A Historical Grammar of the Maya Language of Yucatan (1557-2000)

Page 5

by Victoria R. Bricker

hek

straddle, mount

hepp

hep’

tighten, squeeze

ho

hóʔoh

five

hol

hol

pierce, bore, prick

hopp

hóʔop’

begin

hoth

hóʔot’

scratch

huh hùux

iguana

On the other hand, in final position the Calepino limits orthographic “h” to words ending in [x] (e.g., [lax]

‘slap,’ written as lah, but [ȼ’ah] ‘give,’ written as ɔa). Additional examples of final strong “h” and weak “h,”

respectively, are listed in (5) and (6) below:

(5)

Strong “h”

Phonetic Spelling

Gloss

ah

ʔax

wake up

bah

b’ax

nail

boh

b’ox

hit something hollow

cah

kàax

town, place

ceh kéex

deer

coh kox

puma

chuh

čux

burn

cħah

čax

drip

cħoh

č’òox

indigo

10 ORTHOGRAPHY

hah

xàax

true, permanent

huh hùux

iguana

lah láax

all

loh lox

redeem

noh nox

principal

pah pax

sour

puuh

púux

carry in apron

toh

tòox

straight, direct

tħah

t’ax

drip

ɮah

ȼax

fry

uah wàax

tortilla

uĳh

wíʔix

hunger, famine

(6)

Weak “h”

Phonetic spelling

Gloss

ba

b’ah gopher

be

b’eh road

ci kih henequen

co koh tooth

chu

čúuh

flask, canteen

e

ʔeh

file

ka

k’áah bitter

ku

k’uh God

le leh lasso

na nah house

ɮa

ȼah recover

u

ʔuh

lunar month

ua wáah

if, or

xe šeh vomit

Intervocalically, only [x] is represented by “h” (e.g., lahun ‘ten’ = [laxun], but ɔaic ‘give it’ = [ȼ’ahik]). Addi-

tional examples of intervocalic strong “h” are given in (7):

(7)

Strong “h”

Phonetic Spelling

Gloss

ahau

ʔaxaw

ruler

bahun

b’axun

how much?

cħahum

č’axun

woodpecker

cħuhuc

č’uxuk

sweet

lahun laxun

ten

mahan maxàan

borrowed

mehen

mexen

man’s child

tohol toxol

payment

zoohól

soxol

dead leaves

zuhuy suxuy

virgin

ORTHOGRAPHY 11

Intervocalic examples of weak “h” are most evident across morpheme boundaries:

(8)

Weak “h”

Phonetic spelling

Gloss

u be-il

u b’eh-il

his road

c u ɔa-ic

k u ȼ’ah-ik

he gives it

ku-e

k’uh-eʔ

as for God

u le-ah-en

u leh-ax-en

he deceived me

siil sih-il gift

y u-il

y uh-il

the lunar month

xe-an šeh-áʔan

vomited

They can be compared with intervocalic examples of strong “h” across morpheme boundaries, which is

represented by /h/:

(9)

Strong “h”

Phonetic Spelling

Gloss

ah-en

ʔàax-en

I woke up

u cħih-il

u č’íix-il

he grows

u hah-il

u xàax-il

the truth

in káh-al

in k’áʔax-al

I remember

in kah-ol-t-ah

in k’ax-óol-t-ax

I recognized him

koh-an-il

k’ox-áʔan-il

sickness

au oh-el

aw ox-el

you know it

çih-on

síix-óʔon

we were born

We know from documents that are provenienced in both time and space that the distinction between

velar and laryngeal “h” was maintained throughout the Colonial period. The two consonants merged into

phonetic [h] during the nineteenth century, but the modern language still contains phonological evidence

of the distinction between [x] and [h] (see Orie and V. Bricker 2000 and Chapter 3).

