motion from right to left, vfhile iky tz 'pass to this

'

side' indicates motion from left- to right. It can be

assumed from this that the right side, which is considered

the strong side, is also thought of as being closer to

the person, so 'toward' indicates to the right side

while 'away' indicates to the left.

It should be noted here that c&.lling this class of

verbal auxiliaries dlrectionals implies that they are

analytically one semantic class and furthermore that

they have something to do with movement and direction

of movement. Formally the auxiliaries are one class

they are all derived from intransitive verbs, behave

similarly in relation to the verb phrase, and fill the

same position in the verb phrase. It might be argued

that kyaj 'remaining' and b 'aj 'complete' do not

Indicate movement and that the analysis of the

dlrectionals as a class is faulty, but in fact these

two dlrectionals are in accord with the semantic

characteristics of the class. Kyaj 'remaining' can

be viewed as the absence of movement, and b 'aj 'complete'

as the cessation of movement. The fact that they are

formally like other dlrectionals and are identified as

members of the class by Mam speakers adds weight to this

interpretation
196

3.2 CITATION FORM DIRECTIONALS

An analysis of v;hich directional is used by each

verb for the finite citation form reveals categories of

verbs based on the semantic content of associated

movement. Because dlrectionals are stylistically

almost mandatory with transitive verbs, it seems that

movement may be the most important factor in the semantic

organization of verbs in Mam. The discussion which

follows points out some of the groups of verbs of

similar semantic content which agree in their choice of

directional

The dlrectionals which are most frequently used in

the citation form are xl^ 'away', kub 'down', jaw 'up',

el 'out', ok 'in, and b aj'

'complete'. Xi_ and b a j
'

are the most general of the dlrectionals, as noted

previously, and account for over one third of the

citation forms analyzed. The other four frequently

cited dlrectionals account for most of the rest of

the forms. It is interesting to note that these four

dlrectionals correspond to the four cardinal directions

of the ancient Mayans: up, down, east, and west. Mam

apparently classifies its verbs as being either general

or specific with relation to direction of movement, and

then divides the verbs with specific directions according

to the four cardinal directions of the Mayan system..'

There are several dlrectionals which are not

197

listed as the citation form for any of the verbs

analyzed: ul, pon , and iky tz ' . Others have only one

or tv;o examples, such as iky' , iky' x , aj_, aj t z , etz ,

jax , and oktz . The remaining tzaj , kujx, ku7tz , jatz ,

ex , okx, and kyaj have a number of examples each.

Xi 'away' and b 'aj 'complete-' as "the most general

of the directionals are cited for verbs that are not

strongly associated with any direction or for verbs

that are themselves so general as to be equally

associated with nearly all directions. Practically

the only cases in elicitation where choice of a direction-

al for the citation form vias not clearcut was with these

verbs; the native speaker sometimes varied between xl_

and b aj ' . Examples of verbs which are not strongly

associated with any direction are suTyat 'fall in

love', xpuTrat 'bubble', and tza:k'at 'laugh'. -

Examples

of verbs which are associated with all or most directions

are q'i :t 'take/bring', q'o :t 'give', and nuk'e :t

'arrange in order'.

It is suggested here that the prevalence of the

use of xl_ and b a j in the citation forms is due to

'

their functions in indicating incipience or completion

of the action, and that these functions set them

apart from the other directionals. On one level they

function like other directionals; on another level

they are constituents which apply to all verbs without

198

regard to movement. Therefore those verbs which use

xl or b 'aj in the citation form are verbs which are

not strongly associated with a particular directional

which would take precedence over the concepts of

incipience or completion. Because xl_ and b 'aj are

semantically unmarked with regard to direction when

they are used as incipience or completion, they are

easily interchanged, which led to cases of indecision

for the citation form directional. This did not happen

with any other directionals . Xi and b'aj are therefore

base constituents which can be superceded by more

specific directionals.

It is possible to make some general statements about

those verbs which semantically are closely associated

with a particular direction. In many cases a num.ber

of different verbs which express closely related actions

all choose the same directional in the citation form,

thereby underlining the systematic nature of the choices.

The identification of such a subcategory serves to

isolate the semantic factor common to its members which

is, in essence, a distinctive feature of verbal semantic

organization. The categories revealed by each directional

will now be examined.

Tzaj 'toward' is used with verbs that express a

direct action toward the speaker, such as xo :kat 'pull

with a hook', tz'u:lat 'embrace', or sky 'e:rat 'stripe'.

t ' t
199

Tzaj Is al.so used vrlth verbs that produce a resultant

action toward the speaker, such as txakej_t, 'call'

(the person called moves tovmrd the speaker) , jaye :t

'look for' (that found is near the speaker), or slTwat

'gather firewood' (the firewood is brought home).

Kub 'down' and its compounds kuTx and ku7tz

are used with verbs which as is expected indicate action

performed with a downward motion or resulting in

downward motion. Among these are many verbs which

indicate cutting, breaking, or deforming; filling; and

fighting or using violence. Other examples include

yu :pat 'put out fire, light', mu : q at ' 'cover', awa:t

'plant', and pitxe : 'pick fruit'.

Jaw 'up' and its compounds jax and J atz are used

with verbs that Indicate action usually performed with an

upward motion. Included are various verbs for looking

for objects on or under the ground, for pulling up

plants or digging, for cleaning or wiping, and for

carrying babies without a carrying cloth. Other

examples are qa: tat 'belch', sch' i :1 'read', and

pule: 'dip up water'.

El 'out' and the related ex and etz are used with

a large number of verbs which all indicate some form

of stripping or removing the outer covering of an

object. This includes verbs for shelling corn,

shucking corn, defoliating, stripping sugarcane,

undressing, picking bananas or corn from the stalk.

200

stripping bark or wood, peeling bananas or animal hide,

etc. In all oases an outer covering is removed or

moved outward from the object so that the inner core

shows. Other verbs which choose these dlrectlonals are

verbs for stretching, pushing, and grinding, all of

which involve motion outward. Further examples are

ch'exo:l 'lend', k'a:yat 'sell', laq'ett 'buy', ch'u:l

'nurse', and tz'ub'at 'kiss'. In the case of 'buy'

the object moves outward from its source toward the

agent, while with 'sell' the object moves outward from

Its source away from the agent.

~ A large and Interesting class of verbs choose ok

'in' and the related okx and oktz in the citation form

and indicate actions of various sorts performed on

the body. These Include touch, punch or beat someone,

pinch, tickle, cure, bewitch, give the evil eye,

frighten, anoint, blacken the face, dress, console, and

tease. The emphasis is on the object on which the

action Is performed rather than the agent of the action,

and it is Interesting to note that supernatural,

mental, and physical actions are grouped similarly.

Other verbs which choose these dlrectlonals are verbs

for tying up and for burning something. Further

examples are q'ajtze :t 'knock on door', chme : 'gather',
^ame:t 'receive', and naje:t 'occupy a house'.

Verbs which choose kyaj 'remain' in the citation

t x '

201

form have no outstanding semantic similarities. They

are xalb 'e : 'step over something', ju:lat 'burn for

fun', lame :t 'close door', sch'o7pat 'v/hinny', and

qe7e :t 'accept responsibility'. Aj_ 'returning from

here' is only chosen by qlTpat 'loosen', and ajtz

'returning from there' by qi7pat 'repent'. Iky

'passing' and iky ' 'passing to the other side' are

chosen by q 'e71at 'cross over', q eb 'at 'cross over',

'

and yuch 'pe :t 'fell'. The relation of these last to

the semantic content of the verb is clear.

The preceding summary shows clearly that the

semantic content of a verb in Mam dictates the choice

of directional for the finite citation form of the

verb. Those directionals chosen do not interfere with

the basic semantic content; they complement or repeat

it. In that sense they are redundant, but they serve

to illuminate the semantic organization of the verbs.

That organization is one vjhich is obviously peculiar to

Mam and not at all predictable from the point of

view of another language. Categories, once noted and

revealed by the choice of directionals, are coherent.

The broadest categories defined are apparently three:

1) those verbs which are not associated with direction,

2) those verbs which are associated with almost all

directions, and 3) those verbs which are associated

strongly with a particular direction. Most of the

last class are associated with one of the four

202

cardinal directions: up, down, east, and west.

3.3 DIRECTIONAL DISTRIBUTION

The third aspect of analyzing verb semantics

through directional use is to examine the distribution

of the directionals with the different verbs. This

will not be discussed here is detail, but certain

avenues of inquiry can be indicated. A rapid study

of the data shows that certain broad categories can

be isolated by the distribution of the directionals.

There are verbs which combine with almost all directionals;

these are generally verbs of motion, unspecific, and

intrinsically transitive. Other verbs take few direction-

als and seem to be of tvio types; either very specific

verbs of motion or verbs which do not Involve motion and

are not intrinsically transitive. A study of this

is valuable in terms of the grammatical and semantic

conditions of transitivity in Mam. It is also probable

that a careful study can reveal many more subcategories

which in conjunction with categories revealed by the

analysis of the citation form directionals may provide

more information about covert categories of Mam verbs.

4. GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES

This chapter is an overview of some of the major

grammatical categories found in Mam. These categories

depend on organizational principles and themes which are

specific to the language, and crosscut the "levels"

of grammatical analysis. They are therefore discussed

entirely apart from that organization. Material from

various parts of the grammar is here brought together

in order to expose structural principles which are

defined by the language and which are the basis for

expression in the language. The primary reason for

a separate discussion of grammatical categories is

that they are not necessarily obvious in the analysis

which has been presented thus far. Since the expression

of a grammatical category is found scattered in relevant

sections throughout the grammar, both the analysis of

the categories and the presentation of evidence for that

analysis must be made apart from a traditional structuring

of the grammar.

The categories to be discussed below are organized

according to verbal categories, including time, direction,

and transitivity; person relationships, including

person marking, case and location, and body and human

203
20^1

metaphor; description; and emphasis.

4.1 VERBAL CATEGORIES

ij.1.1 TIME

Time is Indicated in various ways , among them by

the aspects (2.2.1), mode suffixes (2.2.1), temporal

particles (2.2.5-6), some other particles (2.2.5), and

by derived adverbials (2.4.5). Of these only the

particles and adverbials directly specify time, but all

have something to do with time in addition to other

functions

Elements which indicate time (sometimes in addition

to other functions) are:

Aspects :

o 'past'

0- 'past subordinate'

ma 'near past'

X- 'near past subordinate'

n- 'progressive'

ok 'potential'

Mode :

-a7, -1 'potential'

Temporals :

J a? la 'now'

a:txax 'a long time ago'

205

ojtxa
206

'In three weeks'

'in. .a year'

'in two years'

'in three years'

'day before yesterday'

'three days ago'

'a week ago'

'two weeks ago'

'three weeks ago'

'a year ago'

'two years ago'

'three years ago'

'when (nonpotential)

'when (potential)

Because either mode or aspect is obligatory in any

transitive or intransitive sentence (2.6.1), it is

postulated that time is a basic sentence constituent.

Linking sentences do not have m.ode or aspect, but time

nevertheless is a constituent in these sentences

Without further marking, a linking sentence refers

to the indefinite present, for example:

At jun wo :7

'There is a toad.'

The addition of an adverbial phrase may clarify the time

involved, for example:

'

207

At jun wo :7 ojtxa.

'There was a toad before.'

Or, the linking sentence takes its time from the context

of sentences which go before or after (or the entire

narrative context), for example:'

At jun xja:l jun el xi?. 'There was a person who went.'

at jun xja:l jun el xi7

L ^ . ^
^ )

t'here is a person one tine went

In this case the time of at 'there is' in the first

clause is determined by j un el 'one time' and aspect

(past subordinate) in the second clause.

The indefinite present which is the unmarked time

of a linking sentence is also the unmarked time in a

verbal sentence with n- aspect (progressive). Exam.ple :

npo:n a7 'the water is arriving there'

npo:n a7
is arriving there water

As with linking sentences, sentences with n- aspect are

further clarified by the addition of adverbials or

by context. Examples:

ya: npo:n a7 'the water was arriving there'

ya: npo:n a7
now is arriving there water

A:tzan ok nb'i7na kuxi7 nja:w nima:l.

'According to what I heard, every little while it

^
broke.
?08

a:tzan ok nb'i7na
^
^
,
'
^
^
this is what I heard

kuxl7 nJ a : v/ nima:l

every little v;hlle It Is going up big one

In this example time in the last clause is governed by

aspect (past subordinate) in the second clause.

A reviev; of the time indicators helps analyze the

system:

Time Aspects Mode Particles

past o, 0- artxaxj ojtxa, e :w

near past ma, x k itxqe

' : , ma :ky
ya:
present n- ja71a

future ok a7, -1 nchi7j

Time Subordinates Negatives Adverbs Others

past "^ time in past

near past aj > nti7

present unmarked
linkers
future ok ml:7n time in future

Other temporals can be used in any time to add specificity

Looking at mode, the subordinators , and the negatives,

a principal division can be made between future and

nonfuture. Nonfuture time is further divided into

past, near past, and present (the unmarked category).

Time

Future Npnfuture

past near past present

' : j

209

Note that the imperative mode is outside the time system.

Thus although time is not specifically marked,

it is present in various ways in all sentences, and

therefore must be considered a basic constituent.

4.1.2 DIRECTION

Direction of movement is indicated by the directional

verbal auxiliaries (2. 5-1; 3), by locative particles

(2.2.5-5) J and by the derived adverbials formed with

- nax (2.4.5 #82). Enough has been said about the verbal

directlonals in Chapter 3 to show how powerful they are.

The directlonals either operate In the verb phrase, as

has been described, or can operate in adverbial phrases

through addition of the suffix - nax . Examples

Ktzarjal a? wu7na ma:x jawnax .

'I will bring the water u there.'

ktzatjal a? v;u7na ma:x jawnax

will bring water by me up to there up

Ikytzan te:nj qe:y7 ma: elnax.

'Like that we are there to the west .

ikytzan te:nj qe:y7 ma: elnax

like that it is us up* to there west

Direction of movement is also indicated by the

locative particles chl :7w 'there', tzlu:7 'here', j la

'on the other side', lu :7 'it's here', ma:x 'up to,

over there', and asta 'up to'. The only Spanish

borrowing among these is asta 'up to', which Is also

210

used in the temporal sense of 'until'. The importance

of the directionals and the other ways in which direction

of movement can be expressed make this a significant

grammatical category in Mam. Location of objects is a

separate category which x-Till be discussed in 4.2.2.

i|.1.3 TRANSITIVITY

The often frustrating behavior of transitive verbs

suggests that there is more to transitivity in Mam than

is immediately obvious. It is clear that the division

of verbs into transitive and intransitive is maintained

at all levels, from roots (2.3-l)5 to stems (2 . ^i . 1) ,

to words (2.2.1), to the phrase (2.5-1), and finally

the sentence (2.6.1.2; 2.6.1.3). Transitive verbs,

however, are almost never used without directionals.

Eliciting a simple transitive verb is very difficult,

and it is usually not acceptable to use one in a sentence,

The insistence on directionals with transitive verbs

is useful in making a semantic analysis of the verbs,

and it has been suggested (3-3) that there are "degrees"

of transitivity which can be analyzed through directional

use.

The only verbs which have been found in texts as

simple transitives are:

aj- 'want'

il- 'see'

ky'lT- 'not want'

': tt j

211

While there are other transitive verbs that can occur

without directionals (although not many), they rarely do.

There are also a number of transitive roots or

stems which only occur as derived intransitives with -n

(#32) or passives with - e:t (#37). Examples:

kan e : 'be found'

a:nq'an 'live'

ajb'ia:nan 'use'

jurkan 'burn'

j uk e : 'be played (on the marimba)'

Almost all transitives which occur with directionals

can also occur as intransitives with -n or passives

with -e: t . These forms usually do not have directionals,

although they can. It is curious that the intransitive

forms with -n can always express a patient or agent, or

both. The patient or agent can be indicated by a noun

phrase following the verb, but only if there is no

confusion as to reference (since the verb only marks

one person) . To clarify person reference relational

noun phrases are used to indicate the agent or patient.

- u7n is used for the agent; -ej_ or - 17 for the patient.

Examples

nchik'arn a7 'They are drinking water.'

they are drinking water

patient
(noun)
212

nchiyoilan xja:l 'The people are talking.'

they are talking person

agent
(noun)

ma chitzyu:n xl:naq che:J 'The men caught the horses.'

they caught man horse

agent patient
(noun) (noun)

ky'ixk'aj q'i:n kyu7n swe7j 'It was damaged

by the man.
it is damaged it gets by them man
agent
(relational
noun phrase)

ma:7 chlnimom te: 'Now they pushed it.'

now they pushed it

patient
(relational
noun phrase)

ky'aq chichorn qi7j 'The fleas eat us.'

flea they eat us

agent patient
(noun) (relational
noun phrase)

The fact that intransitivized transitive verbs can

still have both an agent and patient would suggest that

the underlying transitive nature of the root or stem

still predominates in the derived form. Verbs which

have intransitive roots can also be used transitively

merely by adding a relational noun phrase for the agent

or patient. Examples:

o kub ' 'It went down.'

twi:xh o kub' te : ich' 'His cat killed mice,'

his cat it V7ent down at it mouse

agent patient
) j

213

ktza:jal a7 'The water will come.'

ktzarjal a? wu7na 'I will bring water.'

it will come water by me

subject agent

no:k 'It is coming in.'

no:k ju:n tne:jal chemb'll qu7na 'We had the

it is coming in one first meeting by us first
subject agent meeting.'

Transitivity, then, seems to depend more on the

person constituents than on the form of the verb. It

also depends on verb semantics, as the study of direction-

al use suggests. Directionals are almost mandatory

with transitive verbs, and many transitive verbs occur

with many of the possible directionals. Others, however,

occur with very few directionals. Some of these are

very specific verbs of motion and therefore obliged

to occur with certain directionals. Others, however,

apparently do not occur with many directionals because

they are not semantically transitive (although formally

they are) and therefore do not have the flexibility with

regard to movement that other transitives have, or do

not occur transitively very often. Examples:

wa:j- 'laugh' (only occurs with xi_ 'away', ok_

' in '
, and okx ' in away '

xo:- 'obey' (only occurs with xl_ 'away', ^x

'out away', ok 'in', and b a ' 'complete')

qi7p- 'repent' (only occurs with x_ 'incipient'

and b 'aj 'complete')

21H

q'aq- 'withstand pain' (only occurs with xi

'incipient', kub' 'down', and b:_aj_ 'complete')
Those transitive roots and stems which
never occur
transitively are unable to do so because
semantically
they do not belong to the class..

