Tz'utujil Maya
Atitlán, Guatemala
Language Components Overview
You can click in the bottom right corner to quickly move around from one section to another.
Morphology: Linguistic units, such as root words, affixes, parts of speech, intonations and stresses, or implied context.
Phonology: Pronunciation, and Sound
Orthography: The Written Language
Lexicon: The words of a language
Syntax: How words can be arranged in a sentence
Pragmatics: Conversational and social guidelines, cultural expectations, interaction with language and behavior, and anthropology.
Lake Atitlan is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. A lot of the streets in this region are very steep.
Morphology
Tz'utujil has two types of root forms: free and bound, also called loose and linked.
Loose morphemese can function on their own as a word without any additional morphemes such as the english word "play".
When you add the morphemes "-s", "-ed" and "-ing", it turns the word into "plays", "played", or "playing". These suffixes, cannot stand along and must be added to a root word.
I inin
You atet
We arjaa'
He/She ojoj
You plural ixix
They eje'ee'
Nouns are loose morphemes.
Note how the vowel changes from a short vowel to a long vowel in the first two examples. Tz'i' becomes tz'ii' to show posession. And in the last example, ak'aal changes from a long vowel to a short vowel - ak'al to show that the children belong to someone.
Tz'i' dog ruutz'ii' his or her dog
ya' water ruuyaa' his or her water
ak'aal children ruuak'alaa' his or her children
Adjectivals
With one syllalble: The suffixes that you can add to the end of a word are -iil or -aal. Doing this turns an adjective into a noun.
ki' sweet ruki'iil' his or her sweetness
nim great runimaal his or her greatness
With multiple syllables: When you have more than one syllable, you can only add -aal at the end to make an adjetive a noun.
q'ejqu'm obscure ruq'ejqu'maal his or her obscurity
mama' old rumama'aal his or her old age
The children can set up goals and a game of soccer quickly and efficiently. Anytime. Anywhere.
JUEGO A AND JUEGO B In these examples, the underlined letters are added in to indicate the subject or the object of a sentence. Each one is similar to one of the pronouns shown in the box above.
JUEGO B indicates the subject of the sentence
Nintz'ijb'aani I write
Naatz'ijb'aani You write
Nixtz'ijb'aani You plural (formal)
Juego B for the Object page 81.
x-in-aa-chap You grabbed me
x-at-ruu-chap I grabbed you
x-qu-aa-chap He/She grabbed us
In Tz'utujil, titles appear before names, just like in American English.
Here are some examples of these Personal Classifiers
Naan Xwuuana Taa' Francisco
Mrs. Juana Mr. Francis
Rules for when to use titles are the same as in English. They are more formal and should be used with people above you in status, and who are community elders. When you see an old gentleman with wrinkles, or a woman with ribbons in her hair, be sure to use their title, then name!
**See Pragmatics**
Expressing Plurality
The underlined letters are what is added to make a a singular noun, into plural nouns. Like when tree becomes trees.
With nouns With adjectives
winaqii' people niimaq bigs
ixoqii' women setesaq rounds
aachi'aa' men piimaq thicks
chikopii' animals
Left: This is the Mayan symbol for Sun
Adverbial Morphemes to Show Time
Adverbial morphemes are mostly used to express time in the past or future. In the below examples, the first column is the root, the number. The second is the root added with the time suffix. "ijiir" is used with numbers 2-3, and "ejeer" is used with numbers 46, but notice the spelling and pronunciation change when it appears next to particular sounds. The morpheme is changed to "ixii" with the numbers 5 and 7. The suffux "iir" is added to the end of a word to signify years, like in examples 7 and 8.
The last two columns shows the suffixes for the future with the same number root forms.
kaab' (2) kaab'ijiir The day before yesterday kaab'iij In/Within two days
ox (3) oxijiir Three days ago oxiij In/Within three days
kaj (4) kajejeer Four days ago kajiij In/Within four days
jo'oo' (5) jo'b'ixiir Five days ago job'iix In/Within five days
waq (6) waqejeer Six days ago wajxaq'iij In/Within six days
wuq (7) wuqub'ixiir Seven days ago wuquub'iix In/Within seven days
juun (1) juunaab'iir One year ago juunaab' In/Within one year
kaab' (2) kaab'aab'iir Two days ago kaab'aab' In/Within two years
Possession
k'aay sale nuuk'aay my sale
keem tissue aakeem your tissue
chakach basket ruchakaach his or her basket
aqanaaj foot aqan kikik our foot
kik' blood' kikik'eel their blood
Other types of morphemes that are commonly used in Tz'utujil are:
Positionals
Verbals
Numerals
Measures
Affectives
Classifiers
Particles
Unclassified Roots
Right:
Guatemalans make many bright and beautiful fabrics that are used in blankets, hammocks and clothes. The Tz'utujiles are known for these striped patterns; mostly showing off brilliant pinks and reds.
Phonology
Below are the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) charts for the Tzútujil language. These charts tell us which sounds exist in this language, how they are pronounced (IPA Symbol) and how the sounds in the mouth are created.
The Tz'utujil language has a fixed accent which means that the accent will always fall on the final syllable.
However, the Tz'utujil language does have words from other languages, such as Castilian, where they use a free accent. The Spanish language (which includes Castilian), uses accent marks to show readers how to pronounce a word. In English, the word record can have multiple meanings, determined by how it is pronounced.
I love that record.
I will record that song.
In Spanish, the accent marks are very important.
If you say compro, it means I buy.
If you say compró, with more stress on the end vowel as the accent mark dictates, it means he or she bought.
Tzutujil does not have such marks. Tzútujil words are always pronounced as they appear.
In English, the sounds of some letters can change depending on the letters that they are next to in a word.
The same is true in Tz'utujil. The most common case in this Mayan language is [n - m] when there is a consonant /n/ before the bilabial sounds of /p/ and /b'/. Here are some examples: /ninb'e/ which means I am going, and /ninpuj/ meaning I will bathe myself. When you try to pronounce these two words, you can see that the only way to create the separate sounds /n/ and /p,b'/ is too say the word slowly and pause between the consonants. When you say the words at a normal rate, your mouth creates the /m/ sound as it moves from one consonant to another.
“X”s are used often in Tz’utujil, and a lot of times appear at the beginning of a word. This is intimidating for language learners who are unaccustomed to seeing this. It helps to know that these “X”s make the /tʃ/ sound as in “cheese”.
In 2005, Hurricane Stan caused the Lake Atitlan waters to rise above many houses and parks. 10 years later, the water has not receded. The long abandonded building in this photo was the second story of a house.
The glottal stop is the most difficult part of Tz’utujil phonology for English speakers to learn and properly execute.
The /Ɂ/ sound occurs when air in the vocal tract, or glottis, is blocked. The only two instances when this is used in American English is in “uh-oh” and “Batman”, where the /t/ is not fully pronounced. This sound is used much more frequently in Tz’utujil and they are much more efficient at it. English native speakers can all say “uh oh”, but have much more difficulty adequately pronouncing some Tz’utujil words with the force and the quickness of the required glottal stop. Some Tz’utujil examples are “b’a net”, “Utz’ awach” and “Xqaj q’iij”, with the latter being far more difficult.
The Tzútujil language uses both, ejective glottalic consonants and implosive glottalic consonants. In the video below, the girl demonstrates the ejective sounds first, and the implosive sounds second.
Orthography
The Tz'utujil characters derive from the Latin alphabet.
The Tz'utujil alphrabet consits of 38 Characters. 32 sounds---22 consonants and 10 vowels.
The Consonants consist of 16 simple and 6 glottalized. There are 5 short vowels and 5 long vowels.
The hyphen (-) is used in writing to:
Separate syllables when the space at the end of a page runs out and you are not able to finish the word.
To separate two consonants that appear next to eachother but need to have their own indiviual sounds.
To separate a vowel and a consonant when the sounds are not completely linked or when the consonant could seem glotalized but in reality, the glottalized sound needs to be independent. A hyphen would be used to pronounce wach'-alaal, which is different than wach'alaa
How to Pronounce Numbers
1 - Juun
2 - Ka'e
3 - Oxi'
4 - kaji'
5 - jo'oo
6 - Waqii'
7 - wuquu'
8 - waqxaqii'
9 - B'elejee'
10 - Lajuuj
10 - Julajuuj
20 - jun Winaq o Junk'al
30 - Juank'al Julajuuj
40 - ka'k'al
50 - ka'k'al Julajuuj
60 - Oxk'al
70 - Oxk'al Julajuuj
80 - kajk'al
90 - kajk'al Julajuuj
100 - jo'k'al
Mayan glyphs and symols still exist.
During Spain's conquers, a lot of Mayan symbols were burned.
Even though some still exist, they are mostly used in art forms or in the writing for cultural activities such as flyers for an annual indigenous festival. Even in these scenarios, the flyer's headings would be written in Tz'uujil, the small print in Spanish, to reach a larger population, and the Mayan symbols would be for decoration.
The number system that the Mayans of Guatemala use uses a base of 20.
How they represent their numbers is different than in the United States. It makes math more visual, which I believe would make that subject easier for many, myself included.
Lexicon
Articles
The article Ja is used with with monosyllable words that begin with a vowel and with all Tz'utujil words that begin with a consonant.
Ja ooj The avocado Ja k'ok The turtle
Ja iik' The moon Ja k'ayiineedm The sale
The article Jar is used wit Tz'utujil words that begin with a vowel and have two syllables.
Jar ayewaal The anger
Jar aab'aj The rock
A tuk tuk is the Guatemalan version of a taxi. They are small and good for moving along narrow and crowded streets.
Tzutujil has been influenced by other languages through migration, business and invasion.
Tz'utujil is most heavily influenced by the Castilian Spanish. The most notable impact is the vocabulary. Below are some examples.
Mayanization
In these cases, and others, Mayans took a Castilian Spanish word, and created their own Tzútujil word to add to their language
Castilian Tz'utujil
Fuerte jweerta
Diego Te'k
bicicleta wiskleeta
television telwisyoon
calzon carsoon
caldo kaala
fruta pruuta
Cincho siincha
mesa meesa
entonces tonsa
Naranja aranxax
Pues pwes
Pero par
Hora oora
vuelta weelta
No Mayanization
Words in this category are spelled in Tzútujil exactly as they are pronounced in Castilian Spanish. Remember that double vowels signify a longer vowel sound.
Castilian Tz'utujil
Dieta Dyeeta
Dentista Dentiista
Grado/Gradas Graada
Bomba Boomba
Vino Biina
Farmacia Farmaasya
Radio Raadya
Doctor Doktoor
Syntax
The Tz'utujil word order is very similar to English word order.
They use SVO - Subject, Verb, Object. Johnny (Subject) plays (verb) guitar (Object)" is a simple English example.
Unlike most other VO languages, Tz'utujil has a lot of suffixes.
Other Tz'utujil syntactic information:
The preposition occurs before the object
The auxilary comes before the verb
Titles precede names
Given (first) name before the family (last) name
Negative marker before a verb
Interrogitives before a veb
Tzútujil is an Ergative Language
The Tz'utujil language is Ergative, and like most other ergative languages, it is absolutive antipassive. It is both Morphologically and Syntactically Ergative. It also has an ergative invoice system. What does all of this mean? Ergativity is difficult to explain, especially to Native English speakers. To the right are some examples that may help.
Ergativity Explained
An ergative language, is a language that has a single argument (subject) of an intransitive verb acts like the object of a transitive verb, and differently from the agent (subject) of a transitive verb. For example, instead of saying "she moved" and "I moved her", speakers of an ergative language would say the equivalent of "her moved" and "I moved her".
An ergative verb is a verb that can be either transitive or intransitive, and whose subject, when intransitive, corresponds to its direct object when transitive.
In English, most verbs can be used intransitively, but ordinarily this does not change the role of the subject; consider, for example, "He ate the soup" (transitive) and "He ate" (intransitive), where the only difference is that the latter does not specify what was eaten.
Ergatives are verbs of innocence, because they imply the absence of an actor who could possibly be blamed. Sometimes children may say, "The window broke", rather than "I broke the window".
Other verbs that can express ergativity, either transitively or intransitively:
Change of state verbs- Break, burst, form, heal, melt, tear, transform
Cooking verbs- Bake, boil, cook, fry
Movement Verbs- move, shake, sweep, turn, walk
Involving Vehicles- drive, fly, reverse, run, sail
Morphological Ergativity (Page 79 of Ixmata Grammar)
Agents or subjects of transitive verbs (and possessors of nouns) are shown with person markers, the ergative set. (Juego A)
While patients (receiving the action) or objects of transitive verbs and subjects of intransitive verbs are portrayed with a different set of person markers, the absolutive set. (Juego B)
Syntactical Ergativity - Syntactic constraints exist on what agents of a transitive verbs can do
I had the pleasure of speaking with a real, Mayan Princess during an annual festival in the summer of 2013
People as the Subject and the Object
In te first example, the person, “the writer” is the subject, so it appears first, following the SVO rules. Next is the verb, and then the object.
