A Historical Grammar of the Maya Language of Yucatan (1557-2000)
Page 59
1998:140):
(67)
Compound Stem
Gloss
la-lah=k’ab’-t applaud
b’a-b’al=k’áʔa-t
defraud, cheat, trick
(The final consonant in k’ab’ has been reduced to a glottal stop in the second example in [67].)
354 REDUPLICATION
Many other reduplicated transitive stems have k’ab’ (pronounced as k’áʔa) as the incorporated noun in
Modern Yucatec (V. Bricker et al 1998:140–142):
(68)
Transitive
Partial
Root
Gloss
Reduplication
Gloss
b’it’
tighten, pinch
b’i-b’it’=k’áʔa-t fondle
ȼ’ip
eject, remove
ȼ’i-ȼ’ip=k’áʔa-t
slip out of one’s hand
ȼ’op
punch, bore,
ȼ’o-ȼ’op=k’áʔa-t
insert finger several times
puncture
/in dough/
lom
puncture, stab
lo-lon=k’áʔa-t
poke several times; tickle
mač
grasp, seize
ma-mač=k’áʔa-t
grasp again and again
páan
excavate, dig
pam-pan=k’áʔa-t
paw several times
peȼ’
pat, crush, smash,
pe-peȼ’=k’áʔa-t
feel around
press, detain
yot’
pinch, massage
yo-yot’=k’áʔa-t
pinch several times
3.3. VERBAL REDUPLICATION WITH INFIXES. The Calepino de Motul has two examples of verbal reduplica-
tion with infixes, one with -Vl- and the other with -VN-. The first example is ɔut-ul-ɔut ‘to hawk, peddle, hag-
gle; barter, exchange’ < ɔut ‘to sell, hawk, haggle.’ The other example is kex-un-kex ‘to make a sham sale;
go about trading’ < kex ‘to change, exchange, trade.’ There are no examples of such verbal constructions
in Modern Yucatec, nor, to my knowledge, in Itsaj, Mopan, or Lacandon.
4. NOMINAL REDUPLICATION
The Calepino de Motul contains a few examples of the reduplication of both monosyllabic and disyllabic
nominal roots. The following monosyllabic roots are fully reduplicated:
(69)
Nominal
Full
Root
Gloss
Reduplication
Gloss
cil
beat, throb
cil-cil
throb, tremor
ich
twin
ich-ich
twins, triplets, pair of fruits stuck
together
So also are the following disyllabic roots:
(70) Nominal
Full
Root
Gloss
Reduplication
Gloss
çacan
maize dough
çacan-çacan
substance similar to maize dough
ɔacab
ancestry, lineage,
ɔacab-ɔacab
ancestry
generation
choocom
trinket, bauble, toy,
choocom-
trinkets, baubles, toys, knickknacks,
knickknack, trifle,
choocom
trifles, utensils [hawked by
utensil
peddlers]
There is a sense in which the reduplicated forms semantically denote pluralization.
REDUPLICATION 355
The only partially reduplicated nominal roots are monosyllabic:
(71) Nominal
Partial
Root
Gloss
Reduplication
Gloss
çuuz
sand, dust
çu-çuz
sand
haa
water, rain
ha-haal
heavy, continuous downpour; rainy
season
There are even fewer examples of reduplicated nouns in the Hocaba dictionary of Modern Yucatec, and
they are only partially reduplicated:
(72) Nominal
Partial
Root
Gloss
Reduplication
Gloss
b’áʔal
thing, contents
b’áʔa-b’áʔal
demon, monster
bóoš
lips
b’o-b’oš
flank, ileum
haʔ
water
háʔa-háʔal
summer [ June, July, August, or rainy
season]
sóʔok’
underarm hair
sóʔo-sóʔok’
bagasse [short fiber residue of
henequen]
The third example (háʔa-háʔal) is a cognate of the second example (ha-haal) in (71) above.
5. REDUPLICATED PARTICLES
Both monosyllabic and disyllabic particle roots have fully and/or partially reduplicated stems in the
Calepino de Motul. There are also two examples of the use of the -Vl- infix in reduplicated particle stems in
the Calepino.