There seem, then, to be verbs which are

intransitive,
but may at times be used with both agent
and patient,
which always involves a change in the
semantics. There
are also verbs which are transitive and
can maintain
their semantic transitivity even when made
intransitive
by derivation they need only occur
with agent and
patient to assert that transitivity. Finally, there
are verbs which although formally
transitive are not
semantically transitive and are either never
used
transitively, or are sometimes used transitively,
but
only with a very limited set of directlonals
. The
semantic organization of transitivity
thus does not
parallel the grammatical organization,
although there
Is considerable overlap between
the two.

4.2 PERSON RELATIONSHIPS

4.2,1 PERSON MARKING

As has been shown in 2.2.1, Mam

person prefixes,
both Set A and Set B, mark presence
and absence of
first person singular and plural,
while the person
215

enclitics mark presence and absence of second person

singular and plural, and third person is the unmarked

category. Set A is used for the agent of transitive

verbs, the possessor of nouns, and also replaces Set B

in certain subordinate constructions (2.6.5.2).

Set B, on the other hand, is used for the patient of

transitive verbs, the subject of intransitive verbs, and

the subject of pronouns (2.2.2.5). Thus the two

sets are in complementary distribution. The prefixes

used in combination with the person enclitics yield

seven distinct persons: first, second, and third

singular; first plural exclusive and inclusive; and

second and third plural.

There is additional evidence that the differential

marking of the first, second, and third persons is

of importance in the grammatical organization of

person relationships. Although seven person are dis-

tinguished, the components are not equally marked.

First person is marked strongly by prefixes, second

person more weakly by enclitics, and third person is

unmarked. Only in combination does the complete system

emerge. Furthermore, there are situations in which the

complete system does not operate. Emphasis by

preposing or postposing Set A person markers (2.6.3)

is only possible for four of the seven persons:

first and second singular, first plural exclusive.

?16

and second plural. This is because in the case of

preposed Set A emphatics the person enclitics are

dropped but understood as if present, while with

the postposed emphatics the person enclitics are

obligatory. Therefore marking of both first and second

persons is obligatory with the emphatics and only four

persons are distinguished. Example: ( j a 'house')

Preposed Postposed Gloss

WR-ja: nja:wa 'my^ house'

ttja: tjarta '

your house'

qqja: qja:qa ' our house'

kykyja: kyja:kya ' you-all's house'

Furthermore, as was seen in 2.2.1.1, complete agent

and patient incorporation in transitive verbs Is impossible

because of the limitation imposed by having only

one enclitic to refer to person, while two different

prefixes indicate person. Therefore if the agent Is

first person exclusive (requiring an enclitic) and the

patient is non-first person, it is unclear whether the

patient Is second person (requiring an enclitic) or

third person (no enclitic). Also, those verbs which

do not have enclitics cannot have patients that do have

enclitics, because the enclitic refers primarily to

the agent, and only secondarily to the patient.

As a consequence, first person Involvement is

always clear in all constructions, second person

Involvement is less clear (for example. In transitive

217

verbs) , and third person involvement may not be

Indicated at all (for example, in emphatic person

marking) . Therefore the analysis suggested by the

structure of person marking has consequence in the

actual grammatical organization of person relationships.

Not all persons can be used in all constructions.

Brief mention should be made of number. Number

is an inseparable obligatory element in the person

system, and is a basic sentence constituent. Although

nouns are not obligatorily marked for number (they may

take the optional plural enclitic ^) , the verb or

pronoun is obligatorily marked for number. All sentences

contain either a verb phrase or a pronoun phrase

referring to the main actors, so number is present.

Other actors are indicated by relational noun phrases,

which are always possessed and therefore also contain

number. It is interesting to note that the plural

enclitic 3a. is obligatory in one construction the

non-first person plural of the independent pronoun

(2.2.2.5), which is otherwise indistinguishable from

the singular. Therefore in the only place where number

marking by prefixes breaks down, the usually optional

plural enclitic becomes obligatory.

^.2.2 CASE AND LOCATION

The subject of an intransitive verb and the agent

218

and patient of a transitive verb in simple sentences

are noun phrases headed by the noun which is the

subject, agent, or patient. All other case relationships

and most locative relationships (only excepting those

which are indicated by locative particles) are indicated

by noun phrases headed by a relational noun (2.2.2.1).

In derived sentences the subject, agent, or patient

may also be indicated by a noun phrase headed by a

relational noun. To review, the relational nouns and

their functions are:

Location : t.witz on'

t-^xe :1

t-^xo : 1

t . txlaj

t.i:b'(aj)

t . j aq

t-xe

t.uj

t.wi?

t .txa7n

t.b'utx'

t.tzl:7

t.lTj.la

Case : t.i7j

t.u:k' (al)

t.u7n
)

219

t.e: 'dative, possessive,

benef active, patient'

t.i:b'(aj) 'reflexive'

The main difference between case and location Is

that case indicates relationships between the actors

in a sentence and location indicates relationships

between the actors and places. Since Mam makes no formal

structural distinction between the two types of grammatical

relationships, they analytically belong to the same

category. Note that one of the relational nouns,

t . 1 :b ' (aj J is used to express both locative and case

relationships, while another, t . 17j > is only modified

slightly to fit into both categories. The only differences

are that the locative relational nouns are somewhat

more concrete in reference many of them are related

to common nouns (usually referring to body parts),

while only one of the case relationals ( t .u:k'al ) is

related to a common noun. Furthermore, the category of

location is also indicated by a small group of locative

particles (2.2.5-2). These also serve as indicators

of direction of movement, however, and this dual

function is an expression of the connection between

direction and location.

The elaboration of the case/locative system makes

it an important category. It is also crucial to an

understanding of the system to note that all words

which express relationships of this type are always

220

possessed nouns , not particles or function words or

anything else. The relationships between actor or

between actors and places are basically possessive

relationships

The Importance of the case/locative system is

underscored by the possibility of deriving nouns

which indicate actors in at least four of these

relationships: agent, patient, instrument, and

resultant locative (2.4.2 #50, 51, 52, 53). Thus from

the verb aq na -
' 'work' can be derived:

aq'na:l 'worker' (agent)

aq'ne:nj 'that which is worked' (patient)

aq'nab'il 'tool' (Instrument)

aq'anb'e:n 'place where work has been done' (loca-

tive)

4.2.3 BODY AND HUMAN METAPHOR

Mam is a language which not only permits meta-

phorical or semantic extensions of human body parts and

attributes to refer to nonhumans ; it positively delights

in it. Thus many of the relational nouns (2.2.2.1)

which indicate grammatical relatiohships are always

possessed forms of common nouns referring to body

parts. Examples:

t witz 'on' witz .b aj

' 'face'

t.wlT. 'above' wlj.b'aj 'head'

. X
j
: ' . j:: . j

221

t txa7n 'at the edge' txaTm .b 'aj 'nose'

t tzi :7 'at the entrance' tz1 . fa '

aj 'mouth'

Also, several of the nouns from class S3 (2.3.3.5)

which are normally possessed by humans have closely

related pairs which are always possessed or comjnon

nouns and show semantic extensions to nonhumans

Examples

b aq b 'testicle' t b 'aq' 'its seed'

' . '
aj

kya: .b ' aj 'moler' kya: 'grinding stone'

ma:m .b ' aj 'father' t.ma_m 'male animal'

mi b 'waist' t mi 'its middle'

:
. '
aj :

mi :
j 'half
mu b 'navel' mu:x 'very small tortilla'
: . '
aj

This process can work in reverse, where a common noun

refers to a general object, and an always possessed noun

formed from it refers to a human attribute. Examples:

i :yaj 'seed' t iyaj .1:1 'his ancestors'

ab q i ' ' : 'year' t. ab'q'i: .yil 'his age'

b'e 'road' t b'e .yal 'his part (hair)'

Another area of extension is with the words

txu:b aj
' 'mother', ya:b 'aj 'grandmother', and ma mb a : '

'father'. These family relationships are extended to

refer to several important natural phenomena. In these

cases they are always possessed by first person plural

Inclusive; that is, they are things which occur in the

form which indicates possession by all of us (the entire

222

community). Examples:

qya:7 (xja:w) 'our grandmother the moon'

qma:n (q'i:j) 'our father the sun'

qma:n (q'ankyoiq) 'our father lightning'

qtxu:7 (axl7n) 'our mother corn'

qtxu:7 (a7) 'our mother water'

qtxu:7 (jb'a:l) 'our mother rain'

qtxu:7 (q'e7n) 'our mother liquor'

Qtxu:7 'our mother' also refers to measles. The explana-

tion given for this is that since qtxu:7 refers to corn,

and measles is regarded as a punishment to children for

mishandling corn, therefore the disease is also called

qtxu :7 .
'

Many lexical items are referred to by complex

noun phrases of the possessed noun plus noun type (see

2.5.2.1 for noun phrase formation). Frequently these

phrases involve body parts and the metaphorical

extensions thus produced are fascinating and very

productive. Examples:

tq'ab' tze:7 'branch' (hand of a tree)

twltz tx'otx' 'world' (face of the land)

twitz a7 'river' (face of water)

tq'ab' a7 'river' (hand of water)

tb'aq' witzb'aj 'eye' (seed of the face)

tq'ab' che7w 'frost, dew' (hand of cold)

tpa:s qamb aj' 'toenail' (hat of the foot)

223

tpa:s q'ab'aj 'fingernail' (hat of the hand)

tqan q'a:q' 'flame' (foot of fire)

tqan J a: 'pillar' (foot of the house)

tq'ab' kamixhj 'shirt sleeve' (hand of the shirt)

tq'ab' xaq 'canyon' (hand of rock)

twitz tqan 'height' (face of its foot)

As can be seen in the above examples and processes

for extending meaning of nouns with a human referent,

such extension is a rich source for metaphor and lexical

formation in Mam.