Xb’ee ja tz’ijbaaneel pa tijob’al
Writer the go past tense to school.
The writer went to the school
In this example, the person is the object, so the person comes last in the sentence.
Chuwaaq nb’ee ja b’ixaaneel
Tomorrow we future the see singer
Tomorrow we will see the singer.
A sentence example
The last example breaks down a more complex Tz’utujil sentence and shows where each function falls within the SVO sentence structure.
Ma qojtaq ta wi jab’el xtisamaji jar aachi.
We do not know how this man will work.
Ma qoj taq ta wi jab'el xt isamaj ijar aachi
No we to know if good future to work the man
We do not know how this man will work
Aj means Of
Below are more examples to show where parts go in a sentence, on a smaller level. The prefix “aj”means “of”. “Of”can be used to express a place of origin, or a profession, like in the following examples. “Aj”can stand on its own as word, or it can be attached to a verb to create one’s profession.
Tz’iib write (verb) ajtz’iib’ writer
k’aay vend (verb) ajk’aay vendor
yuuq’ shepherd (verb) ajyuuq’ shepherd
Pragmatics
Greetings
The Tz'utujil language is closely bound with the Mayan Tz'utujil culture and traditions. When greeting those who are older than you are, or who are above you in status, it is expected that you take their hand in yours, bend down to one knee and touch the back of their hand to your forehead.
Spanish versus Tzútujil
Around Lake Atitlan, the Tz'utujiles use Spanish as their formal laguage, which is mostly used in business.
When two or more people who speak the Tz'utujil language atrre talking with one another, they speak in Tz'utujil, because it is more comfortable.
In general, when a conversation begins in Tz'utujil, it stays in Tz'utujil.
When a Tz'utujil local greets someone else in Tz'utuji and they do not understand, the Tz'utujil who began the conversation, will switch the conversation to Spanish. The conversation will then remain in Spanish, which is Guatemala's national language. Tz'utujil is only spoken in 7 or 8 towns (depending on who you ask), and people in the city (Guatemala City) do not speak, understand it, or write in it.
There are two dialects of Tz'utujil, Eastern and Western.
East of the Lake, the eastern dialect is mostly spoken in the town of Santiago (Bottom on Photo). This particular town is slightly more isolated than the others, and have less contact with English, and other languages. It has stayed the closest to its original form. Panajachel is another town on the Eastern side, but it is larger and has a great multitude of tourists. It is closer to a city than the villages that surround the lake.
The west side of Lake Atitlan is crowded with the towns San Pedro, San Juan, Zacapa, San Marcos, Santa Cruz, Guialles, and Pañebar (Some of these towns are in the mountains just behind the Lake Shore and not shown on map). These areas are far more welcoming to foreigners. The Western Tz’utujil people love sharing their language and culture with others, and are also more welcoming to information from the outside world.
This contact has caused the language to change over the past few decades. They have also adopted some new words into their language from English, such as “internet”. These towns are closer together, and so there are more activities for youth, such as an engaging library, a small movie theatre, and many public events. This causes the inevitable language change to occur quicker than it would in the smaller village of Santiago on the opposite side of Lake Atitlan.
When older Tz'utujil women tie ribbons in their hair like this, it means that they are wise and respected members of their community. When you see a woman with ribbons in her hair, be sure to bend down and touch her hand to your forehead!
Lake Atitlan is the deepest lake in Central America. At 1,200 feet deep, some estimate that it is the deepest lake in the Southern Hemisphere.
It is important to the people that live around it. Many men make a living of fishing in the lake for tilapia. Some locals bathe and wash clothes in it. Often times, one can find pumice stones floating on its surface from one of the surrounding, active volcanoes.
The lake is surrounded by Tz'utujil speaking towns. To reach towns that are futher away can be expensive (boat, or tuk tuk) for the locals or take a lot of time (drive, if they have access to a car, which most do not). A couple of these towns are named after the disciples in the bible. Most indigenous families in the state of Solola are Catholic.