Mam is a Mayan language spoken by about half a million Mam people in the Guatemalan departments of Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango, San Marcos, and Retalhuleu, and the Mexican states of Campeche and Chiapas. Thousands more make up a Mam diaspora throughout the United States and Mexico, with notable populations living in Oakland, California and Washington, D.C. The most extensive Mam grammar is Nora C. England's A grammar of Mam, a Mayan language (1983), which is based on the San Ildefonso Ixtahuacán dialect of Huehuetenango Department.
Classification
Mam is closely related to the Tektitek language, and the two languages together form the Mamean sub-branch of the Mayan language family. Along with the Ixilan languages, Awakatek and Ixil, these make up the Greater Mamean sub-branch, one of the two branches of the Eastern Mayan languages (the other being the Greater Quichean sub-branch, which consists of 10 Mayan languages, including Kʼicheʼ).
Dialects Because contact between members of different Mam communities is somewhat limited, the language varies considerably even from village to village. Nevertheless, mutual intelligibility, though difficult, is possible through practice.
Mam varieties within Mexico and Guatemala are divided into five dialect groups:
Northern Mam in Campeche, Mexico and southern Huehuetenango Department, Guatemala. Northern Mam is the least conservative group according to Terrence Kaufman. Southern Mam in southern Campeche, Mexico and Quetzaltenango Department, San Marcos Department, and Retalhuleu Department, Guatemala. Central Mam in Chiapas, Mexico and San Marcos Department, Guatemala. Western Mam in eastern Chiapas, Mexico and northwestern San Marcos Department, Guatemala. The Tektitek language may be mutually intelligible with Western Mam dialects. Soconusco Mam in the Soconusco region, Chiapas, Mexico
In addition to these, the dialects of Chiapas, Mexico are characterized by significant grammatical as well as lexical differences from the Guatemalan varieties.
Geographic distribution Mam is spoken in 64 communities in four Guatemalan departments and numerous communities in Campeche and Chiapas, Mexico. Neighboring languages include Jakaltek and Qʼanjobʼal to the north, Tektitek and Qato'k to the west, and Ixil, Awakatek, Sipacapense, and Kʼicheʼ to the east.
Quetzaltenango Department San Miguel Sigüilá Concepción Chiquirichapa Génova El Palmar San Juan Ostuncalco Cajolá San Martín Sacatepéquez Colomba Flores Costa Cuca Huitán Palestina de Los Altos Cabricán
Huehuetenango Department San Ildefonso Ixtahuacán Cuilco Tectitán San Pedro Necta San Sebastián Huehuetenango Malacatancito Todos Santos Cuchumatán San Rafael Petzal Colotenango Santa Bárbara San Juan Atitán Aguacatán San Gaspar Ixchil La Libertad La Democracia Huehuetenango Chiantla Santiago Chimaltenango San Juan Ixcoy
San Marcos Department San Antonio Sacatepéquez San Lorenzo Tejutla San Rafael Pie de La Cuesta San Pedro Sacatepéquez La Reforma El Quetzal Sibinal San José Ojetenam Pajapita San Cristobal Cucho Nuevo Progreso San Marcos Concepción Tutuapa San Pablo Ixchiguan San Miguel Ixtahuacán Tacaná Tajumulco Catarina Esquipulas Palo Gordo Malacatán Río Blanco Comitancillo
Retalhuleu Department El Xaw Santa Ines Sibaná San Miguelito Nueva Cajolá San Roque
Chiapas Motozintla Tapachula Acaxman Bejucal de Ocampo Frontera Comalapa Mazapa de Madero Escuintla Chicomuselo Siltepec La Grandeza Unión Juárez Bella Vista El Porvenir Cacahoatán Tuzantán Tuxtla Chico Huixtla Huehuetán Amatenango de la Frontera Tuxchamén
Campeche Champotón Campeche Santo Domingo Kesté Quetzal-Edzná Mayatecúm Gumarcaaj
Phonology
Stress Mam has weight sensitive stress assignment. Primary stress falls on the long vowel in a word if there is one, e.g. 'work'. Words without a long vowel assign primary stress to the vowel preceding the last glottal stop, e.g. 'dipper'. Words without a long vowel or a glottal stop assign stress to the vowel preceding the last consonant in the root, e.g. 'raccoon'. Stress is not assigned to suffixes or enclitics that do not have long vowels or a glottal stop.