^4.3 DESCRIPTION

Mam has quite a variety of ways for describing

actions and objects, some of them rather unusual.

Adjectives, of course, describe nouns, and are not at

all unusual. In addition positional roots, affect

words, affect verbs, and measure words all have

descriptive properties.

Positional roots (2.3-2) describe the position,

form, or state of an object, and imply absence of

movement. Their most interesting characteristic is

that they are the only root class which is not matched

by a stem or word class; they must be derived into

verbs or adjectives before they are words. They have

distinctive derivation and semantic properties. The

positional adjectives derived by -1 (#70) describes an

224

object which has the position, form, or state referred

to by the, positional root. The intransitive verb

derived by -e : (#35) from positional roots refers to

something becoming like the position, form, or state

described by the positional root. The transitive verb

derived by - b 'a (#4) from positional roots means that

an object is put or left in the position, form, or

state described by the positional root, and the

transitive verb derived by -j_ (#5) from positional

roots means do the action such that the position, form,

or state described by the root will result. A number

of examples of positional adjectives follow to give an

Idea of the breadth of the descriptive power of the root

class . The examples selected are all those in the

corpus beginning with /b'/. Examples:

b ' aql 'wilted'

b'at'l 'a bunch of light things'

b'ejl 'small pots, babies, or puppies (short

fat things) when sitting'

b'eql 'a bag or net just lying there'

b'esl 'something which has increased (e.g., some-

thing which is cooking and has boiled up)

b'ewl 'a puppy just lying there'

b'iq'l 'a grain just lying there'

b'irl 'having open eyes'

b'oq'l 'rope or twine with very coarse fibers'

'

225

b'orl 'small people with big stomachs'

b'otz'l 'wrapped up'

b'owl 'swollen part of the body, or a ball of

something
b'unl 'rested animals'

b'u71 'piled up'

The positional roots are quite specific in their

description. Equally specific are affect words (2.2.4,

3.3.5), which describe sounds, actions, or movements. The

class of affect words is rather large and frequently

used. A number of examples, this time all beginning

with /tz/, follows to illustrate the variety and specifi-

city of the affect words. Examples:

tzak' 'action of putting something like peanuts

or toasted com in the mouth'

tzej 'the action of doubling up the body'

tzeky' 'the sound of a pebble hitting the floor,

or a stick on a gourd, etc'

tzeq' 'the action or sound of hitting someone'

tziq' 'the action of a horse kicking or of shelling

corn with a stick'

tzlirr 'the sound of only d little bit of water

falling'

tzoj tzoj 'the sound of coughing'

tzoj 'the moment of lifting something'

tzokkk 'the sound of dry leaves'

226

tzub' 'the action of spitting'

tzuk' 'the sound of eating toasted tortillas or

other toasted foods'

Affect verbs (2.2.1.2) are derived ultimately
from positional and affect roots, (and some
unidentified
roots) and have a wide range of specific
meanings just
as do the positionals and affect roots.
They function as
verbs with the addition of adverbial descriptive
qualities
and are therefore a distinctive subclass of
intransitive
verbs. They also have distinctive syntactic properties

(2.6.5.2). That such a class of verbs with combined

verbal/adverbial functions exists in Mam is of itself

interesting, and the particular actions which the

verbs
describe add considerable descriptive power
to the
language. Examples:

tz'linkiki:n 'walk around naked'

t'ilili:n 'go walking quickly'

leqeqe.-n 'go walking crouched down'

kyexexe:n 'go hopping'

jowowo:n 'go pulling and scraping'

Measure words (2.2.2.2) describe quantities. They

also are quite specific in reference, so that
almost
anything which can be measured has its own measure

word to describe the type of measure used,

the type
of container, and the thing measured.
Examples:
k'laj 'measure of firewood'
to71 'bundle of long skinny things'
227

tzma:7 ' gourdf ul (of liquid)'

qe7n 'container of tortillas'

laq 'plateful'

ma71 'shot of liquor'

txqan 'a lot (of anything)'

txut 'drop'

pixh 'piece (of anything)'

che71 'bundle of long skinny things'

pula7 'bottle gourd full of water'

xhi:7na ' gourdf ul of any drink'

chi71 'basketful (of anything)'

Mam seems to be extraordinarily rich in the ways

it can describe specific and detailed types of things and

actions. The preceding examples illustrate the major

ways in which such description works.

4.i| EMPHASIS

There is a sufficiently large number of ways in

which various parts of the Mam sentence can be

emphasized that it seems worthwhile to briefly review

the types of emphatics at once. All of them serve to

affirm part of the sentence and have no other apparent

semantic content. Most of the emphatics are enclitics

:7 (enclitic #11) Emphasizes or stresses the separable

aspects, adjectives, and particles. Example:

228

ma porn 'it arrived'

ma: 7 po:n '

now it arrived'

na (enclitic #10) Means 'yes' at the sentence level.

Example

ilx 'it's necessary'

llxna '
yes , it's necessary'

Set A preposed emphatics (enclitic #12) Affirms

noun
possession. Example:

njarya 'my house'

wnja: 'm^. house'

Set A postposed emphatics (enclitic #13) Affirms

person
involvement. Example:
ma chib'erta 'you-all walked'
ma chib'e:tk^a '
you-all walked'

ta (enclitic #15) Emphatic at the sentence

level (?).
Example

at a7 po:n 'water arrived'

atta a7 po:n 'water did arrive'

-maj_ (suffix #75) Emphasizes participles. Example:

aq'na7n 'worked'

aq'na7n maj ' worked '

In addition, any word can receive paralinguistic

emphasis, which usually involves lengthening a

long
vowel, exagerrating the pitch drop of a long
vowel
229

followed by glottal stop, and increasing vocal fry.

There may also be an initial rise in vowel pitch,

followed by a drop.

Stylistic and syntactic emphasis is too complex

to describe at this point, but one of the main ways in

which it is accomplished is through reordering of the

sentence constituents to place emphasized constituents

before the verb. The use and placement of sentence

enclitics, especially the conjoining enclitics, may have

something to do with stylistic emphasis, as would

repitltion, re-explanation, and similar devices.

^.5 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

The preceding discussion has hopefully illuminated

some of the gramjnatical categories which were found to

be of significance while undertaking an analysis of the

grammar of Mam. After prolonged contact with the language

it became apparent that these categories were central

to an understanding of how the language works; indeed,

much of the analysis of the language itself was possible

only after the grammatical categories had become

somewhat clearer to the investigator. It seemed

unlikely that a grammatical analysis such as that

presented in the first two chapters would lead others

to a similar understanding of the underlying grammatical

categories in the language, so they have been presented

230

in a separate chapter.

Many of the categories are not unique to Mam or

even to Mayan language; many may well be universal

categories. The particular details of how the cate-

gories are expressed and used are, however, language

specific. It is hoped that the preceding discussion

can be of benefit to an understanding of the genius

of one particular language, and also of value to

those who are interested in universal linguistic

principles.

The major impetus in the consideration and discovery

of grammatical categories was provided by the concept of

the linguistic postulate, as proposed by M.J. Hardman.

Linguistic postulates have been defined by Hardman as:

. those recurrent categorizations in the language

. .

which are most directly and most tightly tied to

the perceptions of the speakers, those elements
which, while language imposed, are so well imposed
that speakers consider them just naturally part of
the universe The most powerful postulates are
. . .

those involved in the obligatory grammatical

system ... Typically, a postulate is realized
at several levels either simultaneously, in
complementary distribution, or both, depending
on the context they tend to remain after
. . .

divergence. (Hardman, in press)

A constant awareness of the existence of linguistic

postulates led directly to the discovery of the

grammatical categories described here. The linguistic

postulate involves two very important parts: first,

that there are categorizations in the language which

are realized at several levels, and second, that these

231

categorizations are tied to perceptions of the speakers

and are therefore correlated to cultural behavior.

Therefore the discovery of the linguistic postulates of

the language involves first the discovery of the

grammatical categories and then the correlation of these

with other behavior. While not necessarily linguistic

postulates themselves, the grammatical categories described

in this chapter are at least evidence for the existence

of linguistic postulates and suggest directions of

research for the analysis of linguistic postulates.

In order to actually discover the linguistic

postulates of Mam the researchers must become nearly

as familiar with the cultural and social organization

as they are with the linguistic organization, and then

must synthesize the two. Excellent ethnographic data

or extensive experience living in the area where the

language is spoken, or preferrably both, are necessary.

One of the fruitful places to look for cultural

correlates to the linguistic categories in the Mayan

area is in the sphere of ritual. An illustration from

the analysis of grammatical categories of Mam will

help clarify the dimensions of the problem and the avenues

of inquiry to explore it. The illustration presented

here involves the unity of person and place within the

grammatical system.

Humanity and location are linked structurally on

various levels of the grammar. Throughout the grammar

232

and especially in the discussion of grammatical

categories it is clear that case (person relationships)

and location (relationships between person and place)

'

are united in the grammatical substructure of Mam.