5.1. REDUPLICATED PARTICLE STEMS WITHOUT SUFFIXES. The fully reduplicated monosyllabic particle
stems listed in the Calepino are:
(73) Particle
Full
Root
Gloss
Reduplication
Gloss
cen
what, that which
cen-cen
more or less, about
cuy
ay! [exclamation of
cuy-cuy
hello! [expression of surprise]
pain]
çam(e)
already, a while ago,
çam-çame8
a little while ago; sometime ago
a little after
ix ma
without
ix ma-ma
without
The only partially reduplicated examples of monosyllabic particle roots are:
(74)
Particle
Partial
Root
Gloss
Reduplication
Gloss
çeb
quickly, rapidly
çe-çeb
daily, every day
hay
how many?
ha-hay
how many by how many?
356 REDUPLICATION
Three disyllabic particles have related fully reduplicated stems:
(75) Particle
Full
Root
Gloss
Reduplication
Gloss
amal
all the time; always;
amal-amal
all the time, always; each one,
each one, every one
every one
bikin
when? when
bikin-bikin
once in a while, from time to time,
now and then
çamal
tomorrow, day before çamal-çamal
every day
Two of these particles also have partially reduplicated stems:
(76)
Particle
Partial
Root
Gloss
Reduplication
Gloss
bikin
when? when
bi-bikin
from time to time, once in a while,
now and then
çamal
tomorrow; day before çam-čamal
The full and partially reduplicated stems of these particles share the same meaning:
(77)
CVC-CVC
CV-CVC
Gloss
bikin-bikin
bi-bikin
once in a while, from time to time, now and then
çamal-çamal
çam-çamal
daily, every day
Cognates of two partially reduplicated particles in Colonial Yucatec appear in the Hocaba dictionary of
Modern Yucatec:
(78) Particle
Full
Root
Gloss
Reduplication
Gloss
hay
how many?
ha-hay
how many by how many?
sáamal
tomorrow
sáan-samal
daily, every day
In addition, two reduplicated particles in Modern Yucatec appear only in compound stems, for example:
(79)
Particle
Compound
Root
Gloss
Stem
Gloss
háan
quickly, right away
háa-ha-n=kóol-t tug
táah very
ta-tah=č’in-t
hurl one after another
5.2. REDUPLICATED PARTICLE STEMS WITH INFIXES. Two monosyllabic particle roots have reduplicated
stems with -Vl- infixed between the repeated elements:
(80) Particle
Compound
Root
Gloss
Stem
Gloss
çam
already, a while ago,
çam-al-çam
early tomorrow
a little after
çeb
quickly, rapidly
çeb-el-çeb
very rapidly
REDUPLICATION 357
6. REDUPLICATED NUMBER WORDS
Only three number words are reduplicated in the Calepino de Motul:
(81) Number
Root
Gloss
Reduplication
Gloss
hun
one
hun-hun
one by one; one each; one for each
ca(a)
two
caa-ca
two by two; two each
ho(o)
five
ho-ho
five by five; five each
They are usually combined with numeral classifiers, as in the following phrases:
(82) Reduplicated
Number
Gloss
hun-hun ppel
one by one, each one
hun-hun tul
one by one, each one (men, women, angels)
ca-caa tħil
two by two; in pairs
ho-ho haaben
older than five years
The earliest written evidence of the use of such reduplicated number words appears in the Crónica de
Mani in 1557:9
(83a) talob
hun-hun tzuc ti cahobe
‘they came from each one of the towns’ (MA557-057)
(83b) ca utzac v cħaicob ca-ca tul v chun v tħanob t u pachob
‘they should each take two elders with them’ (MA557-015A-C)
Terms for numbers like ho tu kal ‘twenty-five’ were reduplicated by repeating the word for the smaller
of the two numbers, as in this sentence from a late eighteenth-century document:
(84)
yan u hoch-ciob ho-ho tu kal hun-hun tul tiob
‘they must rasp nenequen, twenty-five (leaves) per person
t u rancho yn pixnal yum cura hol ek
at the ranch of my spiritual father curate, Holek’ (HB784A-016A-B)
Only the partially reduplicated number words based on hun ‘one’ and káʔah ‘two’ are documented in
the Hocaba dictionary of Modern Yucatec:
(85) Reduplicated
Number
Gloss
hu-hum p’éel
one after another
hu-hum p’éelil
one by one
káʔa-kaʔ p’éelil
two by two
hu-hum p’íitil
little by little
hu-hum p’úulil
pitcher by pitcher
hu-hun túulil
one by one
358 REDUPLICATION
A contextual example of such a partially reduplicated number word appears below:
(86)
hu-hun ȼ’íitil a b’isik le čeʔob’oʔ
‘take those planks one by one!’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:53)