Vowels Mam has 10 vowels, 5 short and 5 long: Front Central Back Close Long Short Mid Long Short Open Long Short
A mid-central vowel is an allophone of a short unstressed vowel that can occur in the syllable following a stressed long vowel.
Consonants Mam has 27 consonants, including the glottal stop:
Bilabial Alveolar Postalveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal Plain Palatalized Nasal ( ) Plosive Plain Ejective ~ Implosive~ Affricate Plain Ejective Fricative Flap Approximant
Stops and affricates /p, t, t͡s, t͡ʃ, t͡ʂ, k, q/ are aspirated [Cʰ] in word-final position. Todos Santos Mam has additional apical palato-alveolar consonants .
Syllable structure Most roots take the morphological shape CVC. The only possible root final consonant cluster is -nC. Syllables can have up to four consonants in a cluster in any position. Most consonant clusters are the result of vowel dropping and morpheme addition.
Morphology Mam has two sets of agreement markers, known to Mayanists as Set A and Set B markers, which can appear on both nouns and verbs. Mam uses Set A (ergative) markers on nouns to mark possessor agreement and on verbs to cross-reference the transitive subject. Mam uses Set B (absolutive) markers on transitive verbs to cross-reference the object and on intransitive verbs to cross-reference the subject. Below is a table of Set A (ergative) and Set B (absolutive) prefixes from England. +Mam Set A and Set B Pronominal Markers Person Set A Set B Enclitics 1s n- ~ w- chin- -a ~ -ya 2s t- Ø ~ tz- ~ tzʼ- ~ k- -a ~ -ya 3s t- Ø ~ tz- ~ tzʼ- ~ k- – 1p (excl.) q- qo- -a ~ -ya 1p (incl.) q- qo- – 2p ky- chi- -a ~ -ya 3p ky- chi- –
Phonologically conditioned allomorphs are as follows. n- ~ w- n- /__C w- /__V Ø ~ tz- ~ tzʼ- ~ k- k- /potential tzʼ- /__V initial root, non-potential tz- /__uul 'arrive here', iky''' 'pass by', non-potential Ø- /__C, non-potential -a ~ -ya -ya /V__ ; In the first person in post-vowel environments, -ya varies freely with -kyʼa and -y. -a /C__
Some paradigmatic examples from England (1983) are given below. Note that "Ø-" designates a null prefix. Additionally, ma is an aspectual word meaning 'recent past'.
Set A markers + NOUNjaa'house'n-jaa-ya'my house't-jaa-ya'your house't-jaa'his/her house'q-jaa-ya'our (not your) house'q-jaa'our (everyone's) house'ky-jaa-ya'you (pl)'s house'ky-jaa'their house'
Set B markers + VERBbʼeet-to walkma chin bʼeet-a'I walked.'ma Ø-bʼeet-a'You walked.'ma Ø-bʼeet'He/she walked.'ma qo bʼeet-a'We (not you) walked.'ma qo bʼeet'We all walked'ma chi bʼeet-a'You all walked.'ma chi bʼeet'They walked.'
Mam verb complex Verbs in Mam can include inflection for person, aspect and mode, as well as auxiliaries in the form of directionals. The verb complex has distinct forms for transitive and intransitive verb stems depending in part on whether the complex cross-references one or two arguments. The lexical status of the verb complex is ambiguous. The inflections with vowels are phonologically independent (indicated by spaces). Transitive verb complexes with directionals have a dependent suffix. Two of England's examples of intransitive and transitive verb complexes are shown below.
Intransitive verb complex with directional
Transitive verb complex with directional
Mam extends the Set A (ergative) person markers in the context of focused adverbials and certain subordinate clauses. In these contexts, the Set A markers cross-reference the subject of intransitive verbs and both the subject and object of transitive verbs. The following examples show the extended ergative marker /t-/ in bold.