Noun Inflection :

Most locative relationships and all case relation-

ships are expressed principally by phrases headed by

relational nouns. These are always possessed nouns in

which the possessor refers to the place or person being

related. Therefore inf lectionally case and location are

handled similarly, and both are expressed as possessive

relationships

Verb to Noun Derivation :

There are derivational suffixes which derive

certain actors (agent, patient, and instrument) from

verbs and one suffix which derives a resultant locative

from verbs. Furthermore, the suffix which derives the

Instrumental (#52) in fact expresses a locative with

certain verbs, depending on the semantics. Thus while

its most common function is to derive the instrument,

it also derives locatives with no other changes. The

locative and case relationships are therefore handled

similarly in derivational processes, and actually overlap

to some extent.

Pronoun Structure :

Pronoun sets have one form for locative or existential

233

relationships and another for independent. Identifier,

copulative, or equative relationships. What is interesting

here is that location enters into the pronoun relation-

ships, and in fact is treated exactly the same as

existence. Again location is not distinct from other

person relationships.

Metaphor:

Finally, human metaphor is a rich and productive area

for lexical and semantic extension, and many of these

extensions refer to places and parts of objects with

terms that are human in origin. Human body parts

especially figure in such metaphor. This linking of

humanity and location in so much of the grammatical

structure suggests that place is but another actor in

the Mam system, on the same level as actors such as

the agent, the Instrument, or the patient. The next

obvious step in an analysis of person/location unity

as a linguistic postulate is to look for cultural

correlates.

Ritual behavior should presumably reflect the system.

Probably the most fascinating source for ritual in the

Mam area is Maude Oakes' The Two Crosses of Todos Santos

(1951b), and a study of the data presented there

certainly supports the hypothesis that location is

closely tied up with other actors in ritual expression.

Of particular interest is the place of the hills and

23^

mountains in ritual. The mountains are places of

worship, in Todos Santos they represent the most important

days of the Mam calendar, and are the homes of the

gods (Oakes, 1951b: 71). These gods are known as the

"masters of the hills" and although Oakes identifies

them as residing in the hills, it might be somewhat

more accurate to identify the gods as being the hills,

or equal to the hills. This would fit better with the

lack of separation in Mam between location and other

actors and the extension of human attributes to places

and objects. Thus some of the most Important ritual

personnel are identified with places. In addition,

although Oakes never concentrates on location as such,

it is apparent that location enters into the ritual

she describes in such things as the placing of objects

and people during ceremonies, the ordering of people and

actions, and the equation of places and objects (such as

the shaman-priest's table, the hills, and so on) with

other ritual participants.

Ritual is but one area where correlates to linguistic

postulates can be found, and the preceding example shows

how some of the grammatical categories described here

can be correlated with such behavior to establish the

existence and the ramifications of such postulates.

Obviously much study remains to be done in this area,

but it is clearly one of the most fruitful areas of

,

235

research In language and culture. It is not, however

easy to do, and depends on excellent linguistic and

ethnographic analysis and the time and experience with

the language and culture to be able to synthesize them.

It is hoped that this grammar will provide some of the

necessary linguistic analysis to form the basis for

studies of this type.

APPENDIX: TEXT

The story presented here was told by Maria

Maldonado, an extremely gifted storyteller. Juan

Maldonado transcribed the story and translated it into

Spanish, and the author analyzed it and translated it

into English. The text, broken down into morpheme

segments, and a literal interlinear tranlation are

presented first; a free translation follows. Sentences

are numbered for ease in reference between the

translations.

1) T.17J Me:b'a
About it Orphan

2) A.t jun kwe:nt x.el n. q' am. a.7n. a ja71a

There is one story I will tell away now
ju-n t.yo:l n.ya:7.ya ku7 t.q'am.a.7n
f;'^
there is one her word my grandmother she told down
t.uk'a.x n.txur.ya. 3) Ke: noq qit
with her my mother. That only at tim.es
q.ok xub' .tza.7n.a ojtxa pwes mi 7n
: ke: kyja7.tzan
it scared us in before well no that well like this
tern b'aj ky.i7j t.ku7.1e:n kwanda
it is finish about them its place to go down when
ojtxa t.71tz'.j t.wltz mu:nt. k) Kye a.t
before it is born its face world. That there is
jun me:b'a n.xi7 pasya:7r.al t.uj t.zl:7
one orphan he was going to spend time in it its mouth

236
237

ma:r. 5) Entorns n.xi? t.kl.7n a.t jun tal

sea. Then he was seeing there Is one small
alemaj per masa:t 't.b'l: t.a7 t.uj xja:w.
animal but deer Its name It is in it moon.

6) Ento:ns despwe:s n.ku7 t .pensai7r' a.n. t.i7j

Then after he was thinking down about it
ento:ns n.xi7.tzan n.xi7 u:b!.a.l
then well he was going he was going to kill

t.et.e: tal masart t.uj xja:w. 7) Kabarl

it small deer in it moon. Exactly
karmb'r.a.n me:b'a n.ku7.tz t.u:b'.a.n t.u7n
he won orphan he was killing down toward by its

jun ajla:j chi.tzan q'urn.j kyja7.w

one reed well they say it is said like this
aj tz'itab' t.b'i: chi.tzan kyja7.w.
this catapult its name well says like this.

8) Entorns txuk xi7 masa:t t.uj ma:r

::\_ Then directly it went deer in it sea

ento:ns n.chi.tza:j kab'.a k'Q7xh aj

then they were coming two buzzard this
ma:yan ky.b'i: kyaq t.7ij ky.wi7.
.buzzard with red head their name red on it their heads

9) Aj a:.qa.ya ami: wo b'a7n.wt

This you-all friend would it not be good
ky.o:k.ky.a t.e: w.amirw.ya? 10) Nla:y
you-all enter of it my friend? Is it not possible

ch.ork.a t.e: n.ma:jan.a? 11) Nla:y

you-all enter of it my worker? Is it not possible

tzaj ky.i:.7n.a ju:n n.katmb'.a ma.:7 t.xi7

you-all bring here one my prize just now it went

t.uj a7? 12) Pera nla:y.x tz.iky'.tz

in it water? But it is not possible it passes here

w.w.u7n. 13) Nn.ok tern me:b'a o:q*'ia.l t.i7j.

by me. He was in orphan to cry about it.

1^) Ml:7n b aj
' t.k'u7j.a me:b'a pwes jaka
No finish your stomach orphan well yes
238

tzaj q.i:.7n.a chi.chl.tzan ky.e: ma:yan

we bring it here well they said of them red-headed buzzard

kyjaT.w aj .qa maryan k'o7xh.

like this these red-headed buzzard buzzard.

15) Ento:ns put.tzan ky.kub' ma:yan

Then well splat they went down red-headed buzzard

t.uj t ib aj
. ' ma:r q'ir.l t.ka:mb' me:b'a
in it on it sea to bring his prize orphan

16) Jow.owo.rn t.iky'.tz jow.ov;o.:n

Pulling and scraping passed it here pulling and scrap-

t.iky'.tz asta t.iky'.al ka:n.a.n

Ing passed it here until it v;ill find passing by

t.zi a?. 17) Ento:ns n.tzaj.tzan t i 7n . : .

its mouth water. Then well he was bringing it here

o tza:laj merb'a. I8) Je7y.tzan me:b'a

now he was content orphan. V/ellgood orphan

ma.: 7 tz.u:l t.ka:mb'.a yaj.tzan q.e:.ky'

just now it came your prize and v/ell to us

tqal.tzan k.t.aq'a.n.a q.er.ky'? 19) Mi:7n ma:xa

well what you will give to us? No up to

ch.el a:nq'.a.n.a t.i7j t.uj.xa ju:n.tl

you-all will live on it up to in it one other

tyermp ju:n.q'.xa t.b'i: chl.tzan kyja7.w.

time one complete its name well he said like this.

20) Entorns we:n chi.chl.tzan ky.e:

Then good they said of them

ma:yan ya: ja71a a:.tzan aj alemaj

red-headed buzzard now now well this this animal

t.e7 t.jaq' monta:nya ja71 a:.qa.tzan.

they are under it mountain nov/ well they are.

21) Despwe:s nn.u:l.tzan me:b'a t.uk'a

After well he was coming orphan with him

meb'a.yi.l t.e: n.tzaj t.i:.7n

person who cares for orphans him he was bringing it here
239

n.ja.x t.txlk.o.Tn. 22) Ma ch.u:l

he was cooking it up away. Just now they came

meb'a.yi.l t.e: b'et.al j.merb'a ki.n.a.

foster parent him walking this orphan lookl

ja s.a:J.a q.chl? t.u7n.a? 23) Pv^es

where did you return our meat by you? Well

s .
a j w.i;,.7n.a a.t ju:n n.kamb'.a chl.tzan
I brought it there is one my prize he said

kyja7.w. 2 4) Ya: despwe:s n.ja.pan

like this . Now after it was arriving above

tzq'arj t.u7n n.b'aj.tzan ky.cho.7n

cooked by him well they were finishing eating it

meb'a.yi.l t.e: a.tzan t.e: noq ok Joq.e:7

foster parent him well this of him alone he sat in

t.witz ja: nti7 tzaj q'o.7n ch'in

its face house there is not gave him here a little

t.chl7 t.u7n meb^a.yi.l t.e:.

his meat by him person who cares for orphans him.

25) Ky.jon.arl meb'a.yi.l t.e: b'aj.ka.x

They alone foster parent him but finished

ky.u7n aj.tzan.j b'a:q n.b'aj.tzan ky.u7n.

by them well this bone well was finished by them.

26) Xum.aja t.e:.x b'a:q ky.u7n b'ix

Zing.' it went out away bone by them and

t.o:k me:b'a chm^.o:.! t.et.e:. 27)

he entered orphan to gather it.

N. chi .b aj .tzan t.chm.o.7n

' me:b'a asta
Well he was finishing gathering them orphan until

nn.ok te:n me:b'a wo:ns.l t.et.e: t.b'aq'.al

he was into orphan to toast it ' its bones

masa:t i: despwe:s n.ku7 t .pensa:7r'.a.n.

deer and after he was thinking down.

28) A:. tzan. j ajaj a.t jun luga:r t.wi7

Well this this there is one place on it

tz'aqo7n t.b'i: ja71a. 29) N.xi7 t.mun.a.7kj

its name now. He was going to plant
240

me:b'a.jQ n.xl7 t .mun. a.7kj merb'a.jo.

this orphan he was going to plant this orphan.

30) N.xl7.tzan mun.a.l t.e: tza7n.x.tz ky.te:n.ka

He was going to plant it everything
t.awal me:b'a j.7aj itza:j narpixh
his crop orphan this vegetable turnip
tza7n.x te:n.ka qa.j itzarj t.e7 t.jaq'
like everything these vegetable they "are under it

k'u:l b'ix j.7aj nn.ok xukb'a:kaj

fields and this was entering (type of vegetable)

t.b'i: t.xaq me:b'a. 31) Kyja7.tzan

its name its leaf orphan. Well like this
nn.ork.a t.awal meib'a.jo. 32) Ento:ns
it was entering his crop this orphan. Then
despwe:s t.uj.tzan t.ne:j.al q'i:j a':, jo
after well in it first day this

ky.ja:7w.al b a j awal.qa
' j.7a:.jo t.uj
they came up finished crops this in it
t.ka:b'.an q'i:j. 33) Ky ja: 7w.al. Jal
. ajaj xhja7w
second day. It came up animal this possum
a.ya tal we ch : tza7n.x tern.ka tal kla:se
this small fox like everything small class
tal txkup t.e7 t.jaq' k'u:l t.awal
small animal they are under it woods his crop
me:b'a.qa chl.tzan kyja7.w. 34) T.uj.tzan t.o:x.an
orphans he says like this. Well in it third
q*i:j ke : a:.tzan ky.ja:7w.al tal masa:t pwes
day that this they came up small dees well
o.xax tza:laj me:b'a we :na a:.tzan ky.kir.n.x
now he was content orphan good well this they were seen
t.awal t.a:71an txi t.ki.7n tal masa:t.
his crop his animal he saw away small deer.

35) Xhli:ky.j ky.xi7 t.xi t.ki.7n entorns

Germinated they were when he saw away then
o tza:laj t.u7n t.la:j. 36) Despwers
he was content because of it its reason. After
241

ya: n. chl. ch'i :y .tzan t.a:71an n. chi .ch'l :y tzan .

now well they were growing his animal they were growing

n.chl. chm.e :t tzan

. t.a:71an ja71a. 37)
well they were gathered his animal now.

N.b'aj t .b 'i :nch.a.n jun kora:l a:. tzan t.korarl

He finished making one fence well that its fence

masart entorns n.b'aj. tzan t .b i :nch.a .n.' 38) Ento:ns

deer then well he finished making it. Then
ya: n.tza tzoq.paj ky.i7j meb'a.yi.l t.e:
now he suggested here at them foster parent him

pwes a.t t.chi.b'aj w.urk'al.a ja7ka

well there is his meat with me yes it can

chi. b' an it ky.q'a.n.tz ky.xb'u:7q.a tzalu:7.

they are made give it here I your rags here.

39) Xb'u7q per chi.b'aj n.b'an.t w.u7n.a

It is a rag but meat- it is made by me

nya:7 ti. :7.1a tqal.ta chi. tzan q'u:n.J

it is not what what well he said it was said
chi. tzan t.e: me:b'a kyja7.w ok t.ma.7n.
well he said of it orphan like this he said in.

40) A:x.pa t.ok.lern me:b'a maj xb'u7q jlu:7

It is certain orphan that rag this

n.tza: ky.chm.o.7n tx'aq.an ky.xb'u:7q ja:.chaq

they gathered here old their rags where each
t.a7 chu:.chaq txak.o .n. j a
: . me:b'a. 4l) Jak
it is hurry cook this I orphan. It can

b'an.t t.u7n.a? Ja:7k. 42) Ok. tzan tza t.i:.7n

be done by you? It can. When he brought it here

me:b'a n.ku7 t.ju:s.a.n iqujin t.ku7 me:b'a

orphan he burnt it down and he ran down orphan

asta q'i.l jun t al' t.a:71an t.e: ky.chi7

until to get one liquid its chicken of it their meat

meb'a.yi.l t.e:. 43) A:. pa xb'u7q n.b'anit

foster parent him. Is that rag is made

t.u7n.a me:b'a? 44) Pwes a:. jo. B'ix.tzan.la

by you orphan? Well that is it. And well
2A2

n.kub* kwernt t.l7j t.iYj ne:b'a ky.uYn

were guarding down at him at him orphan by them

meb'a.yi.l t.e:. A5) Ya: ma po:n.tl

foster parent him. Now he arrived here again

me:b'a il.o.l t.e: ya: tz'irnan.qa kab ' .

orphan to see it now they were not there two other

t.a:71an o:.taq ch.etz ilq'.a.Yn ky.uTn.x

his animal they had robbed him by them the same

meb'a.yi.l t.e:. H6) Ma ka:n.a.n.l ju:n.l

foster parent him. When he met again one other

el me:b'a tz 'i :nan. l.qa kab ' alemaj

time orphan they were not there again two animal.

47) Ti:.tzan tqal mo:da? nn.ok te :n me:b'a

Well what what manner? he was there in orphan

pensa:7r.a.l t.i7j. 48) Pwes xb 'u7q.xax.w.a

to think about it. Well rag I

n.b'an.t w.u7n nya:7 chi.b'aj.w.a kyja7.tzan

is made by me it is not meat I well like this

tern.t kyja7.w chu:.chaq ky.l:.7n.tz xb'u7q.a

it is like this hurry bring here rag

je7y. 49) N.ja.pan jun k'il kyq.a7

then. He was putting up there one pot hot water

t.uk'.a Jun k'il xb'u7q t.uj. 50) Entotns

with it one pot rag in it. Then

n.xi7 tzoq.paj me:b'a tz'l:nan.xa. b'an.t.

he was escaping away orphan never it was done.

51) Mi:7n par tza7n b'an.t t.u7n.a me:b'a?

No but how it was done by you orphan?

52) Mi:7n par a.t jurn.l mo: da l.o.7n

No but there is another manner seen

w.u7n.a kyja7 n.te:7n.a. 53) N.xi7

by me like this it is. He was going

y.o.l kab ' . a chap t.zi a7

to look for two crab its edge water

n .ch.u: l.ky .a txqan n.chi.ku7 x. tzan

.

they were arriving here a lot well they were going down away
.

2^3

chap t.zl q'a:q' b ' Ix lu :t.kyq.a?

crab Its edge fire and there its hot water

n.loq.na. 5^) Ento:ns n. ch.e7x.

tzan
was boiling. Then well they were going
chi.mok' .e: .ka. X. a kyja7.w kyjaT-tzan
crouch down away you-alll like this well like this

te:n k.b 'an. t .e :1. t .a q.chi? kyja7.w

there is it will be made our meat like this

chi.mok' .e: .ka.x. tzan. a. .

55) N.chi.kuT.x
well crouch down away you-alll Well they went down
tzan.x.ky .te :n.ka t.ajwil.ja: n. chi.kuT.x mok' .e :?
everything its owner house they were crouching down,

56) N. Chi. ja: tz. tzan porn.j

. chap JaTla
Well they were exploding up there crab now
t.uj t.b'a? ky.witz. 57) Asta b'i7x
in it its seed their face. Until all at once
ku7 lo7tz.a.n t.zi ky.witz t.u7n
It was closed down its edge their face by him

-t.ajwil.ja: o7k.san te:n.jo. 58) Ya

its_ owner house well only this is it. Now
despwe:s n.ku7 t.b'i:s.a:.n ju:n.tl ya naj.tzan
after he was being sad down another now well no
t.o:k.l a:. jo. 59) Ya n.xi7 tzoq.paj.l
It entered again that. Now he was leaving away again
me:b'a q'i.l chi.b'aj pwes tzlp t.er.x.j
orphan to get meat well whoosh I it went out

ajaj xb'u7q t.u7n. 60) Nn.ok no:j t.l7j

that rag by him. He was finding in at it

jun ka:b' t.jaq' k'u:l pwes nn.ul t.i:.7n

one beehive under it brush, well he was bringing it here

ky.witz meb'a.yi.l t.e:. 6l)

in front of them foster parent him.

Or.t.tzan chi.tzak.j.a meb'a.yi.l t.e: t ok t.ki.7n.

.

They hadbeen destroyed foster parent him when he saw in.

