| Chʼol | |
|---|---|
| Lakty'añ | |
| Native to | Mexico |
| Region | North CentralChiapas,Tabasco,Campeche |
| Ethnicity | Ch'ol people |
Native speakers | 250,000 (2020 census)[1] |
Early form | |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ctu |
| Glottolog | chol1282 |
| ELP | Chol |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
TheCh'ol (Chol) language is a member of the western branch of theMayan language family used by theCh'ol people in thestates ofChiapas,Tabasco, andCampeche in Mexico. This language, together withChontal,Ch'orti', andCh'olti', constitute theCholan language group.[2]
The Cholan branch of the Mayan languages is considered to be particularlyconservative and Ch'ol along with its two closest relatives theCh'orti' language ofGuatemala andHonduras, and theChontal Maya language ofTabasco are believed to be the modern languages that best reflect their relationship with theClassic Maya language.[3]
Ch'ol-language programming is carried by theCDI's radio stationXEXPUJ-AM, broadcasting fromXpujil,Campeche.
There are two main dialects of Chʼol:
There are 21 consonantal segments in Chʼol. Below is the consonant inventory of Chʼol.[4]Corresponding orthography is presented in the angle brackets next to theIPA symbols.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p⟨p⟩ | tʲ⟨ty⟩ | k⟨k⟩ | ʔ⟨-⟩ | |
| ejective | pʼ⟨pʼ⟩ | tʲʼ⟨tyʼ⟩ | kʼ⟨kʼ⟩ | |||
| voiced | b⟨b⟩ | |||||
| Affricate | voiceless | ts⟨ts⟩ | tʃ⟨ch⟩ | |||
| ejective | tsʼ⟨tsʼ⟩ | tʃʼ⟨chʼ⟩ | ||||
| Fricative | s⟨s⟩ | ʃ⟨x⟩ | x⟨j⟩ | |||
| Nasal | m⟨m⟩ | ɲ⟨ñ⟩ | ||||
| Liquid | lateral | l⟨l⟩ | ||||
| trill | r⟨r⟩ | |||||
| Glide | w⟨w⟩ | j⟨y⟩ | ||||
For the segments in thepalatal column, [tʲ,tʲʼ] arepalatalizedalveolar consonants, and [tʃ,tʃʼ] arepalato-alveolar affricates. Another property of the consonant inventory is that only the labial has a voiced segment [b], which corresponds to thevoiced bilabial implosive [ɓ] inProto-Mayan.[5]
Alveolar sounds [n,t] are only heard as allophones of /ɲ,ts/.
Chʼol has a six vowel system, as shown below in the vowel inventory.[6]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i⟨i⟩ | ɨ⟨ä⟩ | u⟨u⟩ |
| Mid | e⟨e⟩ | o⟨o⟩ | |
| Low | a⟨a⟩ |
The vowelä is a distinctive segment in Chʼol, as in otherChʼolan languages. According to Kaufman and Norman (1984), long vowels in theProto-Mayan language merged with their short counterparts inChʼolan languages, except for*aa (long) and*a (short). These segments went under a sound change, in which*aa becamea and*a becameä.[7]
Chʼol can have CV, CVC, CVCC, CCVC, CCVCC as possible syllable structures. The most common ones are CV and CVC.[8]
| muty | [mutʲʰ] | 'chicken' | CVC |
| pul | [pul̥] | 'to burn' | CVC |
| ja' | [xaʔ] | 'water' | CVC |
| ixik | [ʔi.xikʰ] | 'woman' | CV.CVC |
| wiñik | [wi.ɲikʰ] | 'man' | CV.CVC |
Like many other Mayan languages, Chʼol does not allowonsetless syllables, which means words that appear to start with vowel in fact have a glottal stop as the onset.