Intransitive verb complex with extended ergative marking
Transitive verb complex with extended ergative marking
REC:recent past POT:potential aspect ABS:absolutive agreement (Set B) ERG:ergative agreement (Set A) DEP:dependent suffix DIR:directional ENC:person enclitic REL:relational noun PAT:patient
Verb morphemesTransitive verbal affixes-bʼaa 'transitivizer' (vowel length can also be used) -laa 'applicative' -wa 'applicative' -bʼV 'causative' -chV 'causative' (variants: -chaa, -chii, -chuu) -kʼuu 'causative' -lV 'causative' -mV 'causative' -nV 'causative' -pV 'causative' -qʼV 'causative' -saa 'causative' -tzii 'causative' -tzʼV 'causative' -txʼii 'causative' -wV 'causative' -najee' 'repetitive' -'kJ 'processive' -'tz 'processive imperative'Intransitive verbal affixes-n 'antipassive' -Vn 'affect' -ax 'versive' -ee' 'versive' -eet 'passive' -j 'passive' -njtz 'passive' -bʼaj 'processive passive' -bʼa 'intransitivizer' -ch 'intransitivizer' -chaj 'intransitivizer' -paj 'intransitivizer' -t 'intransitivizer' -tzʼaj 'intransitivizer' -tzʼaq 'intransitivizer' -' ... -al 'specific termination'Other verbal affixes-l 'infinitive'AspectsMam verbs have 6 aspects that are prefixed to the verb root. ma 'recent past' o 'past' ok 'potential' (not obligatory) n- 'progressive' x- 'recent past dependent' (used in subordinate clauses) Ø- 'past dependent' (used in subordinate clauses)ModesPotential transitive: -a' Potential intransitive: -l Imperative: -m (-n before directionals)DirectionalsDirectionals are auxiliary elements in verb phrases. They are derived from intransitive verbs.
xi 'away from' tzaj 'toward' ul 'there to here' pon 'here to there' kubʼ 'down' jaw 'up' el 'out' ok 'in' kyaj 'remaining' aj 'returning from here' ikyʼ 'passing' bʼaj 'complete'
Pronouns Mam has no independent pronouns. Rather, pronouns in Mam always exist as bound morphemes.
Nouns The Mam language displays inalienable possession. Certain Mam nouns cannot be possessed, such as kya'j 'sky' and che'w 'star'. On the other hand, some Mam nouns are always possessed, such as t-lokʼ 'its root' and t-bʼaqʼ 'its seed'.
Noun phrase structure can be summarized into the following template.
{| class="wikitable" frame=void style="vertical-align:top; text-align:center; white-space:nowrap;" |- | Demonstrative| Number| Measure| Plural| Possessive affixes| NOUN ROOT| Possessor| Adjective| Relative clause|}
The plural clitic is qa.Noun affixesaj- 'agent' aj- 'native' -l 'agentive' -eenj 'patient' -bʼil 'instrumental' -bʼeen 'resultant locative' -bʼan 'reminder' -al 'abstract noun' -abʼiil 'abstract noun' -leen 'abstract noun' -le'n 'abstract noun' -an 'ordinal' -bʼji'bʼil 'nominalizer' -bʼal 'nominalizer' -bʼatz 'nominalizer' -l 'nominalizer' -tl 'nominalizer' -tz 'nominalizer'Relational noun affixes-u'n 'agent, instrument, causative' -ee 'dative, possessive, patient, benefactive' -i'j 'patient, thematic' -uukʼal 'instrument, comitative' -iibʼaj 'reflexive'Locative affixes-bʼutxʼ 'at the corner' -i'jla 'around' -iibʼaj 'over' -jaqʼ 'under' -txa'n 'at the edge of' -txlaj 'beside' -tzii' 'at the entrance of' -uj 'in' -witz 'on top of' -wi' 'on, at the tip of'Classifiersjal 'non-human' nu'xh 'baby' xhlaaqʼ 'child' bʼixh 'person of the same status (intimate)' qʼa 'young man' txin 'young woman' ma 'man' xu'j 'woman' swe'j 'old man' xhyaa' 'old woman' xnuq 'old man (respectful)' xuj 'old man (respectful)'Measure words'Measure words quantify mass nouns.
baas 'glassful' (< Spanish vaso) ma'l 'shot of liquor' laq 'plateful' pixh 'piece' txut 'drop' ba'uj 'a lot'
Numerals San Ildefonso Ixtahuacán Mam numbers are as follows. Numbers above twenty are rarely used in Ixtahuacán and are usually only known by elderly speakers. Although the number system would have originally been vigesimal (i.e., base 20), the present-day number system of Ixtahuacán is now decimal.
Numeral Word1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 40 60 80
Syntax