Awakatek language

Awakatek
Native to Guatemala
Region Huehuetenango
Ethnicity Awakatek
Native speakers
 9,610 (2003 census)[1]
Mayan
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated by Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala
Language codes
ISO 639-3 agu
Glottolog agua1252[2]

Awakatek is a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala, primarily in Huehuetenango and around Aguacatán.[3] The language only has around 9000 speakers, and is considered vulnerable by UNESCO. In addition, the language in Mexico is critically endangered, with only 3 elderly speakers left as of 2000.[4]

Awakatek is closely related to Ixil and the two languages together form the sub-branch Ixilean, which together with the Mamean languages, Mam and Tektitek, form a sub-branch Greater-Mamean, which again, together with the Greater-Quichean languages, ten Mayan languages, including K'iche', form the branch Quichean–Mamean.

The Awakatek people themselves refer to their language as qa'yol, literally meaning our word.

Phonology

Vowels

Front Back
short long short long
Close i /i/ii /iː/u /u/uu /uː/
Mid e /e/ee /eː/o /o/oo /oː/
Open a /a/aa /aː/

Diphthongs

There are four diphthongs: ay /aj/, ey /ej/, oy /oj/, uy /uj/.

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Postalveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Normal Palatalized
Plosive Normal p /pʰ/ t /tʰ/ k /kʰ/ ky /kʰʲ/ q /qʰ/ ' /ʲʔ/
Ejective p' /pʼ/ t' /tʼ~dʼ/ k' /kʼ/ ky'/kʼʲ/
Implosive b' /ɓ/ q' /ʛ/
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ nh /ŋ/
Fricative w /v~f/ s /s/ xh /ʃ/ x /ʂ/ j /χ/ h /ʜ/
Affricate Normal p /ɸʰ/ tz /t͡sʰ/ ch /t͡ʃʰ/ tx /ʈ͡ʂʰ/
Ejective tz' /t͡sʼ~dzʼ/ ch' /t͡ʃʼ~dʒʼ/ tx' /ʈ͡ʂʼ~ɖʐʼ/
Flap r /ɾ/
Approximant l /l~ɺ/ y /j/ w /ʍ/

References

  1. ↑ Awakatek at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Aguacateco". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ Cabral, Ernesto Díaz Couder (2001). "Culturas e interculturalidad en Guatemala". Archived from the original on 2010-02-15.
  4. ↑ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
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