A Historical Grammar of the Maya Language of Yucatan (1557-2000)
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(87a) vet=kex-tah in tzimin ti Juan
‘I exchanged my horse for John’s’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 168r)
(87b) et=kax-te y etel
‘tie them together!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 168r)
(87c) ma au et=pat-ticen t in yum
‘don’t compare me with my father!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 169r)
The Hocaba dictionary contains one example of such a compound with the cognate of et in Modern
Yucatec: ʔéet=k’ab’-t ‘to share, divide evenly’ (from ʔéet ‘equal, same’ and k’ab’ ‘hand, arm, lower forearm’)
(V. Bricker et al. 1998:9, 140).
5.2. ADJECTIVE INCORPORATION. Adjectives usually preceded the verb when they were incorporated into
transitive stems in Colonial Yucatec:
(88) Adjectival
Transitive
Root
Root
Compound
cħuy
con
cħuy=con-t
‘slowly, little by little’ ‘to sell’
‘to sell in remote, distant, or out-of-the way
places because it is not known to whom the
goods belong’
litz con litz=con-t
‘superficial’
‘to sell’
‘to sell short’
mux con
mux=con-t
‘all’
‘to sell’
‘to sell off’
hay muc hay=muc-t
‘superficially’
‘to bury, hide, conceal’
‘to bury superficially’
kep
tħox
kep=tħox-(t)
‘uneven’
‘to share, distribute’
‘to distribute unequally’
uac con uac=con-t
‘excessive’
‘to sell’
‘to overcharge’
The examples in (88) are illustrated in context below:
(89a) v cħuy=con-tah y ocol tzimin Juan
‘John sold his horse in a distant place’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 159v)
182
TRANSITIVE VERBS
(89b) ma a litz=con-tic v bal a ba
‘don’t sell your possessions short!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 267v)
(89c) v mux=con-tah v bal v ba
‘he sold all his possessions’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 314r)
(89d) ma a hay=muc-ticex cimen
‘don’t bury the dead person superficially [in a shallow grave]!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 174v)
(89e) ma a kep=tħox-tic hanal
‘don’t distribute the food unequally!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 245r)
(89f) in vac=con-tah in tzimin
‘I sold my horse for more than it was worth’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 437v)
The adjective, káan ‘strong,’ is incorporated in three transitive stems in Modern Yucatec:
(90)
Transitive
Root
Gloss
Compound
Gloss
lap’
to grasp, seize, clutch
k’áan=lap’-t
to seize firmly /arm/
mač
to grasp, seize
k’áan=mač-t
to grasp firmly
yač’
to flatten, smash, crush
k’áan=yáʔač’-t
to crumple
Here, as in Colonial Yucatec, the adjective is the first root in the compound. Three other examples of such
compounding, with different adjectival and transitive roots, appear below:
(91)
Adjectival
Transitive
Root
Root
Compound
k’úuš
ʔil
k’uš=il-t
‘angry, hateful,
‘to see’
‘to make angry’
raucous, abhorrent’
hóol
mak’
hóol=máak’-t
‘all’
‘to lick, eat without chewing’ ‘to eat rapidly with hands [without tortillas]’
tikin muk
tikin=muk-t
‘dry’
‘to bury’
‘to plant at end of dry season [a few days
before first rains]’
Only two contextual examples of adjectival incorporation appear in the Hocaba dictionary of Modern
Yucatec:
(92a) b’áʔaš t u k’uš=il-tah
‘what made him angry?’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:160)
(92b) táan in čan=čal-ik in koh
‘I am brushing my teeth a little [euphemism for drinking beer]’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:63)
TRANSITIVE VERBS 183
5.3. TRANSITIVE COMPOUNDS WITH TWO TRANSITIVE ROOTS. Some transitive compounds in Colonial
Yucatec contained two verbal roots. The one that appeared first in the stem often modified the verb that
followed it, behaving in this respect like an incorporated adjectival root:
(93)
Transitive
Transitive
Root (1)
Root (2)
Compound
biɔ
haa
biɔ=haa-t
‘to taper /wood/’
‘to scrape, grind, file, sharpen, ‘to sharpen point of needle or punch’
brush, polish /wood/,
smooth’
buh
haɔ
b’uh=haɔ-t
‘to cut, split apart
‘to whip’
‘to cut, injure’
/wood/’
chul choo
chul=choo-t
‘to wipe /plate/; dust’
‘to scrub, rub, wipe, polish
‘to wipe with cloth /plate, container/’
erase’
cħot
yaɔ
cħot=yaɔ-t
‘to wring /clothes/’
‘to squeeze, wring /laundry/’
‘to wring out’
hel cuch
hel=cuch-t
‘to change /occupation, ‘to carry on back
‘to move’
clothes/, exchange,
or from tumpline’
return, recompense’
kay con
kay=con-t
‘to sing (humans),
‘to sell’
‘to auction’
warble, trill (birds,
cicadas)’
The use of these compounds in context is shown below:
(94a) v buh=haɔ-tah in pol Ju.o
‘John cut my head’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 57r)
(94b) biɔ=haa-te v nij puɔ
‘sharpen the point of the needle!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 53r)
(94c) chul=choo-te y it y etel v pach platu ti nok
