singular form of that pronoun is -Ø, it is formally identical to the antipassive example in (26c).
There is no such ambiguity between the active and antipassive perfective and subjunctive stems
derived from causatives in Modern Yucatec:
TRANSITIVE VERBS 155
(27a) t inw oksah_
‘I planted it’
(27b) ʔoksahnahen
‘I planted’
(27c) b’íin inw okseh_
‘I will plant it’
(27d) b’íin ʔoksahnacen
‘I will plant’
Note that the vowel in the -nah and -nac suffixes in (27b) and (27d) echoes the preceding vowel (a), not the
vowel in the root (o).
I have found only one antipassive example derived from a causative stem in Colonial Yucatec:
(28)
ua tian ti lakin ca bin ocsahnaceche
‘if it is in the east, then you will plant’ (Tizimin n.d.: fol. 21r)
It has the same structure as the example in (27d), suggesting continuity in the formation of such anti-
passives from Colonial to Modern Yucatec.
1.2.1.4. VOICE IN OTHER CAUSATIVE STEMS. Two other kinds of causative stems are listed as entries in the
Calepino de Motul, one derived from a celeritive intransitive stem and others derived from nominal, tran-
sitive, and adjectival roots.
1.2.1.4.1. VOICE IN CAUSATIVES DERIVED FROM CELERITIVE STEMS. The Calepino de Motul lists causative
stems derived from only one celeritive stem (mankahal ‘to pass quickly or suddenly’): mankaheçah and
mankeçah, both glossed as ‘to pass quickly; to say or advise quickly.’ Only the active voice of these stems
is illustrated in context in the Calepino with imperfective aspect:
(29a) mankahezex ten
‘tell me quickly how you-all are!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 298r)
(29b) mankez t u xicin batab
‘advise the leader quickly
v pakin v ximbal in paalilob lae
so that these servants of mine will benefit from their journey
hik çaçap hulucob
so that they do not return empty-handed!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 365r)
The Hocaba dictionary of Modern Yucatec lists four causatives derived from celeritives: halk’es ‘to let
slip, fall’ (< halk’ah ‘to slip, roll’), kipk’es ‘to drop’ (< kipk’ah ‘to slip suddenly’), poȼ’k’ah ‘to push over edge’
(< poȼ’k’ah ‘to slip suddenly’), and tihk’es ‘to cause to slip’ (< tihk’ah ‘to unravel suddenly’). The active and
passive voices of such causatives are illustrated in context below:
156
TRANSITIVE VERBS
(30a) šèen a halk’es le sùumoʔ táan u tàal čáak
‘go lower that rope [in the well]! rain is coming’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:95)
(30b) kipk’esáʔab’ t u k’áan=čeʔ
‘he was dismissed from office’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:129)
1.2.1.4.2. VOICE IN CAUSATIVES MARKED BY -BES. Although causatives marked by -bes are more numerous
than causatives marked by -kes in the Calepino de Motul, only one -bes causative has both active and pas-
sive stems, and none has an antipassive stem. The one in question is cambes ‘to teach,’ which is ultimately
derived from the transitive root, can ‘to learn.’ The imperfective, perfective, and subjunctive stems of the
active voice of cambes are illustrated in context below:
(31a) mai tac v cambeçicon
‘he never teaches us [nor did he ever teach us]!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 397v)
(31b) maina v cambeçah v mehen Juan ena v mehen
‘John did not yet teach his son, who was being his son,
bicx bin v cambeçic v mehen Pedro
how will he teach Peter’s son?’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 288v)
The passive examples in (32a–b) represent the imperfective and subjunctive stems of this causative:
(32a) puɔceni ma tħan lic in cambeçabal
‘I fled so that I would not be taught’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 299v)
(32b) bin cambeçabacob paalalob t u çuput y akil voohe
‘the boys will be taught to pronounce the letters’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 113r)
The active voice of causative verbs derived from other roots is represented below:
(33a) t u helbeçah v uich batab
‘the leader changed his appearance’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 182v)
(33b) ma a kochbesic a pixan t u men v babalil cucut
‘don’t encumber your soul with corporeal things!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 249v)
bin a tacbezex Juan t a pachex
‘you-all will intrude on John’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 399v)
The apparent cognate of Colonial cambes is káʔan-s in Modern Yucatec. The infixed glottal stop is a
vestige of the Colonial passive suffix -b’, after it was reduced to a glottal stop and entered the root (see
1.2.3. below). The suffix -s is a remnant of the causative suffix -eç, which converted can-b ‘to be learned’
into cam-b-eç ‘to teach.’