| ich | [ʔit͡ʃ] | 'chili' | CVC |
| ax | [ʔax] | 'a type of fruit' | CVC |
| ok | [ʔokʰ] | 'foot' | CVC |
| ej | [ʔej] | 'tooth' | CVC |
Although complex onsets and complex codas exist, the former only occur across morpheme boundaries, and the latter are limited tojC.[9]
| kpam | [kpam̥] | 'my forehead' |
| ktyem | [ktʲem̥] | 'my chair' |
| ch'ujm | [t͡ʃ'uxm̥] | 'pumping' |
| mujk | [muxkʰ] | 'navel' |
The main stress of a word typically falls on theultima in Chʼol. This is true for most of thebisyllabic native words andpolysyllabicloanwords. In the following examples, the stress is indicated by anacute accent on thenucleus.[10]
| ixím | 'corn' | |
| okʼól | 'mud' | |
| jaʼás | 'banana' | |
| alaxáx | ‹ Spanish:naranja | 'orange' |
| kayetáj | ‹ Spanish:galleta | 'cookies' |
| tyexeléx | ‹ Spanish:tijera | 'scissors' |
Compound words also have the main stress on the ultima. A secondary stress, indicated by agrave accent, can be heard in the first part of a compound word. This weak stress usually goes on the ultima of the first part.[11]
| tyàtymúty | 'rooster' (male+chicken) |
| chä̀kmé' | 'mud' (red+deer) |
| matyè'chityám | 'banana' (forest+pig) |
| bajlä̀mtyé' | 'orange' (jaguar+tree) |
Chʼol writers have agreed upon the following alphabet, based on theLatin alphabet, proposed and developed by Diaz Peñate in 1992.
| Uppercase | A | B | Ch | Chʼ | E | I | J | K | Kʼ | L | M | N | Ñ | O | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowercase | a | b | ch | chʼ | e | i | j | k | kʼ | l | m | n | ñ | o | p |
| Uppercase | Pʼ | R | S | T | Ts | Tsʼ | Ty | Tyʼ | U | W | X | Y | Ä | - | |
| Lowercase | pʼ | r | s | t | ts | tsʼ | ty | tyʼ | u | w | x | y | ä | ||
The absence of glyphic material inGuatemala points that the calendar was a creation of the lowland Maya.[3] Ch'ol has been considered one of the closer languages to several Mayan glyphs inscriptions.[12] Lounsbury suggested that the ancient Palenqueños spoke a Proto-cholean language. A certain Palenque ruler has the glyph of aQuetzal head for his name and because the word for Quetzal in Chol iskuk, it is conjectured that his name was LordKuk.[13] The affixLanda'sI that occurs only with posterior date indicators retains resemblance with the idea of past time of Ch'ol, such inhobix 'five days hence,'hobixi 'five days ago.' As vocabularies of Ch'ol,Chontal, Chorti, andTzotzil are far from complete, it is not possible to establish some cognates between these languages andMayan glyphs.[3]
An alternative hypothesis developed by Houston, Robertson, and Stuart proposed thatClassic Maya inscriptions between A.D. 250 and 850 convey to EasternCh'olan languages, more related toChorti language than Ch'ol language.[14] However, there is no consensus around the topic.
Affixation is the main way of word formation in Chʼol. There areprefixes,infixes andsuffixes. Suffixes are considerably more abundant than the other two.[15]
There are two derivational prefixes – the noun class markersaj- andx-. The former can go with proper names, nominalize verbs, and be prefixed to some terms that refer to animals. The latter can also go with proper names and with the name of some animals, but additionally it can be prefixed to the name of some trees and plants.[15]
| aj-Maria | 'proper name' | x-Maria | 'a proper name' | ||||
| aj-Wañ | 'proper name' | x-Wañ | 'a proper name' | ||||
| aj-xujch' | 'the robber' | x-wax | 'the fox' | ||||
| aj-tsänsaj | 'the killer' | x-k'uk' | 'the quetzal' | ||||
| aj-'uch | 'the opossum' | x-ch'ujtye' | 'cedar' | ||||
| aj-kuj | 'the owl' | x-kulañtya | 'cilantro' |
In addition,Set A inflections are prefixed to nouns (10a) and verbs (10b).[16]
| k-wex | mi | k-wäy-el | ||||
| a1-pants | imfv | a1-sleep-nf | ||||
| 'my pants' | 'I sleep' | |||||
Infixation is used forpassivization and as a mean of deriving numeral classifiers. First, some transitive roots reducevalence by infixing-j- into the root. This process is accompanied by a reduction of the number of core arguments from two to one, and the remaining argument referring to the patient is the subject of the verb.[16]
| tyi | i-päy-ä-y-oñ | tyi | pä⟨j⟩y-i-y-oñ | ||||
| prfv | a3-call-tv-ep-bv | prfv | call⟨pas⟩-iv-ep-b1 | ||||
| 'S/he called me' | 'I was called' | ||||||
For the other use of infixation, the derivations come mostly from positionals and verbs.
