(75b) he ix kaax lum h conic lae
‘and here is the forest land that we sell’ (DZ791A-006A-C)
(75c) lay v chun h conic lae
‘this is the reason why we sell it:
tux ma v chen satal ti toon
so that it won’t just be removed from us’ (DZ791A-008A-B)
(75d) lay v chun h kubic u carta de bentail y v tituloil
‘this is the reason why we turn over the bill of sale and the title
ti lay ca yum señor D.n Bernaldo del Castillo
to this lord of ours, Don Bernaldo del Castillo’ (DZ791A-010A-B)
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TENSE/ASPECT AND MOOD
In these cases, the remnants of the aspectual head word (c) and the clitic pronoun (c) are identical; there-
fore, it is not clear whether h is a reduction of the former or the latter.
lic eventually disappeared from the language entirely, leaving c (phonetic [kə]) before consonant-initial
stems as the only representative of the incompletive aspectual head word in Modern Yucatec, as in:
(76a) b’ey ʔiknal mehen k’éʔenoʔ k im b’isik túun hoʔ
‘thus with piglets there, I took them to Merida then’ (EBT979A)
(76b) t u mèen hač k u ȼ’oyik máak
‘because it makes the person very thin’ (EBT979B)
(76c) k a péeɁȼ’=mačtik a nak’ b’eyaʔ k aw úʔuyik u titip’
‘if you press your abdomen like this, you hear it ticking’ (EBT979B)
(76d) y éetel le b’ukáʔah b’áʔal k u mèentikóʔob’ tíʔ le máakóob’
‘and the countless things they did to those people,
y éetel u pàalalóob’ y éetel u ʔìiháasóob’oʔ
and their sons, and their daughters’ (EBT979C)
(76e) le máakóʔob’ k u meyahóʔob’ wayeʔ
‘these people were working here’ (CHK979)
The other aspectual head words associated with the imperfective stem in Colonial Yucatec have sur-
vived intact into recent times as hóʔop’ (inceptive), táan (durative), ȼ’óʔok (terminative), and yàan or yan
(compulsive):
(77a) káʔah túun hóʔop’ u tàalóʔob’ b’ineʔ
‘and then they began to come, it is said’ (CHK979)
(77b) le č’úupaloʔ táan u y óok’ol
‘that girl was crying’ (EBT979C)
(77c) táan u lúub’sik k’áaš
‘he’s clearing the jungle’ (Blair and Vermont-Salas 1965:90)
(77d) ȼ’óʔok a b’èetik le meyahoʔ
‘you finished doing that work’ (Blair and Vermont-Salas 1965:121)
(77e) in sukúʔuneʔ ȼ’óʔok u b’in šan
‘my older brother finished going too’ (Blair and Vermont-Salas 1965:124)
(77f) yàan u ȼ’áik tak ʔičkíil tíʔ b’eyoʔ
‘she must even bathe her in it like that’ (EBT979B)
TENSE/ASPECT AND MOOD
97
On the other hand, there have been reduced alternatives of táan and ȼ’óʔok in Modern Yucatec at least
since the 1960s:
(78a) t in čan wenel
‘I’m having a snooze’ (Blair and Vermont-Salas 1965:86)
(78b) t u lúub’sik k’áaš
‘he’s clearing the jungle’ (Blair and Vermont-Salas 1965:90)
(78c) tún lúub’sik k’áaš
‘he’s clearing the jungle’ (Blair and Vermont-Salas 1965:90)
(78d) ȼ’ u náakskóʔob’ e kàah b’eyaʔ
‘they finished raising the town like this’ (CHK979)
(78e) ȼ’ u máan ʔàanyos b’eyoʔ
‘the years finished passing like that’ (CHK979)
A comparison of (78b–c) with (77c) indicates that there are actually two reduced forms of táan in Modern
Yucatec. In one (78b), táan is reduced to a single consonant, t. In the other (78c), the clitic pronoun, u, is
infixed in táan, rather than representing a separate element in the phrase. (78d–e) shows that ȼ’ is the only
alternative form of ȼ’óʔok in Modern Yucatec.