‘wipe the base and the surface of the plate with a cloth!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 148v)
(94d) cħot=yaɔ-te a ppo=nok
‘wring out your laundry!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 158r)
184
TRANSITIVE VERBS
(94e) hel=cuch-te a cab
‘move your beehives!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 182v)
(94f) v kaay=con-tah v çuyem
‘he auctioned his cape’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 234v)
The compounding of two transitive roots also occurs in Modern Yucatec:
(95)
Transitive
Transitive
Root (1)
Root (2)
Compound
b’ah
lah
b’áah=lah-t
‘to nail’
‘to slap’
‘to slap hard’
kip
ʔil
š kíip=ʔil-t
‘to slip, slide, graze (bullet)’
&nb
sp; ‘to see’
‘to glimpse’
lem
č’in
léem=č’in-t
‘to insert, sink’
‘to throw, hurl’
‘to shove’
šok
čuy
šok=čuy-t
‘to count, read, study’
‘to sew’
‘to embroider [cross-stitch]’
šot
č’ak
šóot=č’ak-t
‘to cut, slice’
‘to cut (with a blow), axe’
‘to chop off with a single stroke’
The compound that refers to cross-stitch embroidery combines the root, čuy ‘to sew,’ with the root, šok,
one of whose meanings is ‘to count,’ perhaps in imitation of the Spanish term for cross-stitch embroidery,
which is “hilo contado,” whose literal translation is ‘counted thread’ in English!
The only contextual example of such compounds in the Hocaba dictionary of Modern Yucatec appears
below:
(96)
čéen t in š kíip=ʔil-tah
‘I just glimpsed it’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:129)
5.4. DIALECTAL VARIATION IN THE FORMATION OF COMPOUNDS IN THE CALEPINO DE MOTUL. All the ex-
amples of transitive compounds cited in 5.1.-5.3. above are suffixed by -t. However, the Calepino de Motul
lists alternative spellings of four compounds without this suffix and illustrates them in minimal pairs of
contextual examples, thereby indicating that the variation was intentional.
The transitive compounds in the following examples lack the suffix, -t:
(97a) v mac=pach_en ah ocolob
‘the thieves punished me [for their crimes]’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 283v)
(97b) ma a kep=tħox_ic hanal
‘don’t distribute the food unequally!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 245r)
TRANSITIVE VERBS 185
(97c) in vac=con_ah in tzimin ti Juan
‘I sold my horse for more than it was worth to John’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 437v)
(97d) vet=kex_ah in tzimin ti Juan
‘I exchanged my horse for John’s’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 168r)
The example in (97a) forms a minimal pair with the example in (83b), where v mac=pach-tahen contrasts
with v mac=pach_en (the -ah suffix is also dropped in this example, an omission that also occurs in fast
speech in Modern Yucatec). The example in (97b) can be paired with the example in (89e), where a kep=tħox-
tic contrasts with a kep=tħox_ic. Another minimal pair contrasts in vac=con-tah in (89f) with in vac=con_ah
in (97c). The fourth minimal pair contrasts vet=kex-tah in (87a) with vet=kex_ah in (97d).
The explicit nature of these minimal pairs suggests that they represented genuine alternatives in Colo-
nial Yucatec. I have not encountered such variation in Modern Yucatec.
6. TRANSITIVE PHRASES
Folio 284r of the Calepino de Motul (Ciudad Real 1600?) contains a minimal pair of contextual examples
based on the transitive root, mac ‘to cover, enclose,’ and the verbal noun, tħan ‘word, language, speech,’
that highlights the differences between transitive phrases and compounds in Colonial Yucatec:
(98a) v macah in tħan tupil
‘the constable blocked my words [so that I would not complain]’
(98b) v mac=tħant-ahen tupil
‘the constable blocked my words (literally, word=blocked me [so that I would not complain])’
The transitive phrase in (98a) differs from the transitive compound in (98b) in two respects: (1) the perfec-
tive aspectual suffix, -ah, is attached to the verb root in (98a), instead of following the noun and the tran-
sitivizing suffix as in (98b); (2) the noun that serves as the direct object of the verb is not part of the verb
stem in (98a) and takes a clitic pronoun, in ‘my,’ in that example, which is replaced by the pronominal suffix
-en ‘me,’ in (98b).
In the following minimal pair, which is based on the transitive root, pak ‘to plant, paste, solder, varnish,’
and the noun (u)ich ‘eye, sight, face,’ the imperfective suffix, -ic, is the one that directly follow pak in the
transitive phrase (99a) and the transitivizing suffix after ich in the corresponding compound (99b):
(99a) ma a pakic v uich Juan
‘don’t slap John’s face!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 365r)
(99b) ma a pak=icht-ic_ Juan
‘don’t face=slap John!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 365r)
The clitic pronoun is v ‘his’ in (99a) and is replaced by the pronominal suffix -Ø (no suffix) ‘him’ in (99b).
Several additional contextual examples of transitive phrases are given below:
(100a) bin in katab v chij
‘I will ask him about it’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 240r)
186
TRANSITIVE VERBS
(100b) ma a cħinic a tħan y okol a lak
‘don’t slander your neighbor!’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 157r)
(100c) v tzutzah bin v hoch Juan
‘they say that John defended himself from the blame that had been cast on him’ (Ciudad Real 1600?:
fol. 121v)
(100d) v nacah vol cħahuc
‘fruit bored me’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 316v)
In general, then, transitive roots were inflected for aspect in transitive phrases in Colonial Yucatec, and
direct objects were usually inflected with clitic pronouns. These characteristics distinguished them from
transitive compounds.
The same is true of the relationship between transitive phrases and compounds in Modern Yucatec, as
the following contextual examples of transitive phrases imply:
(101a) táan uy ilik u nòok’
‘she is menstruating [literally, she is seeing her clothes]’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:12)
(101b) k u čak’ik aw ič le k’ìinoʔ
‘that sun makes you squint’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:62)
(101c) le šíʔipaloʔ táan u čak’ik uy ič tíʔ in kìik
‘that boy is winking at my older sister’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:62)
(101d) táan in čalik in koh
‘I am brushing my teeth’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:63)
(101e) hwàaneʔ t u hič’ah b’in u kàal
John, they say that he hanged himself’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:105)
(101f) t u hit’ah u k’ab’
‘he clasped his hands together [sign of death]’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:107)
7. SUMMARY OF CHANGES IN TRANSITIVE VERBS THROUGH TIME
Significant changes were already underway in the derivation of passive stems from transitive roots during
the second half of the sixteenth century, when the relatively simple treatment of passives inherited from
Proto-Yucatecan was undergoing replacement by the more complicated system of passivization docu-
mented in Modern Yucatec today. The changes were not limited to passives derived from root transitives,
but ultimately triggered changes in passives based on transitives derived from other form classes during
the centuries that followed as well.
Another kind of change characterizes the derivation of transitive stems from adjectives, particles, posi-
tionals, and affects with -cin and -cun. Already in the Calepino de Motul, these derivational suffixes were
TRANSITIVE VERBS 187
sometimes followed by another transitivizing suffix, -t, which came into free variation with -s by the middle
of the nineteenth century, which is the pattern evident today in Modern Yucatec.
NOTES
1. The examples in (7j–l) were elicited in class from Eleuterio Poʔot Yah.
2. Th
e vowel, /a/, has been inserted between the root-final glottal stop in haʔ and the -n suffix to break up
the consonant cluster, /ʔn/.
3. The epenthetic vowel is schwa in Itsaj, but [a] in Mopan (Hofling 2011:19; Hofling and Tesucún 1997:16).
4. Final [l] has become [r] in Lacandon, resulting in the -áʔar imperfective suffix of passivized causatives
and other derived transitives.
5. Folio 382v of the Calepino de Motul lists both puzbal and puzabal as the passive stem of puz-t ‘to wipe
with a cloth,’ suggesting that this change was still in progress during the late sixteenth century.
6. Itsaj and Mopan have retained the passive inherited from Proto-Yucatecan for transitives derived from
nouns. The transitivizing suffix -t appears only in the active voice, which means that there is no tricon-
sonantal cluster and therefore no epenthetic vowel in passive expressions based on transitives derived
from nouns. The imperfective passive stem of mentik ‘to make, do’ is menbel (as in Proto-Yucatecan) in
these languages, not mentabal (as in Colonial Yucatec), nor mèentáʔal (as in Modern Yucatec).
7. Modern Yucatec has a few examples of the use of -t for deriving transitives from adjectival roots. This
is the case with sal-t ‘to aerate, ventilate, winnow,’ which is derived from the adjective, sáal ‘light [not
heavy],’ and the antipassive stem of this verb is saltah, not sáal (V. Bricker et al. 1998:242), contrasting
with the antipassive stems of transitives derived from nouns.
8. Itsaj and Mopan have retained the inherited passive for all root transitives, including the ones that had
medial laryngeals in early Colonial times. Nevertheless, the active transitive stems of these verbs now
have the -t suffix that is used for deriving transitive verbs from nouns (Hofling 2011 passim, Hofling
and Tesucún 1997 passim). Cognates of the same verbs in Modern Yucatec did not undergo this inno-
vation, even though their passive stems now have the same suffixes as those of derived transitives.
9. Reading chibal as cħibal and lun as lum.
10. Reading ukik as ukic.
11. According to folio 443v of the Calepino de Motul, utzcintah had the same meaning as utzcinah, but was
not used much (Ciudad Real 1600?).
12. The earliest reference to kah=ol as a defective transitive compound is on page 164 of the nineteenth-cen-
tury dictionary published by Juan Pío Pérez in 1866–1877. No Colonial dictionary or grammar lists this
compound, nor are there any examples of it in my Colonial database consisting of notarial documents