2.1.2. GLOTTAL STOP. The glottal stop is not recorded overtly in the Colonial script, but it can be inferred

from the following spelling practices: First, glottal-stop-final words are frequently signalled by doubling the

vowel that immediately precedes it, in order to distinguish them from weak “h”-final words:

(10)

Double vowel Phonetic spelling

Gloss

caa

kaʔ

grinding stone

cĳ

kiʔ

tasty, delicious

chaa

čaʔ

loosen

chee

čeʔ

wood, tree

chĳ

čiʔ

mouth

cħoo

č’oʔ

rat

haa

haʔ

water

lee

leʔ

leaf

moo

moʔ

macaw

naa

naʔ

mother

nĳ

niʔ

nose

paa

paʔ

break

12 ORTHOGRAPHY

pee

peʔ

carry by rim

taa

taʔ

excrement

too

toʔ

wrap

yaa

yaʔ

sapote

zĳ

siʔ

firewood

(11)

Phonetic

Double Phonetic

Weak “h”

Spelling

Gloss

Vowel

Spelling

Gloss

ci

kih sisal cii

kiʔ

tasty

ku

k’uh

God

kuu

k’uʔ

nest

le

leh

lasso lee

leʔ

leaf

na

nah

house naa

naʔ

house

Second, the glottal stop may be marked by an accent over the preceding vowel (e.g., hé ‘egg’ = [heʔ], hà

‘water’ = [haʔ]); this too provides a contrast with words ending in laryngeal [h]. And third, in glottal-stop-

initial words, the first person plural subject pronoun c (phonetic [k]) is sometimes represented by a glottal-

ized k (written as “k”), suggesting that the scribe realized that the pronoun was followed by a glottal stop:

(12)

Phonetic Input

Colonial Spelling

Aberrant Spelling

Gloss

k ʔohel

c ohel

k ohel

we know it

k ʔilah

c ilah

k ilah

we saw it

k ʔáʔalik

c alic

k alic

we say it

Doubled vowels are found in inter-consonantal as well as final position, where they also imply the exis-

tence of a glottal stop:2

(13)

Double vowel

Phonetic spelling

Gloss

acaan

ʔakáʔan

seated firmly

baal

b’áʔal

thing

buul

b’úʔul

bean

caan

káʔan

sky

haaz

háʔas

banana

hool

hóʔol

head, hair

hoolhun

hóʔolxun

fifteen

luum

lúʔum

land

toobol

tóʔob’ol

be wrapped

uĳh

wíʔih

hunger, famine

xĳc

šiʔik

he might go

Accents also occasionally signal intervocalic glottal stops:

(14)

Accent

Phonetic spelling

Gloss

bùl

b’úʔul

bean

càn

káʔan

sky

hàhàl

háʔaháʔal

summer

ORTHOGRAPHY 13

2.1.3. OTHER VELAR CONSONANTS. Maya Colonial orthography distinguishes between the plain and glot-

talized velar consonants, [k] and [k’], for the most part using “c” for the former and “k” for the latter. Be-

cause “c” represents [s] before [e] and [i] in Spanish orthography, [ke] and [ki] must be written as “que” and

“qui,” respectively. Colonial Maya scribes occasionally represented [k] as “qu” before front vowels:

(15)

Common form

Alternative form

Gloss

bacel baquel bone

ceh

queh deer

cen

quen

I am

ci

qui

Agave sp.

cib

quib candle

cici

quici sweetly

ciliich

quiliich holy

kexbil

quexbil

to be exchanged?

licil liquil

with which

sacĳ

saquĳ

Valladolid

t av uyicex

t av uyiquex

you-all hear it

tencen tenquen

I who am

uinice uinique

as for the man

u naɔic u ba

u naɔiquba

she approaches

Note that, in one case (quexbil for kexbil), “qu” seems to substitute for the glottalized “k,” and in another

(u naɔiquba), “qu” is used even when it does not precede a front vowel.

2.1.4. GLIDES. In the Colonial orthography, [w] was represented by both “u” and “v,” as was the vowel [u].

Similarly, both “i” and “y” are found representing consonantal [y], as well as vocalic [i]. In general, “y” was

the grapheme of choice for [y]-initial words, although there were occasional exceptions: yan ‘exist’ was

sometimes written as ian, for example. In word-final position, [y] was just as likely to be written as “i”:

(16)

Chumayel

Tizimin

Tabi

Tekanto

TOTAL

bay

50

6

76

7

139

bai

0

21

9

10

40

lay

326

2

225

26

579

lai 0 107 7 7 121

uay

110

17

81

28

236

uai

0

26

4

0

30

ix

235

208

199

53

695

yx 118

0 78 7 203

For example, lay ‘this’ was the spelling of choice in the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel (326 instances),

but not in the Book of Chilam Balam of Tizimin, where there are 107 instances of lai and only two of lay (see

[16] above). Similarly, the Chumayel contains 50 instances of bay ‘thus’ but none of bai, whereas the Tizimin

has 21 instances of bai versus only six of bay (see [16] above). There is a similar relationship between “u”

and “v” in Colonial texts.