| jäl (POS) | 'large and thin' | jäjl | 'large and thin' | ||||
| wol (V) | 'to round' | wojl | 'rounded' | ||||
| päk (V) | 'to fold' | päjk | 'folded' |
There are many suffixes in Chʼol since suffixation is the main way of derivation and inflection. For instance, the suffix-añ on nouns can deriveintransitive verbs. The suffix-iscausativizes some intransitive verbs. The suffix-b derives ditransitive verbs, and-ty derives some intransitive verbs by passivization of the corresponding transitive verb.[17]
| wiñik (N) | 'man' | wiñik-añ (IV) | 'to be a man' | ||||
| wäy (IV) | 'to sleep' | wäy-is-añ (TV) | 'to make him/her sleep' | ||||
| mäñ (TV) | 'to buy' | pmäñ-b-eñ (DV) | 'to buy something for somebody' | ||||
| pejkañ (TV) | 'to talk to' | pejkäñ-ty-el (DI) | 'to be talked to' |
Like almost all other Mayan languages, Ch'ol has two sets of person markers:ergative andabsolutive. TheMayan tradition is to label the former as Set A and the latter as Set B.[18] Chʼol is asplit ergative language: its morphosyntactic alignment varies according to aspect. With perfective aspect, ergative-absolutive alignment is used, whereas with imperfective aspect, we rather observe nominative-accusative.[19]
Set A markers are generally considered as suffixes; however, Martínez Cruz (2007) and Arcos López (2009) categorized them asproclitics. These markers usually denote the agents of transitive verbs.
| / __ C | / __ V | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | k- ~ j- (/ __ k) | |
| 2nd | a- | aw- |
| 3rd | i- | (i)y- |
Note that all markers have phonologically conditioned allomorphs: 1st singular marker changes fromk toj when it precedes anotherk, and 2nd singular and 3rd singular markers have glides inserted when they precede consonants.
Set B markers are suffixes. These markers usually denote the patients of transitive verbs or the core arguments of intransitive verbs.
| 1st | -oñ |
|---|---|
| 2nd | -ety |
| 3rd | -ø |
There are three plural markers for plural case marking in Ch'ol – two clitics and one suffix. The two clitics can be attached either before the singular person markers or after the verbal roots.[20]
| 1st (in) | la |
|---|---|
| 1st (ex) | l(oj)oñ |
| 2nd | la |
| 3rd | -ob ~ -o' |
Theexclusive 1st plural marker has a shorter formloñ and a longer formlojoñ. Both are used interchangeably, except when it is attached before a singular marker, in which case only the shorter form is allowed. The plural suffix -ob is often realized as-o' in speech.
The basic word order isVOS. However, word order varies and VOS is not always grammatical: factors including animacy, definiteness, topicalization and focus contribute to determining which word order is appropriate.[21] A Ch'ol simple transitive phrase is comprised minimally of a single transitive verb in the form of [ASP Set A + Verb + Set B]. In the case ofnon-agentive intransitive verbs, the cross-reference of the single argument is accomplished with either Set A or Set B depending on theaspect of the verb. Verbal predicates can have the following aspects:perfective,imperfective,progressive,inceptive,terminative, andpotential.[22]
Within Chʼol transitive verbs, there exist two primary categories: simple forms and derived forms. The former modifies the primary arguments within the verb by cross-referencing the transitive subject in Set A and the object in Set B. In the perfective aspect, this category incorporates a status suffix, which is a vowel in harmony with the root vowel. Conversely, the imperfective aspect does not take such status suffix.[23]
| mi | i-k'el-ø-o' |
| imfv | a3-see-b3-pl3 |
| 'They see it.' | |
To form derived transitive verbs, the suffix-V or-Vñ is appended, based on the aspect. Unlike the simple forms, the suffix does not need to be in harmony with the root vowel. The direct arguments in this category are identified via Set A and Set B inflections.[24]
| mi | k-il-añ-ø | tyi | k-otyoty-i-ø | ||||
| imfv | a1-see-dt-b3 | prfv | a1-house-dt-b3 | ||||
| 'They see it.' | 'I inhabitated it.' | ||||||
This construction does not take aspect markers, in contrast to verbal predicates. It can be headed by nouns, adjectives, positionals, etc. The core argument only takes Set B markers.[25]
| wäy-äl-oñ |
| sleep-stat-b1 |
| 'I saw him.' |