62) To:ns nn.ul. tzan t.i:.7n ka:b'

-- _Then well he was bringing here beehive
24^

Ja: s.a t.l:.7n.i.ya me:b'a? 63) A:wt

where did you bring it here orphan? If only

ch'irn q.qo? le:q'..a.l t.witz jj.tze:7

a little we were to lick its surface this tree

jatuma s a t i
. . 7n.i.ya.
: . 64) Pwes qa ky.aj.a
where you brought it here. Well if you-all want

ch.eTx.a a.t t.tze:? chi.tzan q'urn.j

you-all go it is there its tree well lie said it was said

kyja?. 65) N.ch.iky' t.u:k'a meb'a.yi.l

like this. They were passing with him foster parent

t.e: asta n.chi.ja.pan t.q'o.Tn t.wi?

him until he was giving them up there above it

Jun tze:7. S6) Saberr jniky'.purn jun tze:7

one tree. V/hoknows v/hat size one tree

matl:j jun tze:7 chi.tzan q'urn.j.

big one tree well they say it is said.

67) N. chi.ka.n.a.n n. chi. ja.pan. tzan

They were arriving well they were going up there

t.u7n t.wi7 tze:7. 68) Jotx t.a:j.tz

by it on it tree. BoomI he came back here

me:b'a asta n.kub'.al t.witz tx'otx'

orphan until he was coming down its surface earth

n.tzer.n. 69) Ch'uq t.erl t-xa:jb';a

he was laughing. Clunk I it went out his shoes

nn.otk txpa:tz'.a.n t.ku7j matiij tze:7.

he was hitting its stomach big tree.

70) Mal.ala.:n t7xi7 tze:7 ja71a max. tzan

It went swelling tree nov; until no

t.u7n ky.ku7.tz xja:l chi.tzan.

that they went down here person they say.

71) Ento:ns a:. tzan. Despwe:s n.ku7 t .pensa :r ,a.n

Then that was. After he was thinking down

ti: chi.b' .e :l.atz.ya? 72) Mejo:r qi:na

what will they come down here? Better I

txak.o.l ya:7.yj. 73) A:, tzan ya:7.yj

will call grandmother. This grandmother
t
245

nn.o:k xja:w. 7^) N.xl7 txak.o.l t.e: ya:7.yj

was In moon. He went to call her grandmother

t.uk' marlrmp. 75) We:na n. tza j .tzan.

:

with it marimba. Good well she was coming

ya:7.yj ch'ix. taq. tzan t.pon ka:n.a.n

grandmother well almost when she arrived there

t.xl7 t.ki.7n yary.yj lu:7 qa.xja:! noq

she saw away grandmother there the people only
te:n.l t.ja.x.qa ma: t.wi7 tze:7.
there is they are up up to above it tree.

76) N.xl7 tzoq.paj ya:7.ya jejeje: .ya. jo

She was going grandmother ho ho ho cried
n.ya:7.tzan qa.w.w.a:l.qa. j mati:J u:ch' t zi.

grandmother my children big cry baby its edge

ky.witz. 77) 07k. san t.xi t.ki.7n iky. jo

their face. Well only when she saw it like that

xhqittt.tzan ky.er.x a:.qa.tzan. 78) Aj

skittering they went out there. This

xma:xh t.e 7 ja71a a:.qa.tzan aj mo:na

monkey they are now they are this monkey

a: tzan.qa. jo
. . 79) To:ns kyja7.tzan te:n il.e:t
that is they. Then like this it is are found

qa.j.morna. 80) A.:7.qa.ya mati:j ju:das mati:j

these monkeys. Oh youl big damned big
tzu7w.qa.ya mati:j trampo:s nya:7-la me:ra w.a:l.qa.ya.
ingrates big cheat it is not real my children,

81) Ja71a ky.xi7.ya lu: ky.wa:.ya t.wltz

Now go I . there your food its fruit

chi:71aj lu: ky.wa:.ya t.witz ana:q'

(type of tree) there your food its fruit (a plant)

ku:7.tx.qa .ya ja71a chi.tzan ya:7.yj.

go down there I now well she said grandmother

82) 07k. san te:n n.ch.e:x xhqittt.tzan

Only it is they were going skitterring

ky.e:71. 83) Ja71a nn.aj.tz tzoq.paj.l

they left. Now he was coming back again
2i|6

me:b'a.tl mi:7n.ajo ya:7-ya t.xl7.ya a.t.x

orphan again no this grandmother go I there Is

kab'.l.nl w.a:lan.a t.e? l.a.Jtz.a. 84) Jatumal

two other my animal they are go and seel Where

merb'a jatumal? turk'a.x marl:mp t.ok.

orphan where? with It marimba she went.

85) N.ku? ne:j me:b*a t.u:k'a.x

He was going down quickly orphan with It

mari:mp ya:7.ya t.u:k' marlrmp. 86)

marimba grandmother with it marimba.

T.XI7 t.kl.7n.tl ya:7.yj lu:.qa kab

When she saw away again grandmother there were two.

masa:t ky.ki:.n.x xhli:ky.j t.xl7

deer that were seen out of the ground it went

ky.wi7 t.uj ky.korail. 87) T.xl7 t.kl.7n.tl

their heads in it their corral. He saw away again

merb'a xhliky.leqe7 t.a:71an me:b'a.

orphan they were out of the ground his animal orphan.

88) Entorns n.tzaj Jejeje:y ya:qa leje:r

Then she was coming ho ho ho hardly nice

jun.t.a t.a:71an yaiqa.na t.b'arn.al o7k.x.san

one your animal hardly its goodness well only

t.xi ky.ki.7n j.7iky.jo tlllll.tzan ky.erl

when they saw it like that well scampering they went out

ja71a. 89) Kye a:.tzan.qa.j masa:t t.e7 aqaj

now. That these are deer they are those which

ij.e7x oq t.uj ky.kora:!. 90) A: tzan.qa. Jo

.

they went flee in it their corral. Well those

t.e7 t.Jaq' montarnya a:.tzan.qa.j i-kye

they are under it mountain those are they stayed

kol.ert kab' o:x ne:7 a:.tzan.qa.j aj

were saved two three small those are that

chirp t.e7 alema.7n ky.u7n xjarl ja71a.

goat they are domesticated by them person now.

91) Ar.tzan.jo o7k.x.tzan tern.j kab'a n.yorl.a.jo

That is well only it is two my word
2^7

b'l.Tn w.u7n.a ky.yoil aj ojtxa xja:l

heard by me their word that before person

ky.yo:l chma m b a j ar.tzan.jo

: . ' b'i,7n w.u7n.a
their word grandfathers this is heard by me

o7k.x.san te:n.jo x.el .n .q' am. a. 7n. a.

well only that is I will say away.

FREE TRANSLATION

1) About an orphan. 2) There's a story I'm going to

tell you now, that my grandmother and my mother told.

3) It always scared us before, but no, this is what

happened when the world was formed a long time age.

4) There was an orphan who went to spend time by the

sea. 5) And then he saw that there was a small animal,

called a deer, that was in the moon. 6) So he began to

think about it, and he thought, and he went to kill the

small deer in the moon. 7) The orphan was successful,

he killed it with a reed, which is called a catapult,

according to the story. 8) Then the deer fell into the

sea, and then two buzzards with red heads came. 9) "You,

friends, couldn't you be my friends?" 10) "Couldn't

you be my helpers?" 11) "Couldn't you bring my prize

that fell in the water?" 12) "I can't get it out."

13) And he began to cry about it. 1^) "Don't worry,

orphan, we can bring it," said the buzzards with red

heads like that, those red-headed buzzards. 15) Then,

splat I fell the buzzards in the sea, to get the orphan's

2i|8

prize. 16) They brought It pulling and scraping,

pulling and scraping, until it arrived at the edge of

the sea. 17) So they brought it and the orphan was

happy. 18) "Okay, orphan, now we brought your prize,

so for us, what will you give us?" 19) ''no, you will
live with this, until another time," he said. 20) "That's
okay," said the buzzards, and now these animals are

in the mountains, that's where they are, 21) Then the

orphan went with the people who took care of him and

brought the deer and cooked it. 22) When his foster

parents came from their trip, "Look, orphan, where did

you get our meat?" 23) "Well, I brought it, here is

my prize," he said like that. 24) And then he cooked

it, and his foster parents ate it up, and he sat

alone in the corridor of the house, and his foster

parents didn't give him any meat. 25) The family alone
finished it, they finished it all except for the bones.

26) Zing: they threw the bones, and threw the bones, and

the orphan gathered them up. 27) The orphan finished

gathering them, and he began to toast the deer bones

and afterwards he began to think. 28) There is a

place that's called Twi7 Tzaq'o7n now. 29) He went to
plant, he went to plant there. 30) The orphan went

to plant his crop, the vegetables, the turnips, all

the vegetables that there are in the fields, and that

which is called xukb'a:ka.1 , or orphan's leaf. 31)

2^19

Because of this it is called orphan's crop. 32) Then

after the first day, these crops germinated, the possums,

the foxes, all the types of animals in the woods, and

because of this they say orphan's crop. 3^) On the

third day the little deer germinated, and the orphan was

content because he could see his animals, his little

deer. 35) They had been born when he saw them, so he

was happy about it. 36) And after this his animals

were growing, and growing, and were reproducing.