7. STEM REDUPLICATION
The distinction between root and stem reduplication is marked by the placement of derivational suffixes. In
root reduplication, the derivational suffix occurs only at the end of the reduplicated stem, as in ɔem-ɔem-an
‘calm, subdued,’ the reduplicated stem derived from the participal stem, ɔem-an ‘pacified, subdued,’ whose
root is ɔem ‘to calm, pacify, subdue.’ In stem reduplication, the participial suffix, as well as the root, are
repeated, as in tzay-an=tzay-an ‘one behind the other,’ which is derived from tzay-an ‘stuck, holding,’ whose
root is tzay ‘to splice, join, tie together.’ The Calepino de Motul contains the following additional examples
of stem reduplication with the participal suffix, -a(a)n:
(87)
Root
Participle
Stem Reduplication
bal
bal-aan bal-an=bal-an
‘hide, cover, protect’
‘hidden, covered’
‘going about hiding; keep hiding’
bay
bay-an bay-an=bay-an
‘straighten, stroke’
‘straight, aligned’
‘clearly separated’
cal
cal-an cal-an=cal-an
‘taste (for beverages)’
‘drunk, intoxicated’
‘half drunk’
çeb
çeb-an çeb-an=çeb-an
‘quickly, rapidly’
‘quickly, in haste’
‘very quickly’
cux
cux-aan cux-an=cux-an
‘alive’
‘alive, living’
‘half alive’
eɔ
eɔ-aan
eɔ-aan=eɔ-aan
‘fix, seat firmly’
‘firm, fixed, seated
‘rather firm, fixed, seated firmly, erected’
firmly, erected’
hel
hel-an hel-an=hel-an
‘change, exchange,
‘changed, distorted, ‘different among themselves, slightly different’
return, recompense’
different, strange’
yah
yah-aan yah-an=yah-an
‘pain; sore, ulcer’
‘hurt, wounded’
‘indisposed, infirm, sickly, unhealthy’
Two other examples of stem reduplication involve the suffixes, -il and -tzil:
REDUPLICATION
359
(88)
Root
Derivation
Compound Reduplication
ich
ich-il ich-il=ich-il
‘in, to, within’
‘in, within, among’
‘some’
kin
kin-tzil kin-tzil=kin-tzil
‘day, sun, time’
‘time, hour’
‘from time to time’
They contrast with the following examples of root reduplication that have -ul and -al as derivational suffixes:
(89)
Simple
Root
Gloss
Re
duplication
Gloss
cħuy
hang up, lift, carry
cħuy-cħuy-ul
hanging
dangling
kin
day, sun, time
kin-kin-al10 warm
Only one example of stem reduplication appears in the Hocaba dictionary of Modern Yucatec:
héʔel-il=héʔel-il ‘inching along, stopping and going’ < héʔel ‘to rest.’ There is also a contextual example of
this reduplication in the same source:
(90)
h wàaneʔ héʔel-il=héʔel-il u tàal t u mèen k’as k’oháʔan
‘John, he is inching along because he is very ill’ (V. Bricker et al. 1998:102)
8. PHRASE REDUPLICATION
Reduplicated phrases may contain simple or compound expressions. In couplets, a syntactic frame is
repeated, representing another kind of reduplicated phrase.
8.1. REDUPLICATED PHRASES COMPOSED OF SIMPLE AND COMPOUND EXPRESSIONS. The simplest re-
duplicated phrases in the Calepino de Motul involved the repetition of yam ‘interval, distance, concavity
between two things’:
(91a) yam v yam
‘from time to time, at times (not always)’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 215v)
(91b) t u yam t u yam
‘from interval to interval [i.e., among]’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 214v)
In another kind of reduplicated phrase, the two instances of an adjectival or particle root are separated
by the negative particle, ma ‘no, not’:
(92)
Root
Gloss
Phrase
Gloss
bin reportedly bin
ma bin
may or may not be
hah true
hah
ma hah
true or false
yan
exist, happen
yan ma yan
may not be so
360 REDUPLICATION
The Calepino de Motul says that such phrases express doubt (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 277v) and illustrates
their use with the following examples:
(93a) v kati bin benel cumkal bin ma bin
‘they say that the leader wants to go to Conkal, but he may not go’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 278r)
(93b) chan a cante v pectzil batab hah ma hah lic v cantabal y okol
‘don’t defame the leader; what is said could be true or false’ (Ciudad Real 1600?: fol. 173r)
Other examples are based on the Maya roots, lic ‘usually, customarily,’ la ‘this,’ and toh ‘true,’ as well as the
Spanish loan, domingo ‘Sunday’: