Qʼanjobʼal () (also Kanjobal)Other variant names include Santa Eulalia Kanjobal, Kanhobal, Qanjobal, Conob, and Eastern Kanjobal. is a Mayan language from the Q'anjobalan branch spoken primarily in Guatemala and part of Mexico. According to 1998 estimates compiled by SIL International in Ethnologue, there were approximately 77,700 native speakers, primarily in the Huehuetenango Department of Guatemala.Centered around the municipio of Santa Eulalia; owing to recent emigrations there are communities of Qʼanjobʼal speakers in the United States (see Gordon (2005). In Chiapas, Mexico, municipalities where the Qʼanjobʼal language is spoken include Catazajá, Amatenango de la Frontera, La Trinitaria, Bella Vista, Frontera Comalapa, Las Margaritas and Maravilla Tenejapa. In Huehuetenango, the municipalities where the language is spoken are San Juan Ixcoy (Yich Kʼox), San Pedro Soloma (Tzʼulumaʼ ), Santa Eulalia (Jolom Konobʼ ), Santa Cruz Barillas (Yalmotx), San Rafael La Independencia, and San Miguel Acatán (Pedro Mateo Pedro 2010). Qʼanjobʼal is taught in public schools through Guatemala's intercultural bilingual education programs.

Classification 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 Mexico and Guatemala. The Qʼanjobʼalan languages are noted for being among the most conservative of the Mayan language family, although they do include some interesting innovations.Robertson (1992), p.154.

Phonology Qʼanjobʼal consists of 26 consonant sounds and 5 vowel sounds. +Vowels Front Back Close Mid Open

+ Consonants Bilabial Alveolar Post-alveolar Retroflex Velar Uvular Glottal Nasal Plosive/Affricate plain ejective implosive Fricative Approximant ( ) Flap

in Qʼanjobʼal has a limited distribution. It is used mostly in borrowings, primarily in words borrowed from Spanish, such as , rose, from Spanish . It is also used in affect and positional words like 'noise of an old engine or the like', 'to be in a broken position/form'.

Stress Primary stress in Qʼanjobʼal is fairly simple. Words in isolation and in final phrase boundaries bear stress on the last syllable. However, words within a phrasal unit (not in final phrase boundary) bear stress on their first syllable.

Morphology and syntax Verbs 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).Robertson (1992), p.50. 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.

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.

+ Ergative prefixes verbal roots beginning with a consonant verbal roots beginning with a vowel Singular Plural Singular Plural 1st person hin- ko- w- j- 2nd person ha- he- h- hey- 3rd person s-/Ø- s-/Ø- y- y-

Ergative affixes are also used for possession.

There is only one set of absolutive affixes with two variations: pronounced like free words or attached to something else. The third person absolutive affix is Ø, i.e., unmarked or empty.

+ Absolutive affixes when attached to preceding sounds not attached to a preceding sound Singular Plural Singular Plural 1st person -in -on hin hon 2nd person -ach -ex hach hex 3rd person -Ø -Ø...(hebʼ) Ø Ø...(hebʼ)

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:

but,

Aspect 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 is used to indicate that an event is incomplete or ongoing at some time:

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

Future/Irrealis The prefix with the suffix 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:

Negative Negative particles include kʼam and manaq:

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

There is also a question particle, :

(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 , used to denote the doer or leader of an action: , ʼwriterʼ (< 'write'), , 'spiritual guide' (< 'road'); , used to indicate the location where something happens: 'market' (< 'buy'); , , , used to derive abstract nouns from adjectives, adverbs, numerals, transitive verb roots, and nouns: 'his/her smallness' (< 'small'); 'husband' (< 'man'); , to derive nouns from intransitive verbs, adjectives, other nouns, etc.: 'friendliness'; , nominalizer, turning verbs into nouns: 'studying' (< 'study').

Word order Qʼanjobʼal has a fixed word order. It follows a verb–subject–object (VSO) word order. All changes to this word order are driven by pragmatic or syntactic factors like focus, negation, interrogation, relativization, etc. These are subject to an ergative–absolutive pattern where arguments cross-referenced by ergative affixes must become absolutives prior to their fronting (focus, negation, etc.). This results in some possible subject–verb (SV), object–verb–subject (OVS) orders. However SVO, SOV and OSV are not possible (or, at least, not attested in any known corpus). The apparent exception is in reflexives and reflexive possessives, where the reflexive phrase ERG-bʼa (noun) or reflexive possessive ERG-noun appears directly following the verb.

Classifiers Some Qʼanjobʼal nouns require that certain classifiers be used with them. Among these are (animals), (trees/wood), (female), (male), (stone/metal), (corn), and (plants).

Reduplication Reduplication, or duplication of a root word, is a minor process in the formation of Qʼanjobʼal vocabulary, as in the following:

Vocabulary

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: , 'edge of the road' < 'its-mouth road' and , 'mountaintop' or 'summit' < 'its-head mountain'. Similarly, compound nouns may be formed by placing a noun after another possessed noun: , 'school' < 'its-house studying'.

Numbers

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 60. 3x20 80. 100. 120. 140. 160. 180. 200. 400. 800. 2000.

Common words person rock/stone water/river woman grandmother grandfather corn red/hot sun/day father cat house (also ) tortilla sky (. snake's eye) marimba tree dog land mother child star man mountain moon/month Earth/world flower

COMPL:completive COM:Completive A3S:Third-person singular absolutive E1S:First-person singular ergative A1S:First-person singular absolutive E3S:Third-person singular ergative SFX:Status suffix INC:Incompletive A2S: Second-person singular absolutive E2S: Second-person singular ergative A3: Third-person absolutive INTER:Interrogative A2P: Second-person plural absolutive A3P: Third-person plural absolutive NZR:Nominalizer

Notes

References

Lichtman, Karen (2010). IPA illustration of Q’anjob’al . University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mateo Pedro, Pedro (2010). The acquisition of verb inflection in Qʼanjobʼal Maya: a longitudinal study. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Kansas.

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