The imperfective stem co-occurs with three additional head words in Modern Yucatec, for which I
have found no evidence in Colonial Yucatec. The assurative aspect is represented by the framing particles
héʔ(el) ... eʔ:
(79a) héʔel a tàal sáamaleʔ
‘you will certainly come tomorrow’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:102)
(79b) héʔ u tàal sáamaleʔ
‘he will certainly come tomorrow’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:102)
(79c) héʔ im b’is[i]keʔ
‘I will certainly take him along’ (Blair and Vermont-Salas 1965:159)
The proximate perfective aspect is also composed of framing particles, táant ... eʔ:
(80a) táant in wèensikeʔ
‘I just put him to sleep’ (Blair and Vermont-Salas 1965:158)
(80b) táant u b’ineʔ
‘she just went’ (Blair and Vermont-Salas 1965:158)
(80c) táant in hàan[a]leʔ
‘I just ate’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:270)
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It is tempting to view táant as a combination of the durative particle, táan, and the completive clitic particle,
t, that refers to completed actions. The fact that táant ... eʔ refers to the immediate past lends credence to
that interpretation, even though it does not co-occur with the perfective stem.
The aspect that expresses necessity is the remaining one associated with the imperfective stem in
Modern Yucatec. Its head word is k’ab’éet4:
(81a) pwes b’eyoʔ t u mèen le h kàahléʔešaʔ k’ab’éet k nohočkíintikéʔeš
‘Well, like that, because we residents, we need to enlarge it’ (CHK979)
(81b) k’ab’ét iŋ manik ʔum p’é č’óoy
‘I have to buy a bucket’ (Blair and Vermont-Salas 1965:250)
(81c) k’ab’ét im b’in b’eʔòoráaʔ
‘I have to go now’ (Blair and Vermont-Salas 1965:251)
2.3. ASPECTUAL HEAD WORDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SUBJUNCTIVE STEM. Modern Yucatec has three as-
pectual head words that co-occur with the subjunctive stem: ʔúuč (remote or indefinite past), sáam (anteri-
or past), and b’íin (remote or indefinite future). Of these, only b’íin is well documented in Colonial sources
(as bin). Only one instance of ʔúuč appears in a dated context and one each in the Books of Chilam Balam
of Chumayel and Kaua (as uch), the extant copies of which probably date from the first quarter of the
nineteenth century. sáan is not usually classified as a head word, but it does have that function in Modern
Yucatec, as explained in 3. below.
The Calepino de Motul defines bin as a particle of the future imperfect (es particula de futuro imperfecto)
(Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 52v), implying that it served as a tense marker. However, its principal function in
the language was as an aspect, characterizing an event that may take place in the future as indefinite or
remote. The uncertainty implied by this aspect is consistent with its association with the subjunctive stem.
The following sentences illustrate the use of this head word with root transitive subjunctive stems
marked by -Vb in Colonial Yucatec:
(82a) bin in macab in kooch
‘I will pay for my mistake’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 283r)
(82b) bin va a xetheb au ol ti benel ti katun
‘will you dare to go to war?’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 457r)
(82c) bin a ppoob a nok çamal laachano
‘you are going to wash your clothes tomorrow; so it will be! (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 257v)
(82d) bin in muxub v bal in ba ca in çijb ti y otoch ku
‘I
am going to liquidate my possessions and offer them to the church’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 314r)
The examples below demonstrate the use of this head word with root intransitive stems marked by -Vc
in Colonial Yucatec:
(83a) bin nahac ti hun kul bolon pixanil
‘he will merit good fortune’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 319r)
TENSE/ASPECT AND MOOD
99
(83b) ma vohel va mac bin xijc ti ho
‘I don’t know who will go to Merida’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 441v)
(83c) bicx cochom va bin cimicech ichil a kebane
‘what will become of you if you die in your sin?’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 78r)
(83d) ɔa a tumut=thanex va mac bin ococ ti alcaldeil
‘vote for someone who will become magistrate!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 128r)
(83e) napul padre ti missa ti hanal ca bin huluc vaye
