A Historical Grammar of the Maya Language of Yucatan (1557-2000)
Page 9
On the other hand, when, as a result of suffixation, two unlike nasals formed a cluster, the first nasal
was deleted:
(30)
Input
Output
Gloss
in matan-m-a
in mat__-m-a
I have donated it
canan-m-a-il
cana_-m-a-il
having been protected
u mektan-m-a
u mekta_-m-a
he has subjugated him
Note that, in the first case, both the first consonant in the cluster and the vowel immediately preceding
it are deleted, creating a new consonant cluster that was apparently more acceptable than the cluster of
unlike nasals. The output form is very common in Colonial documents.
2.3. VOCALIC PROCESSES. Because of the CVC and CVCVC structure of Maya roots, affixation and root con-
catenation did not produce vowel clusters in Colonial Yucatec. However, something very much like vowel
hiatus occurred when laryngeal consonants were flanked by unlike vowels, triggering the phonological
processes of vowel harmony and epenthesis.
2.3.1. THE SPECIAL STATUS OF LARYNGEALS. Olanike Orie and I have argued that laryngeals have a special
status in Modern Yucatec that sets them apart from other consonants in the language (Orie and V. Bricker
2000). [ʔ] and [h] are placeless consonants, whereas the other consonants have place specification. This
difference is manifested in their behavior when they follow the pronominal clitics iŋw, aw, and uy. The ini-
tial glottal stop and laryngeal [h] may be deleted after these clitics, whereas other consonants remain firm,
and it is the glide in the clitic that deletes before them (compare [11], [15], and [16] with [12], [13], and [14]
above). It also shows up in the differential treatment of laryngeals and other consonants in root-final posi-
tion before the passivizing suffix -b’, where laryngeals are deleted but other consonants are not (compare
[23] and [24] with [25]).
In Modern Yucatec, laryngeals serve as epenthetic consonants with Spanish loans, many of which begin
and/or end with vowels. In order to maintain the principle that all roots and stems must begin and end in
consonants, it is necessary to insert epenthetic consonants before vowel-initial and after vowel-final loans.
The glottal stop is the consonant adopted for vowel-initial loans, and [h] appears after vowel-final loans:
(31)
Spanish
Yucatec Adaptation
Gloss
arroz
ʔáaros
*háaros
rice
anita
ʔàan
*hàan
Anne
estevan
ʔèes
*hèes
Steven
ojo
ʔòohoh
*hòohoʔ
eye
albahaca
ʔáalbahàakah
*háalbahàakaʔ
basil [herb]
banda
bàandah
*bàandaʔ
neighborhood
mamá
mamah
*mamaʔ
mother
PHONOLOGY 33
mesa
mèesah
*mèesaʔ
table
tía
tyàah
*tyàaʔ
aunt
pato
pàatoh
*pàatoʔ
duck
Another special characteristic of laryngeals is that they can only be flanked by identical vowels, whereas
other consonants can be flanked by either identical or non-identical vowels:
(32) Identical
Non-identical
V root
Gloss
V root
Gloss
k’upus
mange
nàapul
direct
ʔatan
wife
kitam
peccary
šikin
ear
kóokay
firefly
ʔab’al
plum
k’óob’en
kitchen
pečéeč
spindle
ʔíičam
husband
k’ošol
mosquito
pišàan
soul
síinik
ant
kunel
in vain
k’amas
termite
homaʔ
gourd for corn seed
ʔawat
shout
čowak
long
k’eyem
posol
ʔáayin
alligator
kalap
space, ravine
š tuliš
dragonfly
(33)
Root
Gloss
wíʔit’
loincloth
lúʔum
land
héʔel
rest
hóʔol
head, hair
wáʔal
stand up
č’uhuk
sweet
mehen small
tohol
price, value
mahan borrowed
When root-final laryngeals are followed by -VC affixes whose vowel is unlike the vowel in the root, the laryn-
geal may be replaced by a glide, either [y] before front vowels or [w] before back vowels, or the vowel in the
root assimilates to the vowel in the affix:
(34)
Input
Output
Gloss
kin ȼ’ah-ik
kin ȼ’ayik
I give it
kin šeh-ik
kin šeyik
I vomit it
ȼ’ah-eh
ȼ’ayeh
give it!
sih-eh
siyeh
present it!
ȼ’ah-ob’
ȼ’awob’
give them!
