Classical Kʼicheʼ was an ancestral form of today's Kʼicheʼ language (Quiché in the older Spanish-based orthography), which was spoken in the highland regions of Guatemala around the time of the 16th-century Spanish conquest of Guatemala. Classical Kʼicheʼ has been preserved in a number of historical Mesoamerican documents, lineage histories, missionary texts, and dictionaries. Most famously, it is the language in which the renowned highland Maya mythological and historical narrative Popol Vuh (or Popol Wuj in modern orthography) is written. Another historical text of partly similar content is the Título de Totonicapán.
The details of the phonology of Classical Kʼicheʼ are uncertain, since the Spanish-based writing system expressed it poorly, and one needs to use the most archaic modern dialects to reconstruct the likely pronunciation. A probable phonemic inventory as preserved in archaic Kʼicheʼ dialects is:[1]
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Affricate | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Liquid | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
| Semivowel | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
Note that most of the glottalised stops are ejectives, but the labial one is implosive instead.
| High | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Low | pronounced as /link/ |
An inherited feature of Kʼicheʼ is phonemic vowel length, but today, some dialects do not preserve it and the orthography of Popol Vuh does not express it either. It is likely that, as in modern Kʼicheʼ dialects, liquids and semivowels were devoiced word-finally and before consonants and that plain stops were aspirated word-finally.
Stress was always on the last syllable of the word.[2]
The original Spanish-based orthography was variable and did not distinguish between some phonemes. In this article, the modern Guatemalan standard orthography is used. The following table shows the differences and some similarities between the ways in which Kʼicheʼ phonemes are expressed in these two systems. In other cases, the spelling coincides with the IPA sign.
| bʼ | /ɓ/ | b | |
| ch | /tʃ/ | ch | |
| chʼ | /tʃʼ/ | same as /tʃ/, but sometimes also gh | |
| h | /h/ | mostly unexpressed | |
| j | /x/ | h | |
| (C)ʼ (as in tʼ, kʼ, etc.) | ejectives | mostly unexpressed, but see the individual entries | |
| k | /k/ | qu (before front vowels), c (elsewhere) | |
| kʼ | /kʼ/ | same as /k/, but sometimes also g | |
| q | /q/ | same as /k/; sometimes also k | |
| qʼ | /qʼ/ | same as /q/; sometimes also ɛ | |
| s | /s/ | z, ç; also tz! | |
| tʼ | /t/ | t, also ɧ | |
| tz | /ts/ | tz, z | |
| tzʼ | /tsʼ/ | g, | |
| w | /w/ | v, u | |
| x | /ʃ/ | x | |
| y | /j/ | y, i | |
| ʼ | /ʔ/ | unexpressed |
As indicated in the table, many of the special Kʼicheʼ phonemes, notably the ejectives, did have dedicated signs. These were introduced by Father Francisco de la Parra in the middle of the 16th century and were based on inverted numbers: ɛ (inverted 3) for /qʼ/, g (actually an inverted 4) for /kʼ/, g, (inverted 4 with a comma) for /tsʼ/ and gh (inverted 4 with an h) for /tʃʼ/. There was also a sign for /tʼ/, which may be rendered as ɧ, and /q/ could be expressed with k. However, the signs were used inconsistently or not at all in many manuscripts, and Father Francisco Ximénez, who was responsible for the writing down of the Popol Vuj, apparently failed to realise that they expressed special sounds in Kʼicheʼ.[5]
Some common phonological alternations result from the coalescence of adjacent vowels (chi- + -u > ch-u, V- + -on > -V-n) and the elision of word-final consonants of particles and function words phrase-internally (but not finally): (chik > chi). The vowels of certain suffixes become completely identical to the vowel of the root; some of these suffixes are affected in this way by any root vowel, but others, containing /o/, are influenced only by a preceding /u/ in the root, and others also by a preceding /a/.[6]
The grammar of Classical Kʼicheʼ is fairly similar in most respects to that of the majority of modern Kʼicheʼ dialects. Some notable differences are the existence of special future tense prefixes, the default VSO word order and the preservation of indigenous rather than borrowed Spanish forms for the higher numerals. Like modern Kʼicheʼ dialects, Classical Kʼicheʼ has ergative-absolutive alignment, i.e. it normally uses the same grammatical marking for the subject of an intransitive verb and the direct object of a transitive verb, whereas the subject of a transitive verb is marked in a way different from both.