‘as soon as the priest arrives here, he will say Mass and eat’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 324r)
bin was also mentioned frequently as a head word with subjunctive stems in notarial documents
throughout the Colonial period, especially in testaments and those concerned with land disputes. Some
examples of its use in such contexts appear below:
(84a) ma ix mac u yanal uinic bin ococ u colobi
‘and none of the other men are going to enter their cornfields’ (EBT600C)
(84b) ua bin hoppoc ti baxal t u tanil testigosob
‘if he will begin to joke in the presence of witnesses’ (OX683-017A-C)
(84c) bin ix v kubub v hunil tiob xan
‘and he is going to deliver the document to them also’ (DZ700-016A-B)
(84d) bin y ohelt_ob t u lacal vinicob yanil yn tixtamento yn tokyah tħan
‘everyone is going to know of the existence of my last will and testament’ (TK724A)
(84e) ti ma k ohel va yx bin cimicen yn yanil t in cħapahal yn yanil lae
‘for we do not know if I am going to die from this illness of mine’ (TK730J)
The Proclamation of Juan de la Cruz, a text produced by the leader of a Maya religious movement in the
middle of the nineteenth century, used bin in prophetic utterances with transitive roots and stems:
(85a) he max ma tan ll ocsah oltic inv aalmah tħane
‘whoever is not believing in my commandments
bin u kam_ hun lukul numniah ti minan u xul
is going to receive endless suffering forever’ (V. Bricker 1981a:189, lines 74–76)
(85b) he max bin u ɔocbes_ inv almah tħane
‘whoever is going to obey my commandments
bin u nahalt_ u nohchil in gloria
is going to win the fullness of my Grace’ (V. Bricker 1981a:189, lines 77–78)
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TENSE/ASPECT AND MOOD
The following sentences illustrate the use of b’íin with transitive and intransitive subjunctive stems in
Modern Yucatec:
(86a) b’áʔaš k’ìin b’íin a ȼ’áeh
‘when are you going to give it?’ (Blair and Vermont-Salas 1967:684)
(86b) b’íin talak in wenel
‘I’ll get to sleep’ (Blair and Vermont-Salas 1967:684)
(86c) b’íin talak u šoteh
‘he will come to cut it’ (V. Bricker 1979a:294)
There was, then, essentially no change in the use of bin/b’íin as an aspectual head word from the time
when the Spaniards first arrived in the Yucatan peninsula until recent times. Then, as now, it referred to
a remote, indefinite, or uncertain future, contrasting in this respect with other “futures,” such as the one
implied by the assurative aspect, whose outcome was regarded as less in doubt. It is for this reason that
b’íin cannot be regarded as a marker of the “future tense.” What is most salient about b’íin is its focus on
uncertainty, a quality that is reinforced by its association with subjunctive stems.
uch (phonetic [ʔúuč]) refers to events that have taken place at the opposite end of the time spectrum
from b’íin, namely the remote or indefinite past. The few examples of its use in Colonial documents are
best translated as ‘long ago’:
(87a) uch sat[a]cen uay iokol cabe
‘I got lost long ago here in the world’ (EBT632A)
(87b) vch yn ɔab_ tech
‘I gave it to you long ago’ (Gordon 1913:36)
(87c) chacautacob yan t u pucsikal kohane
‘as for fevers that exist in a patient’s heart,
va uch hoppoc tie ma utz v xenahebe
if they began there long ago, vomiting is not good’ (Kaua n.d.:II, 47L)
It is more common in Modern Yucatec:
(88a) ʔúuč u mačeh
‘he seized it long ago’
(88b) ʔúč ȼ’íb’nakeč
‘long ago you wrote’ (Blair 1964:101)
(88c) ʔúč kušlakóʔob’
‘they lived long ago’ (Blair 1964:116)
TENSE/ASPECT AND MOOD 101
sáam (also sáan), the head word that refers to the anterior past, occurred frequently in conversation
during the months in 1979 when I lived in Ebtun. My fieldnotes include the following examples of its use:
(89a) láas trèes ʔáak’ab’eʔ sáan líik’ik ʔóoȼil in swèegráeʔ p’oʔ k’úʔum
‘at three o’clock at night, my poor mother-in-law had already risen to rinse hominy’ (EBT979A)
(89b) sáam u tàaseh
‘he brought it a while ago’ (V. Bricker 1979a)
(89c) sáan šíʔik hwàan
‘John went a while ago’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:242)
There is no evidence of the use of this aspectual head word in any of the 125 documents in the Titles of
Ebtun, nor in the other documents in my database, perhaps because it is more likely to be relevant in the
give and take of oral dialogue than in the narrative discourse of written texts.