14 ORTHOGRAPHY

There are also occasional examples of the use of “ll” for consonantal /y/ in word-initial and intervocalic

positions:

(17)

Word-Initial

Phonetic spelling

Gloss

llail yahil painful

llanil yanil

existing

ca lledzec

káʔah yéʔeȼ’ek

it may be squeezed

lletel

y éetel

with, and

llokol

y óok’ol

above, upon

llum yùum father

(18)

Word-Medial

Phonetic spelling

Gloss

pallal chi

payal čiʔ

prayer

sacllulen

sak-yuléʔen

abraded white (color)

ualleb

wayeb’

name of five-day intercalary month

at end of Maya year

2.1.5. LIQUIDS. [r] is an allophone of [l] in Modern Yucatec, occupying the medial or final position in disyl-

labic roots:

(19)

k’eréʔes

k’eléʔes

to eye

p’urúʔus

p’ulúʔus

to inflate

silíir silíil

Diospyros cuneata Standley

Furthermore, the frequency of words containing [r] increases as one moves from the northwestern to

the southeastern part of the peninsula, with [l] being replaced by [r]. This is the case with the Maya word

for “goblin,” which is ʔaluš in the northwest around Merida and ʔaruš in the southeast around Chetumal.

[r] varies freely with [l] in Spanish loans in both Colonial and Modern Yucatec, as in the multiple spellings

of solar ‘ho
use plot, building plot’ in my corpus of testaments from Tekanto:

(20) solar

soral

solal

sorar

In soral, the [l] has metathesized with the [r] in solar, whereas in solal, [l] has replaced [r], and in sorar,

[r] has replaced [l].

Another Colonial example of metasthesis involving [l] and [r] is genelar (< general ‘general’). For Mod-

ern Yucatec, I encountered two sets of examples in Ebtun in 1979. The first is legra (< regla ‘menstruation’).

The second consists of three alternative renditions of the name Gabriela:

(21) Glabiela

Grabiela

Glabiera

ORTHOGRAPHY 15

2.1.6. VOICELESS BILABIAL STOP AND LABIODENTAL FRICATIVE. In Spanish loans containing [f], [f] was

usually replaced by [p], as in pirma (< firma ‘signature’) and porma (< forma ‘form’). In loans containing

both [f] and [p], [f] was treated as an allophone of [p], in much the same way that [r] was treated as an allo-

phone of [l] (see 2.1.5. above), in some cases resulting in the metathesis of the two consonants. Thus, pref-

acio ‘preface’ was sometimes spelled ferpacio, and Karttunen (1985:90) mentions a spelling of purificación

‘puri fication’ as furipicacion. Occasionally, a scribe would err in the opposite direction, changing [p] to [f]

in words of Maya origin. In a document reporting a survey of the forest belonging to Ebtun on November

24, 1833, there were thirteen such hypercorrections:

(22)

Colonial

Variant

Gloss

pach

fac[h]

boundary 1

payabil

fayabil

part, piece

1

sutpahi sutfahi

it turned

4

sap saf

fathom

4

payaab

fayaab

part, piece

3

2.1.7. EJECTIVES. In Modern Yucatec, initial stops are not aspirated, but final stops are (Orie and V. Bricker

2000:297). In a few Colonial documents, the Spanish letters for the voiced stops (b, d, g) were recruited for

representing the ejectives, p’, t’, and k’, in initial position: a “barred b (ƀ),” a “barred d (đ),” and “g.” Simi-

larly, a common variant of the symbol for the alveolar fricative ejective is “dz,” contrasting with the symbol

for its plain counterpart (tz):

(23)

Colonial

Variant

Gloss

ppel

ƀel

thing

tħan

đan

word

kal gal

twenty

ɔol

dzol

peel

ɮol

tzol

place in order

2.1.8. DOUBLE CONSONANTS. In the Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel, 148 words are written with

doubled consonants that have no phonetic source or grammatical functions in Colonial Yucatec. Only the

simple consonants, b, c, h, l, m, n, s, t, w (written as u), x, and y are doubled in the Chumayel manuscript.

For the most part, they represent the final consonant of CVC or CVCVC morphemes that are followed by

inflectional suffixes of the form VC. Thus, for example, the words, cab-ob ‘lands’ and u mul-il ‘its mound,’

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