Nouns have only the categories number, possession and alienability.
The plural is marked only on nouns that designate persons, and even among them only some have the ability to take it. The suffix is -Vbʼ, with the vowel being lexically determined and unpredictable, although it is most commonly /a/ (e.g. ajaw-abʼ 'princes').[7]
Possession is expressed by the following prefixes:
| 1st person singular | nu- before a consonant, w- before a vowel | |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd person singular | a(w)- | |
| 3rd person singular | u- before a consonant, r- before a vowel | |
| 1st person plural | q(a)- | |
| 2nd person plural | i(w)- | |
| 3rd person plural | k(i)- |
The standard way of marking possession of a noun by another noun is by juxtaposing the possessed noun, marked with a 3rd person possessive prefix, and the possessor noun: u-kʼuʼx kaj 'the heart of heaven', lit. 'its heart, heaven'. This is a head-marking construction typical of the Mesoamerican linguistic area.
The marking of possession is incompatible with the marking of number; in other words, the possessive prefixes and the plural suffix may not co-occur.[8]
Nouns may be inalienable or alienable. Inalienable nouns must always have a prefix expressing their possessor. They are mostly designations of parts of the body and relatives, certain other possessions such as the house (-ochoch), as well as nouns expressing spatial relations ('top' as in 'on top of' etc.). Alienable nouns do not require a possessive prefix, and some of them (such as designations of wild animals and plants, natural phenomena) normally don't have one.
To transform an inalienable noun into an alienable one, the suffix -Vxel is added to names of relatives, and the suffix -aj is added to names of body parts: gajol-axel 'sons'. Conversely, a noun that normally has no possessor can be transformed into an inalienable one by means of the suffix -Vl, which may also serve to emphasise the possession as in 'one's own N': u-chikop-il 'its animal(s)'.[9]
Certain inalienable nouns express spatial or abstract relations and thus function like prepositions: e.g. xeʼ 'root' – u-xeʼ N 'under N' (lit. 'its-root N'). Some others are more similar to adverbial modifiers. These are listed below:[10]
| noun | literal meaning | translation when possessed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| wa(ch) | face | in front of | |
| wiʼ | head | on | |
| pa(m) | inside | in | |
| ij | back | behind | |
| xe | root | under | |
| chi | mouth, lip | beside, at | |
| -e(ch) | property | of | |
| -umal | reason | because of | |
| -ukʼ | NA | together with | |
| -onojel | NA | all together | |
| -tukel | NA | only | |
| -ibʼ | oneself, each other | NA |
Adjectives are normally indeclinable.[11] However, certain adjectives have a special attributive form that ends in the suffix -V (nim-a cheʼ 'a big tree', in contrast to nim ri cheʼ 'the tree is big')[12] and appears only before consonant-initial words (cf. nim aq 'a big pecari').[13] A few can also take a special plural suffix -aq: nim-aq juyubʼ 'the big mountains'.[14] Adjectives can also be used adverbially: nim x-kikot 'he rejoiced greatly'.[11]
The free forms of the pronouns can be used only when in focus and are as follows:[15]
| singular | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | in | oj | |
| 2nd person | at | ix | |
| 3rd person | ∅ (are) | e | |
| polite pronoun | la(l) | alaq |
Otherwise, pronominal possession is expressed by the prefixes listed in the subsection Possession of the section on nouns.