šeh-ob’
šewob’
vomit them!
hàah in t’àan
hàay in t’àan
my word is true
hàah u t’àan
hàaw t’àan
his word is true
in tiʔal
in tiyal mine
34 PHONOLOGY
The Calepino de Motul lists tiyal as an alternative spelling of tial (Ciudad Real 1600?: fols. 226v, 375v), and
a Tekanto notary used ɔayic as an alternative spelling of ɔaic in a series of testaments he recorded in 1750.
2.3.2. ACCENT AND PITCH. Modern Yucatec and the San Quintín dialect of Lacandon (Canger 1995) have a
pitch accent system. They are languages that use phonemic tone but allow only long vowels to carry tone;
neutral vowels do not carry tone. There are two tones: (1) high or rising and (2) low, level, or falling. Itsaj
and Mopan do not have a pitch-accent system. They have only long vowels, short vowels, and rearticulated
vowels. The question is whether Colonial Yucatec was more like Itsaj and Mopan or had already developed
a pitch-accent system like that of Modern Yucatec and San Quintín Lacandon. Since the representation
of tone is intrinsically tied to syllable structure and weight, the issue of whether tone was represented in
Colonial Yucatec will be addressed by examining syllable representation. Based on syllable facts, a recon-
structed history of tone will be proposed.
2.3.2.1. STRESS. I have previously described the stress pattern of Modern Yucatec as follows:
In words of more than one syllable, the syllable
containing a long vowel is stressed. If the
word has two long vowels, the vowel in the first syllable receives primary stress. If the word
has no long vowel, the last syllable is stressed (V. Bricker et al. 1998:xiii).
The Calepino de Motul marks vowel length and stress whenever entries can be distinguished only in terms
of these features. In such cases, the scribe(s) responsible for compiling the Calepino marked the complex
vowel — either long or rearticulated — either by doubling it (i.e., representing the root as CVVC), or by plac-
ing an acute accent over the single vowel, or by both doubling and accenting the vowel. In addition, the
notation “the accent on the first syllable” (el acento en la primera sílaba) frequently described the pronunci-
ation of stems whose roots contained complex vowels; similarly, the notation “the accent on the last sylla-
ble” (el acento en la última sílaba) often described the pronunciation of stems whose roots contained short
vowels. These notations are consistent with the stress pattern in Modern Yucatec, where heavy syllables
containing long vowels or rearticulated vowels are the ones that are stressed, but stress falls on the last
syllable of stems lacking heavy syllables.
Although not applied consistently to every syllable containing a long or rearticulated vowel, the double
vowels and acute accents are distributed neither randomly nor haphazardly in the Calepino. They are
highly patterned, an observation that is reinforced by the fact that the scribe(s) often took the trouble to
specify in prose which syllable carried the accent.
It should be noted that the notations about accent specify the syllable that is stressed, but they say
nothing about vowel length or rearticulation per se. Long vowels and rearticulation are most explicitly
marked by vocalic doubling, a spelling practice that often characterizes the root syllable of disyllabic stems
and only rarely the suffix in those stems. There is only one instance of a -VVl participial suffix in the Calepino
de Motul (tookool ‘sharp [metal, stone]’), and, as shown below, the Modern reflex of the accented -Vl suffix
in participles is -Vl. Therefore, it seems reasonable to interpret the accented vowel in participial stems as
short.2
(35)
Passive
Gloss
Participle
Gloss
cáchalbe
broken (large objects)
cachál
broken
çíjnil
be extended
çinil
extended, stretched out
çúppul
be blocked (road)
çuppúl
dense (vegetation)
tzícil
be obeyed
tzicíl
obedient
PHONOLOGY 35
tziilil
be unravelled, shredded, torn
tzilíl
torn, shredded
tzútzul
be closed, filled up, obstructed
tzutzúl
closed, covered
ɔámal
be soaked, immersed
