Qʼanjobʼal language

Qʼanjobʼal is a member of the Qʼanjobʼalan branch of the Mayan language family. The Mayan language family includes 31 languages, two of which are now extinct. The Qʼanjobʼalan branch includes not only Qʼanjobʼal itself but also Chuj, Akatek, and Jakaltek, also spoken in Guatemala. The Qʼanjobʼalan languages are noted for being among the most conservative of the Mayan language family, although they do include some interesting innovations.[6]

Qʼanjobʼal consists of 26 consonant sounds and 5 vowel sounds. The letters of the alphabet are as follows:

The ʼ in chʼ, kʼ, qʼ, tʼ, txʼ, and tzʼ represents an ejective or glottalic egressive, i.e., the consonant is accompanied by a puff of air from the glottis. The letter r in Qʼanjobʼal has a limited distribution. It is used mostly in borrowings, primarily in words borrowed from Spanish, such as roxax, rose, from Spanish rosa. It is also used in affect and positional words like kʼarari 'noise of an old engine or the like', jeran 'to be in a broken position/form'. The letters tx and x represent retroflex consonants, pronounced with the tongue curled backward in the mouth. It is believed such retroflection in Qʼanjobʼal is an influence from the Mamean Mayan languages.[7]

As in all Mayan languages, Qʼanjobʼal classifies all verbs as either inherently intransitive (calling up only one argument) or as inherently transitive (calling up two arguments).[8] Qʼanjobʼal is an ergative–absolutive language, in which the subject of a transitive verb takes an ergative affix, while the subject of an intransitive verb, as well as the object of a transitive verb, takes an absolutive affix. Ergative affixes are also used for possession. There are two sets of affixes for ergative: the first set is used for those verbal roots beginning with a consonant, and the second set is used for those beginning with a vowel. However, there is only one set of absolutive affixes with two variations: pronounced like free words or attached to something else.

Below is the table of ergative prefixes for verbal roots beginning with a consonant:

Ergative prefixes for verbal roots beginning with a vowel:

Absolutive affixes when attached to preceding sounds:

Absolutive affixes not attached to a preceding sound (they take an h):

Note that the third person absolutive affix is 0, i.e., unmarked or empty.

Examples:

transitive (ergative)

X-0-inmaqʼ naq winaq. (Mateo 2008: p.c.)
COMP-A3S-E1S-hit CL:masc man
'I hit the man.'

intransitive (absolutive)

X-in way-i. (Mateo 2008: p.c.)
COMP-A1S sleep-STAT
'I slept.'

possessive (ergative)

before vowel:
w-aqan
E1S-foot
'my foot'

before consonant:
s-qʼab'
E3S-hand
'his/her hand'

However, while verbs are classified as either ergative or absolutive and take their own respective sets of pronoun affixes, this rule is altered in certain cases, such as when a verb becomes progressive:

Ch-in kuy-w-i.[9]
INC-A1S study-SFX-STAT
'I study'.

but,

Ipan hin-kuy-w-i.[10]
PROG E1S-study-SFX-STAT
'I am studying'.

In Qʼanjobʼal, aspect (whether an action has been completed or not) is more important than tense. Thus, in most utterances, one will indicate whether the action is incompletive, or whether it is completed, or may happen in the future, in which case it is considered 'unreal', or of irrealis mood, the event still only in the realm of thought or imagination.

incompletive
Ch(i) is used to indicate that an event is incomplete or ongoing at some time:

Chi-0 toj naq unin bʼay y-atut-al kuy-oj.[11]
INC-A3S go CL:masc child to E3S-house-ABS study-NZR
'The boy goes to school'.

Completive
Max or x- (both forms are used in free variation) are used to indicate that an event is complete:

Max-ex mulnaj-i.[12]
COM-A2P work-STAT
'You (pl.) worked.'

X-0 way-i.[13]
COM-A3S sleep-STAT
'He/she slept.'

Future/Irrealis
The prefix hoq- with the suffix -oq are used to indicate that the event spoken of has not yet happened, but remains only in the realm of the 'unreal' with only the potential for occurrence in the future:

Hoq-0 saqch-oq heb'.[14]
IRR-A3 play-IRR A3P
'They will play.'

Negative
Negative particles include kʼam and manaq:

Kʼam chi-0 y-oche-j.[15]
NEG INC-A3S E3S-want-SFX
'He/she doesn't want it.'

Manaq ix chi-0 toj kuy-oj.[16]
NEG she INC-A3S go study-NOM
'It is not she who goes to study.'

Interrogative
Questions can be formed simply by using rising intonation with declarative syntax:

Ch-0-oche-j cha-ch kanal-w-i w-etoq?[17]
INC-A3S-E2S-SFX INC-A2S dance-SFX-STAT E1S-with
'Do you want to dance with me?'

There is also a question particle, mi:

Watxʼ mi ha-kul?
good INTER E2S-stomach
'Is your stomach good?'
(Used as common form of greeting, like English 'How are you?')

Affixation
Many different affixes are used in Qʼanjobʼal, both prefixes and suffixes. Among these are aj-, used to denote the doer or leader of an action: ajtzʼibʼ, ʼwriterʼ (< tzʼibʼ 'write'), ajbʼe, 'spiritual guide' (< bʼe 'road'); -bʼal, used to indicate the location where something happens: tzombʼal 'market' (< tzon 'buy'); -al, -alil, -il, used to derive abstract nouns from adjectives, adverbs, numerals, transitive verb roots, and nouns: syalixhal 'his/her smallness' (< yalixh 'small'); swinaqil 'husband' (< winaq 'man'); -kʼulal, to derive nouns from intransitive verbs, adjectives, other nouns, etc.: watxkʼulal 'friendliness'; -oj, nominalizer, turning verbs into nouns: kuyoj 'studying' (< kuy 'study').

Qʼanjobʼal consists of groups of roots that can take affixes. Words are traditionally classified as nouns, adjectives, adverbs, intransitive and transitive verbs, particles, and positionals. Positionals are a group of roots which cannot function as words on their own; in combination with affixes they are used to describe relationships of position and location. Particles are words that do not take affixes; they mostly function in adverbial roles, and include such things as interrogative particles, affirmative/negative words, markers of time and location, conjunctions, prepositions and demonstratives.

Locatives are often formed by placing a noun after a possessed body-part term: s-ti bʼe, 'edge of the road' < 'its-mouth road' and s-jolom witz, 'mountaintop' or 'summit' < 'its-head mountain'. Similarly, compound nouns may be formed by placing a noun after another possessed noun: y-atutal kuyoj, 'school' < 'its-house studying'.

A1S absolutive first person singular
A1P absolutive first person plural
ABS abstractivizer
CL classifier
COM complete
E1S ergative first person singular
E1P ergative first person plural
INC incomplete
INT interrogative
IRR irrealis
NEG negative
NZR nominalizer
PL plural
PROG progressive
SFX suffix
STAT status

• Comunidad Lingüística Qʼanjobʼal, community/sub-committee for Qʼanjobʼal at Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala [ALMG]
• ELAR archive of Qʼanjobʼal (Maya)