TRANSITIVE VERBS 157
Only active causatives marked by -b’es occur in example sentences in the Hocaba dictionary of Modern
Yucatec:
(34a) helb’es a ȼikb’al
‘change your conversation!’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:102)
(34b) ȼ’óʔokb’es a t’àan
‘keep your word!’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:53)
(34c) dyòos b’óʔotik tíʔ hahal dyòoseʔ
‘thanks to God
b’ehláʔeʔ yàan túʔuš im b’óʔoyb’esik im b’ah
I now have somewhere to lay my head [literally, to shade myself]’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:36)
(34d) kóʔoten a b’óʔoyb’es a b’ah
‘come shade yourself!’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:36)
(34e) t u nupb’es u b’aʔob’
‘they married’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:202)
1.2.2. VOICE IN TRANSITIVES DERIVED FROM NOMINAL ROOTS AND STEMS. The transitivizing suffix -t ap-
pears in the active and passive voices of transitives derived from nominal roots and stems, but not in the
antipassive voice that is associated with such stems.
1.2.2.1. THE ACTIVE VOICE IN TRANSITIVES DERIVED FROM NOUNS. The active voice of transitives derived
from nouns is marked by -ic (imperfective), -ah (perfective), and -e (subjunctive) suffixes that follow the
deri vational suffix -t in Colonial Yuctec, as shown in the following examples based on the noun tzeec ‘ser-
mon’:
(35a) laobi hahal ohelmail ca tħan licil v tzecticoonob
‘it was these who already knew our language with which they preached to us,
y etel v cambeçiconob cuchi
and they taught us then’ (KC567-032A-D)
(35b) ca v tzectahob ... y almah=tħanil Dios toon
‘and they preached the commandments of God to us’ (KC567-19A-B)
(35c) lay in men in tzeecte vinicob cuchi ca cħapahen
‘it was because I was occupied in preaching to men then that I became ill’ (Ciudad Real 1600?:
fol. 305r)
Cognates of the same aspectual suffixes have the same function in Modern Yucatec, as shown in the
following examples based on the derived stems, b’óʔol-t ‘to pay’ (from b’óʔol ‘payment’), tohol-t ‘to cost’
(from tohol ‘price, value’), ʔóol-t ‘to accept, be willing, desire, want’ (from ʔóol ‘heart, will, energy, spirit’),
and hàan-t ‘to eat’ (from han ‘food, meal’):
158
TRANSITIVE VERBS
(36a) dyóos b’óʔo(l)tik
‘thank you [literally, it is God who pays it]’ (V. Bricker et al. 1
998:35)
(36b) b’ahuš u toholtah
‘how much did it cost?’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:279)
(36c) t inw óo(l)tah in hàanteh
‘I wanted to eat it’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:17)
1.2.2.2. THE PASSIVE VOICE IN TRANSITIVES DERIVED FROM NOUNS. In the passives derived from nouns,
the derivational suffix -t must have originally been followed by the passivizing morpheme -b, but by the
time when the Calepino de Motul was compiled, the triconsonantal cluster formed by the root-final conso-
nant and the two suffixes was already being reduced by the insertion of an epenthetic vowel, /a/, between
the two consonantal suffixes.5 To them was added the aspectual suffixes, -al (imperfective), -ih/-Ø (perfec-
tive), and -ac (subjunctive):
(37a) ma bikin in hoppol ti baxal t u ca=ten
‘never again will I begin to jest;
lic ix in ɔaic juramento t u noh in kab
and I swear by my right hand
v tial in tzectabal ua bin hoppocen in likes baxal
so that I am admonished if I begin to jest
te t u tan kin licil binele
in the days to come’ (OX683-004A-007)
(37b) ti tzectab_on y etel ti canbesbon t u men peob s. franco
‘we were sermonized and we were taught by the Franciscan fathers’ (TX567-014B-014D)
(37c) va ix bin tacob v palilob ti baxal thane bin ɔabacob ti mascab
‘and if his sons should come to jest, they will be thrown in jail,
ca tzectabacobe
and they will be sermonized’ (OX650-35A-36B)
Like the passives derived from root intransitives, the passivizing suffix had been reduced from -b to
a glottal stop by the middle of the nineteenth century, which was not reprepresented in the orthography
used at that time, and -abal and -abac became -al and -ac, respectively:
(38a) la u nucul c in tzolic bix u nucul in mental hustisia
‘this is the reason I am explaining what the significance is of justice being done
t u men in sihsah vinicilob ll okol cab
by my engendered people in the world’ (V. Bricker 1981a:196, lines 310–314)
TRANSITIVE VERBS
159
(38b) mix hun ppel hustisia bin mentac ten ma t u beeli
‘not a single judgment that will be made for me that is not just’ (V. Bricker 1981a:195, lines 273–275)
The same changes are evident in Modern Yucatec today in the imperfective (-áʔal) and subjunctive (-áʔak)
passive stems of transitives derived from nouns, but not in their perfective stem (-áʔab’), which did not
reduce -b’ to a glottal stop, but lengthened the epenthetic vowel that separated it from the transitivizing
suffix -t and inserted a glottal stop in it:6
(39a) mináʔan p’àaš máʔa t u b’óʔo(l)táʔal
‘there is no debt that is not paid’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:35)
(39b) ȼ’íib’táʔab’ t u mèen tèeč
‘it was written by you’ (V. Bricker 1978:14)
(39c) màas k u b’in uy áʔal tíʔ e ȼ’ùul káʔah b’óʔoltáʔak réemplasóoʔ
‘more went to tell a white man that a replacement should be paid
kéeh káʔah šíʔik
that he might go’ (SOT971B:14)
The imperfective passive stems of transitives derived from other nouns that are listed as entries in the
Calepino de Motul appear in Tables 7-3 and 7-4.
1.2.2.3. THE ANTIPASSIVE VOICE IN TRANSITIVES DERIVED FROM NOUNS. The nominal root or stem from
which a transitive verb is derived serves as the imperfective antipassive stem with no suffix. Thus, u tzeec
can mean both ‘his sermon’ and ‘he preaches.’ The perfective and subjunctive stems of such antipassives
take the derivational suffix -n, which is followed by the aspectual stem suffixes -i/-Ø in the first case and -ac
in the second:
(40a) ah-tancun a ich ti pe tamuk v tzeec_
‘face the priest while he preaches!’ (Ciudad 1600?: fol. 28v)
(40b) tuchijx ca kuchic ca tzeecni ti hach talan
‘and when he arrived, he preached very solemnly
ti lic v nohcinic v cilich sacramentoil altar
in praise of the Holy Sacrament of the altar’ (Ciudad 1600?: fol. 407r)
(40c) haazni in yum ti be t u men vkah
‘my father suffered on the road because of thirst’ (Ciudad 1600?: fol. 170v)
(40d) haaznacen t u men vijh
‘I may suffer because of hunger’ (Ciudad 1600?: fol. 170v)
The same pattern of treating the nominal root or stem as the imperfective antipassive of transitives
derived from nouns is found in Modern Yucatec.7 The examples in (41a–c) contrast the imperfective active
and antipassive stems derived from meyah ‘work’:
160
TRANSITIVE VERBS
Table 7-3. Passives based on transitive stems derived from monosyllabic noun roots with -t in the
Calepino de Motul (Ciudad Real 1600?). Phonetic spellings represent reflexes in Modern Yucatec.
Phonetic
Nominal Stem
Spelling
Transitive Stem
Passive Stem
beel
b’èel
beel-t
beel-t-ab-al
‘road, way’
‘do, make, cause’
‘be done, made, caused’
bool
b’óʔol
boo(l)-t
boo(l)-t-ab-al
‘payment, reward,
‘satisfy, pay, reward’
‘be paid’
daily wage, price’
can
?
can-t
can-t-ab-al
‘talk, chat, story,
‘tell, relate, recount’
‘be told, related, recounted’
conversation’
çam
?
çam-t
çam-t-ab-al
‘usual cost, expenditure’
‘spend, pay expenses’
‘be spent, paid (expenses)’
çic
?
çic-t
çic-t-ab-al
‘palm leaves’
‘cover house with thatch’
‘be covered (house with thatch)’
tzeec
ȼéʔek
tzeec-t
tzeec-t-ab-al
‘sermon’
‘punish, correct, preach’
‘be punished, corrected,
reprimanded’
ɔib
ȼ’íib’
ɔib-t
ɔib-t-ab-al
‘writing, letter, painting’
‘write, paint, draw’
‘be written, painted, drawn’
ah chaan
čáʔan
chaan-t
chan-t-ab-al
‘spectator, onlooker’
‘watch, behold, view,
‘be viewed, watched’
look on’
ah cħuuc
h č’úuk
cħuuc-t
cħuc-t-ab-al
‘spy, scout, look out for
‘ambush, watch, spy,
‘be ambushed, watched, spied
enemies or game’
scout terrain’
on, scouted (terrain)’
kuul
k’uh
kuul-t
kuul-t-ab-al
‘God, idol’
‘treat as god, value’
‘be worshipped, adored’
men
mèen
men-t
men-t-ab-al
‘occupation’
‘make, do’
‘be made, done’
miç
míis
miç-t
miz-t-ab-al
‘sweeping’
‘sweep, clear vegetation’
‘be swept, cleared’
naat
náʔat
naat-(t)
naat-(t)-ab-al
‘intelligence, reason,
‘know, understand,
‘be understood, known’
knowledge, understand-
reason, guess’
ing, judgment’
TRANSITIVE VERBS
161
Table 7-4. Passives based on transitive stems derived from disyllabic noun roots with -t in the Calepino de
Motul (Ciudad Real 1600?). Phonetic spellings represent reflexes in Modern Yucatec.
Nominal Stem
Phonetic Spelling
Transitive Stem
Passive Stem
alak
ʔàalak’
alak-t
alak-t-ab-al
‘domesticated animal’
‘raise animals to be tame’
‘be raised (tame animal)’
çacal
sakal
çac-t
çac-t-ab-al
‘length of woven cloth’
‘weave’
‘be woven’
ɔilib
?
ɔilib-t
ɔilib-t-ab-al
‘example’
‘imitate, copy, follow’
‘be imitated, copied,
followed’
ah mahan
mahàan
mahan-t
mahan-t-ab-al
‘delinquent borrower’
‘lend, borrow’
‘be lent, borrowed’
matan
máatan
matan-t
matan-t-ab-al
‘alms, charity, mercy,
‘receive, beg for alms
‘be received, beseeched
grace, benevolence’
or grace’
(alms, grace)’
pazal
?
pazal-t
paz-t-ab-al
‘decoy’
paz-t
‘be deceived’
‘attract with decoy, deceive’
tumut
?
tum-t
tum-t-ab-al
‘plan, advice’
‘consider, try, test, taste’
‘be considered, tried,
tested, tasted’
(41a) táan in meyahtik in yùum
‘I am serving my father’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:183)
(41b) k in meyah_ tíʔ h wàan
‘I work for John’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:183)
(41c) le máaš u k’áat meyah_ k u meyah_
‘he who wants to work works’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:183)
A Historical Grammar of the Maya Language of Yucatan (1557-2000) Page 28