3. SEMANTIC IMPLICATIONS OF ASPECT IN MODERN YUCATEC
The semantic distinctions encoded by the many aspectual head words and deictic particles in Modern
Yucatec can be evaluated by comparing them with respect to specific transitive and intransitive verbs. For
this purpose, I have chosen the root transitive, mač ‘to grasp, seize,’ and the root intransitive, b’in ‘to go,
leave,’ and have examined their inflection with the six aspectual head words and one clitic particle that
have a temporal reference of some kind to the past. Included in this analysis is the present perfect inflec-
tion of these verbs.
In the transitive examples (90a–g), the phrases are grouped in terms of their aspectual stem suffixes:
-ik, followed by -ah, then -eh (elicitation notes 1979):
(90a) ȼ’óʔok in mačik
‘I finished seizing it’
(90b) táant in mač[i]keʔ
‘I just seized it’
(90c) hóʔop’ in mačik
‘I began to seize it’
(90d) t in mačah
‘I seized it (but it may not still be in my hand)’
(90e) in mačmah
‘I have seized it (and it is still in my hand)’
(90f) sáam in mačeh
‘I already seized it (but it is no longer in my hand)’
(90g) ʔúuč in mačeh
‘I seized it long ago’
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TENSE/ASPECT AND MOOD
The same principle underlies the ordering of intransitive examples in (91a–g), except that the correspond-
ing aspectual stem suffixes that are relevant for b’in are -Ø, -ih, -(ah)áʔan, and -Vk (V. Bricker 1979a:90):
(91a) táant u b’in_eʔ
‘he just left (and has not yet returned)’
(91b) ȼ’óʔok u b’in_
‘he f
inished going (and returned recently)’ [i.e, his departure ended, and now he’s back]
(91c) hóʔop’ u b’in_
‘he began to leave’
(91d) b’inih
‘he went (action completed)’
(91e) b’iháʔan
‘he has gone (and not yet returned)’
(91f) sáan šíʔik
‘he went some time ago (and returned)’
(91g) ʔúuč šíʔik
‘he went long ago’
In (91f–g), šíʔik is the suppletive subjunctive stem of b’in in Yucatec Maya. In (91e), b’iháʔan is a contraction
of b’inaháʔan; -áʔan is a participial suffix that marks the intransitive counterpart of the transitive present
perfect stem (see 2.1. in Chapter 10).
The difference in meaning between b’inih and biháʔan can be clarified by considering the following
examples with b’in, tàal ‘to come,’ and lúub’ ‘to fall’ (elicitation notes 1979):
(92a) b’in_ hoʔ
‘he went to Merida (and may not return)’
(92b) biháʔan hoʔ
‘he has gone to Merida (and will return)’
(92c) tàal_ h wàan
‘John came (and left again)’
(92d) tàalháʔan h wàan
‘John has come (and is still here)’
(92e) lúub’ih
‘he fell (but it is not known if he stayed on the floor)’
(92f) lúub’áʔan
‘he has fallen (and is still on the floor)’
TENSE/ASPECT AND MOOD 103
Figure 5-3. Aspects of Yucatec Maya. Drawing by Harvey M. Bricker.
These pairs of examples indicate that the completive aspect (marked by -ih or -Ø in [92a], [92c], and [92e]
and no aspectual head word or particle) refers only to the completion of an action, without specifying its
internal constituency (Comrie 1976:5), whereas the present perfect (marked by -[ah]áʔan in [92b], [92d],
and [92f]) indicates that the action in question has some duration, as is also apparent in the following
examples of the use of b’iháʔan and pik’čaháʔan in Hocaba:
(93a) ʔamat k’ìin b’iháʔan h wàan
‘John was gone all day’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:5)
(93b) b’iháʔan y óoʔ č’éʔen in kìik
‘my older sister has gone to the well’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:16)
(93c) pik’čaháʔan
‘he’s gone’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:216)
Another dimension of contrast concerns the relative distance from the present encoded by the differ-
A Historical Grammar of the Maya Language of Yucatan (1557-2000) Page 19