Qʼanjobʼal language


Qʼanjobʼal is a Mayan language spoken primarily in Guatemala and part of Mexico. According to 1998 estimates compiled by SIL International in Ethnologue, there were approximately 77,700 native speakers, primarily in the Huehuetenango Department of Guatemala. Municipalities where the Qʼanjobʼal language is spoken include San Juan Ixcoy, San Pedro Soloma, Santa Eulalia, Santa Cruz Barillas, San Rafael La Independencia, and San Miguel Acatán. Qʼanjobʼal is taught in public schools through Guatemala's intercultural bilingual education programs.

Classification

Qʼanjobʼal is a member of the Qʼanjobʼalan branch of the Mayan language family. The Mayan language family includes 31 languages, two of which are now extinct. The Qʼanjobʼalan branch includes not only Qʼanjobʼal itself but also Chuj, Akatek, and Jakaltek, also spoken in Guatemala. The Qʼanjobʼalan languages are noted for being among the most conservative of the Mayan language family, although they do include some interesting innovations.

Phonology

Qʼanjobʼal consists of 26 consonant sounds and 5 vowel sounds. The letters of the alphabet are as follows:

a, bʼ, ch, chʼ, d, e, h, i, j, k, kʼ, l, m, n, o, p, q, qʼ, r, s, t, tʼ, tx, txʼ, tz, tzʼ, u, w, x, xh, y, and ʼ.

The ʼ in chʼ, kʼ, qʼ, tʼ, txʼ, and tzʼ represents an ejective or glottalic egressive, i.e., the consonant is accompanied by a puff of air from the glottis. The letter r in Qʼanjobʼal has a limited distribution. It is used mostly in borrowings, primarily in words borrowed from Spanish, such as roxax, rose, from Spanish rosa. It is also used in affect and positional words like kʼarari 'noise of an old engine or the like', jeran 'to be in a broken position/form'. The letters tx and x represent retroflex consonants, pronounced with the tongue curled backward in the mouth. It is believed such retroflection in Qʼanjobʼal is an influence from the Mamean Mayan languages.
FrontCentralBack
Closeiu
Mideo
Opena

Stress

Primary stress in Qʼanjobʼal is fairly simple. Words in isolation and in final phrase boundaries bear stress on the last syllable. However, words within a phrasal unit bear stress on their first syllable.

Morphology and syntax

As in all Mayan languages, Qʼanjobʼal classifies all verbs as either inherently intransitive or as inherently transitive. Qʼanjobʼal is an ergative–absolutive language, in which the subject of a transitive verb takes an ergative affix, while the subject of an intransitive verb, as well as the object of a transitive verb, takes an absolutive affix. Ergative affixes are also used for possession. There are two sets of affixes for ergative: the first set is used for those verbal roots beginning with a consonant, and the second set is used for those beginning with a vowel. However, there is only one set of absolutive affixes with two variations: pronounced like free words or attached to something else.
Below is the table of ergative prefixes for verbal roots beginning with a consonant:
SingularPlural
1st personhin-ko-
2nd personha-he-
3rd persons-/Ø-s-/Ø-

Ergative prefixes for verbal roots beginning with a vowel:
SingularPlural
1st personw-j-
2nd personh-hey-
3rd persony-y-

Absolutive affixes when attached to preceding sounds:
SingularPlural
1st person-in-on
2nd person-ach-ex
3rd person-0-0...

Absolutive affixes not attached to a preceding sound :
SingularPlural
1st personhinhon
2nd personhachhex
3rd person00...

Note that the third person absolutive affix is 0, i.e., unmarked or empty.
Examples:
transitive
X-0-inmaqʼ naq winaq.

COMP-A3S-E1S-hit CL:masc man

'I hit the man.'
intransitive
X-in way-i.

COMP-A1S sleep-STAT

'I slept.'
possessive
before vowel:

w-aqan

E1S-foot

'my foot'
before consonant:

s-qʼab

E3S-hand

'his/her hand'
However, while verbs are classified as either ergative or absolutive and take their own respective sets of pronoun affixes, this rule is altered in certain cases, such as when a verb becomes progressive:
Ch-in kuy-w-i.

INC-A1S study-SFX-STAT

'I study'.
but,
Ipan hin-kuy-w-i.

PROG E1S-study-SFX-STAT

'I am studying'.
In Qʼanjobʼal, aspect is more important than tense. Thus, in most utterances, one will indicate whether the action is incompletive, or whether it is completed, or may happen in the future, in which case it is considered 'unreal', or of irrealis mood, the event still only in the realm of thought or imagination.
incompletive

Ch is used to indicate that an event is incomplete or ongoing at some time:
Chi-0 toj naq unin bʼay y-atut-al kuy-oj.

INC-A3S go CL:masc child to E3S-house-ABS study-NZR

'The boy goes to school'.
Completive

Max or x- are used to indicate that an event is complete:
Max-ex mulnaj-i.