ɔamál
caked
ɔolol
be flayed, skinned, chafed
ɔolól
flayed, skinned, chafed
chúhul
be burned (skin)
chuhúl
burned, seared
chúyul
be sewn, embroidered
chuyul
sewn, embroidered
cħáacal
be cut, chopped
cħaacál
cut, chopped
háaxal
be bored, drilled between
haxál
bored (hole)
the palms of the hands
húulul
be shot, threaded (needle)
hulúl
speared, threaded
húpul
be inserted, encircled (gourds,
hupúl
inserted
hats)
muucul
be buried, hidden, concealed
mucúl
secret, hidden
nuutzul
be joined, closed, blocked
nutzúl
joined, closed, blocked
núppul
be closed, covered, spliced
nuppúl
closed, covered, spliced
ppátal
be left, abandoned, forgotten,
ppatál
left, abandoned, forgotten, lost
lost
tábal
be tied
tabál
tied; mended
tookol
be punctured, let (blood)
tookóol
sharp (metal, stone)
vúakal
be netted (cloth)
vuákál
netted
uátal
be broken, divided in half
uatál
broken (long, hard object)
(long, hard object)
úcħul
be narrowed, contracted
ucħúl
narrowed, constricted
(mouth of vase)
uécel
be spilled, scattered, shed
uecél
spilled, scattered, shed
xéelel
be cut into bits, torn into pieces
xelél
cut into bits, torn into pieces
xétħel
be torn, broken apart
xetħél
torn, broken apart
xóotol
be cut, sliced
xotól
cut
The Calepino de Motul contains numerous pairs of stems based on the same root that differ only in
the length of the vowel in the first syllable. In (35), the stems on the left side of the page, whose roots are
marked by double vowels and/or an acute accent, represent the passive voice of root transitives; with one
exception, those on the right, whose roots contain short vowels, represent participles based on the corre-
sponding transitive root. The two sets of stems have -Vl suffixes (V echoes the root vowel); the vowels in the
participial suffixes carry an acute accent, the ones in the passive suffixes do not, agreeing with the reflexes
of passive stems based on transitive roots in Modern Yucatec, which contain a rearticulated vowel:
(36)
Colonial
Gloss
Modern
Gloss
cáchal
be broken
káʔačal
be split, fractured
çíjnil
be extended (large objects)
síʔinil
be extended, stretched out
çúppul
be blocked (road)
súʔup’ul
be fenced in with
tzícil
be obeyed
ȼíʔikil
be respected, obeyed
tziilil
be unravelled, shredded, torn
ȼíʔilil
be shredded
tzútzul
be closed, filled up, obstructed’
ȼúʔuȼul
be closed, filled up, obstructed,
scarred
ɔámal
be soaked, immersed
ȼ’áʔamal
be soaked, immersed
36 PHONOLOGY
chúhul
be burned (skin)
čúʔuhul
be burned (skin)
chúyul
be sewn, embroidered
čúʔuyul
be sewn
cħáacal
be cut
, chopped
č’áʔakal
be cut, axed
háaxal
be bored, drilled between
háʔašal
be laid (rope),
the palms of the hands
beaten (chocolate)
húulul
be shot, threaded (needle)
húʔulul
be focused, lighted;
thrusted, threaded
húpul
be inserted, encircled
húʔupul
be inserted
(gourds, hats)
muucul
be buried, hidden, concealed
múʔukul
be buried
nuutzul
be joined, closed, blocked
núʔuȼul
be joined, closed, blocked
núppul
be closed, covered, spliced
núʔup’ul
be closed (mouth, lid)
ppátal
be left, abandoned, forgotten,
p’áʔatal
be left, abandoned
lost
tábal
be tied
táʔabal
be grafted, rooted
tookol
be punctured, let (blood)
tóʔok’ol
be punctured, bled
vúakal
be netted (cloth)
wáʔak’al
be netted (hammock)
uátal
be broken, divided in half
wáʔatal
be broken, divided in half
(long, hard object)
úcħul
be narrowed, contracted
ʔúʔuč’ul
be dented
(mouth of vase)
uécel
be spilled, scattered, shed
wéʔekel
be spilled, shed
xétħel
be torn, broken apart
šéʔet’el
be torn, broken apart
xóotol
be cut, sliced
šóʔotol
be cut, sliced
There is no such agreement between the stress patterns of participles based on transitive roots in Colonial
and Modern Yucatec:
(37)
Colonial
Gloss
Modern
Gloss
cachál
broken
kàačal
split, fractured
çinil
extended, stretched out
sìinil
extended, stretched out
çuppúl
dense (vegetation)
sùup’ul
fenced
tzicíl
obedient
ȼìikil
respected
tzilíl
torn, shredded
ȼìilil
shredded
tzutzúl
closed, covered
ȼùuȼul
closed, filled up, obstructed,
scarred
ɔamál
caked
ȼ’àamal
soaked, immersed
chuhúl
burned, seared