37) He made a fence, the fence of the deer, and he

made it. 38) And then he said to the people who took

care of him, "Well, I have meat, you can fix it, give

me your rags." 39) "It's a rag, but I'll turn it

into meat, and nothing else," he said, he said he

could do it. 40) "Really, orphan? This is a rag,"

and they gathered their old rags from where they were,

"Hurry and cook them, orphani" 41) "Can you do it?"

'*Sure." 42) So the orphan got it and he burned it

and the orphan ran to get a chicken for his broth, for

the meat for his foster parents. 43) "That's it."

And his foster parents were checking on the orphan.

45) Now when the orphan arrived to see, two of his animals

weren't there, they had stolen them, the same foster

parents. 46) When the orphan came another time,

two animals weren't there again. 4?) "What's this?"

And the orphan started to think about it. 48) Well

250

I'm making rags Into meat but not really. It's like

this, so hurry and bring the rags then. ^9) He put

on a pot of hot water, with a rag in the pot. 50) Then

the orphan left, because it would never cook. 51) But
no, "How did you do it, orphan?"- 52) But no, "I know

another way to do it, it's like this." 53) He went

to look for two crabs at the edge of the water, and he

brought a lot and put the crabs by the fire, and there

was the boiling water. 54) "So crouch down like this,

like this our meat will be cooked, so crouch down."

55) And all the people of the house went down, and crouched

down. 56) And then the crabs exploded in their eyes.

57) Until all at once the owners of the house closed

their eyes, that's all. 58) Then he was thinking about

another thing, but he didn't do it. 59) And the orphan

went to get meat, then whoosh! he spread out the rag.

60) He found a beehive in the woods, and he brought it

for his foster parents. 6I) In that time he saw that

his foster parents were destroyed. 62) Then he brought
the beehive, "Where did you get it, orphan?" 63) "If
only we could lick a little on the surface of the tree

where you got it." 64) "Well, if you want to go,

the tree is there," he said. 65) He took his foster
parents and raised them up in the tree. 66) Who knows
what slse tree, they say it's a big tree. 6?) They
got there, and they went up. 68) Boom! the orphan
251

came down, and when he got to the ground he was

laughing. 69) Clunkl he took off his shoes and

hit the trunk of the big tree. 70) The tree swelled

up until the people couldn't get down, they say.

71) That's what happened. Then he started to think,

"How will they get down?" 72) "I'll call grandmother."

73) The grandmother was the moon. 7^) He went to call

the grandmother with the marimba. 75) Good, and the

grandmother came, now the grandmother was just arriving,

and when the grandmother saw that the people were up there

in the top of the tree, 76) grandmother went "Ho ho ho,"

grandmother cried, "My children with the big crying eyes."

77) Only that when she saw them, they went skittering

(in the trees). 78) These are the monkeys that there

are now, these are the monkeys, these are. 79) Now

that is how the monkeys came to be. 80) "Oh you damned,

Ingrates, cheats, you're not my real children."

81) "Now go I There's your food the fruit of the

chi :71aj , of the ana :q' , go away I" said the grandmother.

82) And only this, they went skittering, they went away

now. 83) And the orphan came back, "Look, grandmother,

go and see two more animals that I have still." 84)

"Where, orphan, where?" 85) And they left quickly,

the orphan and the grandmother and the marimba. 86) And

when the grandmother saw it again, there were two deer

that she saw out of the ground in the corral. 87) And
252

when the orphan saw his animals were out of the ground,

when the grandmother saw the orphan's animals were out

of the ground, 88) she came crying, "Ho ho ho, your

animals are hardly nice, they're hardly good," and when

they saw that, they left scampering off now. 89) Those

are the deer that there are, those that fled from the

corrals. 90) Those are the ones that are in the

mountains, and those that stayed were two or three

small ones, which are the goats that now are domesticated

by people. 91) That's all, these are my only words

that I know, words of the ancestors, words of the

grandfathers, that's all that I've heard, that's all

I will say.
.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ganger, Una. I969. Analysis in Outline of Mam, a Mayan

Language. University of California, Berkeley,
dissertation.

Gook, Walter A., S.J. 1969. An' Introduction to Tag-memic

Analysis. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.,

Day, Ghristopher. 1972. The Jacaltec Language.

(Indiana University Publications, Language Science
Monographs, vol. 12) Bloomington : Indiana University,

Hardman, M.J. 1972. Postulados lingiiisticos del idioma

aymara. (El reto del multilinguismo en el Peru, ed,
by Alberto Escobar, pp. 35-^6.) Lima: Institute
de Estudios Peruanos

. (in press) Linguistic Postulates and Applied

Anthropological Linguistics. (Papers on Linguistics
and Ghild Language in Memory of Ruth Hirsch Weir,
ed. by M.J. Hardman and Vladimir Honsa.) The Hague:
Mouton.

Hockett, Gharles P. 1958. A Gourse in Modern Linguistics.

New York: Macmillan.

Kaufman, Terrence. 1971. Tzeltal Phonology and Morphology,

(University of California Publications in Linguistics,
61.) Berkeley: University of California Press.

. 1973. New Mayan Languages in Guatemala: Sacapultec,

Sipacapa, and Others. Unpublished manuscript.

. 1974a. Idiomas de mesoamerica. (Seminario de

Integration Social, 33-) Guatemala: Editorial Jose
de Pineda Ibarra.

. 1974b. Issues in the Classification of the Mayan

Languages, Substantive and Otherwise. Unpublished
manuscript.

Maldonado Andres, Juan and Juan Ordonez Domingo. 197^.

253
25^

Practlcas y experiencias obtenidas en programmas de

alf abetlzaclon efectuados en una comunldad Indigena
del area mam. Unpublished manuscript.

McQuown, Norman, ed. 1967. Handbook of Middle American

Indians, Volume 5, Linguistics. Austin: University
of Texas Press.

Nida, Eugene A. 19^6. Morphology: The Descriptive

Analysis of Words. Ann Arbor: The University of
Michigan Press.

Oakes, Maud, 1951a. Beyond the V/lndy Place. New York:

Parrar, Straus, and Young.

. 1951b. The Two Crosses of Todos Santos. (Bollingen

Series, 27) New York: Pantheon Books.
Peck, Dorothy Miller. 1951- The Formation of Utterances
in the Mam Language. Hartford Seminary Foundation
thesis

Pike, Kenneth L. 19^7. Phonemics: A Technique for

Reducing Languages to V/riting. Ann Arbor: The
University of Michigan Press

Robertson, John S., John A. Hawkins, and Andres Maldonado

n.d. Mam Basic Course. U.S. Peace Corps.

Sywulka, Edward Frederick. 19^8. The Morphology of the

Mam Language of Guatemala, C.A. University of
Oklahoma thesis.

. 1966. Mam Grammar. (Languages of Guatemala, ed.

by Marvin Mayers. Janua Linguarum, series practica,
23, pp. 178-195.) The Hague: Mouton.

Valladares, Leon A. 1957. El hombre y el maiz: etnografia

y etnopsicologia de Colotenango. Guatemala:
Universidad de San Carlos.
Vogt, Evon Z. ed. 1969a. Handbook of Middle American
Indians, Volume 7, Ethnology, Part I. Austin:
University of Texas Press.

. 1969b. Zinacantan: A Maya Community in the

Highlands of Chiapas. Cambridge: Belknap Press.

Wagley, Charles. 19^1. The Economics of a Guatemalan

Village. American Anthrooological Association Memoir
58.

. 1949. Social and Religious Life of a Guatemalan

255

Village. American Anthropological Association Memoir

71.

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Austin: University of Texas Press.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Nora Clearman England was born in Washington, D.C.

on November 8, 19^6. She was educated in the New York

State public school system and graduated from high

school in I963. She received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr

College in 1967, with a major in anthropology. She

owes her introduction to and initial interest in

anthropology and linguistics to the fine teaching of

Dr. Frederica de Laguna, Dr. Jane Goodale , and Dr.

Nancy Dorian, all at Bryn Mawr College. She began

graduate studies at the University of Florida in

anthropology in I968, and received the M.A. in 1971-

After that she spent several years working on linguistics

in Guatemala, and returned to graduate school in 19 7^.

Her work since that time has been directed toward the

completion of the Ph.D. in anthropology with specialization

in linguistics at the University of Florida.

256
I certify that I have read this study and that
In my opinion it conforms to acceptable standards
of scholarly presentation and is 'fully adequate, in
scope and quality, as a dissertation for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy.

^^^^^^T-Alexandef Mocre , Jr. i, (

Associate Professor of Anthropology

I certify that I have read this study and that

in my opinion it conforms to acceptable standards
of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in
scope and quality, as a dissertation for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy.

(^Xv^^-^-^^^
Charles Wagley
Graduate Research Professor of
Anthropology

This dissertation was submitted to the Graduate Faculty

of the Department of Anthropology in the College of
Arts and Sciences and to the Graduate Council, and
was accepted as partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

June, 1975

Dean, Graduate School

certify that I have read this study and that
I
In my opinion It conforms to acceptable standards
of scholarly presentation and Is fully adequate, in
'

scope and
of Doctor

I certify that I have read this study and that

in my opinion it conforms to acceptable standards
of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in
scope and quality, as a dissertation for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy.

William. E. Carter
Professor of Anthropology

certify that I have read this study and that

I
in opinion It conforms to acceptable standards
ray
of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in
scope and quality, as a dissertation for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy.

^'U^U'^'-a^ /t ^ /^'g^/C^'^C^
Norman M. Harkel
Professor of Speech