COM-A2P work-STAT

'You worked.'
X-0 way-i.

COM-A3S sleep-STAT

'He/she slept.'
Future/Irrealis

The prefix hoq- with the suffix -oq are used to indicate that the event spoken of has not yet happened, but remains only in the realm of the 'unreal' with only the potential for occurrence in the future:
Hoq-0 saqch-oq heb.

IRR-A3 play-IRR A3P

'They will play.'
Negative

Negative particles include kʼam and manaq:
Kʼam chi-0 y-oche-j.

NEG INC-A3S E3S-want-SFX

'He/she doesn't want it.'
Manaq ix chi-0 toj kuy-oj.

NEG she INC-A3S go study-NOM

'It is not she who goes to study.'
Interrogative

Questions can be formed simply by using rising intonation with declarative syntax:
Ch-0-oche-j cha-ch kanal-w-i w-etoq?

INC-A3S-E2S-SFX INC-A2S dance-SFX-STAT E1S-with

'Do you want to dance with me?'
There is also a question particle, mi:
Watxʼ mi ha-kul?

good INTER E2S-stomach

'Is your stomach good?'

Affixation

Many different affixes are used in Qʼanjobʼal, both prefixes and suffixes. Among these are aj-, used to denote the doer or leader of an action: ajtzʼibʼ, ʼwriterʼ, ajbʼe, 'spiritual guide' ; -bʼal, used to indicate the location where something happens: tzombʼal 'market' ; -al, -alil, -il, used to derive abstract nouns from adjectives, adverbs, numerals, transitive verb roots, and nouns: syalixhal 'his/her smallness' ; swinaqil 'husband' ; -kʼulal, to derive nouns from intransitive verbs, adjectives, other nouns, etc.: watxkʼulal 'friendliness'; -oj, nominalizer, turning verbs into nouns: kuyoj 'studying'.

Word order

Qʼanjobʼal has a fixed word order. It follows a verb–subject–object word order. All changes to this word order are driven by pragmatic or syntactic factors like focus, negation, interrogation, relativization, etc. These are subject to an ergative–absolutive pattern where arguments cross-referenced by ergative affixes must become absolutives prior to their fronting. This results in some possible subject–verb, object–verb–subject orders. However SVO, SOV and OSV are not possible. The apparent exception is in reflexives and reflexive possessives, where the reflexive phrase ERG-bʼa or reflexive possessive ERG-noun appears directly following the verb.

Classifiers

Some Qʼanjobʼal nouns require that certain classifiers be used with them. Among these are no', te, ix, naq, chʼen, xim, and an.
noʼ jun chej

CL-animal horse

'the horse'
teʼ na

CL-wood house

'the house'
ix unin

CL-fem child

'the girl'
naq unin

CL-masc child

'the boy'
chʼen tumin

CL-metal money

'the money'
an kaq

CL-plant flower

'the flower'

Reduplication

Reduplication, or duplication of a root word, is a minor process in the formation of Qʼanjobʼal vocabulary, as in the following:
txʼitam

'pig'

pux-pux

'belly of animal'
txʼa-txʼa

'chewing gum'

Vocabulary

Qʼanjobʼal consists of groups of roots that can take affixes. Words are traditionally classified as nouns, adjectives, adverbs, intransitive and transitive verbs, particles, and positionals. Positionals are a group of roots which cannot function as words on their own; in combination with affixes they are used to describe relationships of position and location. Particles are words that do not take affixes; they mostly function in adverbial roles, and include such things as interrogative particles, affirmative/negative words, markers of time and location, conjunctions, prepositions and demonstratives.
Locatives are often formed by placing a noun after a possessed body-part term: s-ti bʼe, 'edge of the road' < 'its-mouth road' and s-jolom witz, 'mountaintop' or 'summit' < 'its-head mountain'. Similarly, compound nouns may be formed by placing a noun after another possessed noun: y-atutal kuyoj, 'school' < 'its-house studying'.

Numbers

anima, person

chʼenej, rock/stone

aʼ ej, water/river

ix, woman

chikay, grandmother

mamin, grandfather

ixim, corn

kaq, red

kʼu, sun/day

mam, father

mis, cat

na, house

patej, tortilla

sat kan, sky

son, marimba

te, tree

txʼi, dog

txʼotxʼej, land

txʼutx', mother

unin, child

waykan, star

winaq, man

witz, mountain

xajaw, moon/month

yibʼan qʼinal, Earth/world

xumak,flower

Abbreviations used

A1S absolutive first person singular

A1P absolutive first person plural

ABS abstractivizer

CL classifier

COM complete

E1S ergative first person singular

E1P ergative first person plural

INC incomplete

INT interrogative

IRR irrealis

NEG negative

NZR nominalizer

PL plural

PROG progressive

SFX suffix

STAT status