Demonstratives express not only distance, but also visibility. The following demonstratives are used:[17]
| close to speaker | waʼ(e) | |
|---|---|---|
| far, but still visible | laʼ | |
| invisible, anaphoric | riʼ | |
| neutral, anaphoric | are | |
| ri |
The interrogative pronouns are naki 'what' and a(pa)chinaq 'who'. Other question words are a pa 'where' and jupacha 'how'.[19]
The basic scheme of the verb chain is as follows:
| tense-aspect prefix | absolutive prefix | ergative prefix (if transitive) | stem | status suffix |
|---|
The tense-aspect prefixes are as follows:
| completive: | x- | |
|---|---|---|
| incompletive: | k(a)- | |
| potential: | ch(i)- | |
| future: | xk(a)- (intransitive) / xch(i)- (transitive) | |
| imperative: | k(a)- (intransitive) / ch(i)- (transitive) / ∅- | |
| prohibitative: | m- |
The personal agreement prefixes are as follows:
| absolutive | ergative | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | in- | nu- before a consonant, w- before a vowel | |
| 2nd person singular | at- | a(w)- | |
| 3rd person singular | ∅- | u- before a consonant, r- before a vowel | |
| 1st person plural | oj- | q(a)- | |
| 2nd person plural | ix- | i(w)- | |
| 3rd person plural | e- | k(i)- |
The status suffixes are:[21] [22]
| phrase-medially | phrase-finally | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| intransitive | indicative and prohibitative | -∅ | -ik |
| imperative | -a | -oq | |
| transitive root verb (class 1) | indicative and prohibitative | -∅ | -o, -u after roots containing /u/ |
| imperative | -a, -o or -u after roots containing /o/ or /u/ | ||
| transitive verb stem in -j, -Vbʼaʼ, -Vlaʼ, -Vkaʼ (class 2 transitive verb) | -∅ | ||
Besides the absolute final position, the final forms may are also commonly used in front of complex or coordinated noun phrases, as well as in cases when a demonstrative pronoun referring to the noun phrase is placed in the beginning of the clause, or when an adverbial modifier not referenced with the particle wi is.[23]
Altogether, the possible affixes in the chain are:
Some examples are:The following participle suffixes exist:[24] [25]
| suffix | example | notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| perfect intransitive (refers to the absolutive participant) | -inaq (-enaq after /e/ in the root) | ok-inaq '(which has) entered' | ||
| perfect transitive (refers to the absolutive participant) | -(o)m (-um after /u/ in the root) | il-om '(which has been) seen' | ||
| progressive (refers to the ergative participant) | -y | tzono-y 'who bites, biting' | Only of class 2 transitive verbs. | |
| stative | -Vl(ik) (-Vnik after root in /l/; V is the same as the root vowel) | kuʼbʼ-ulik '(who is) sitting' | Only from positional roots. | |
| distributive-repetitive | -Vkoj (V is the same as the root vowel) | jul-ujuj 'shining' | The stem is often of unclear nature. |
In spite of their norminal nature, the participles are used predicatively, like verbs, more often than attributively or adverbially.[26]
The infinitive suffixes are the following:
| suffix | example | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| intransitive | -ik | kamik '(process of) dying' | |
| transitive | -(o)j -(o)n | bʼanoj '(process of) doing' bʼanon 'ditto' |
| indicative medial | indicative final | imperative medial | imperative final | perfect participle | infinitive | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| intransitive | -∅ | -ik | -a | -oq | -inaq | -ik | |
| class 1 transitive | -∅ | -o (-u) | -a (-o, -u) | -om | -oj | ||
| class 2 transitive | -j, -ʼ | -j, -ʼ | -j, -ʼ | -j, -ʼ | -m | -j | |
There are as many as two kinds of antipassive verb forms, which cause the subject of a transitive verb to be in the absolutive case rather than the normal ergative – the absolute antipassive, which allows the omission of the object (x-∅-kʼat-on ri k-atiʼt 'their grandmother burnt [something]'), and the focus antipassive, which is used to emphasise the subject (xa ajkun x-∅-kʼam-ow-ik ri kʼuwal 'but the doctor took the jewel').[28] The two are distinguished only in class 1 transitive verbs. There are also passives, which are used to omit the ergative subject – besides the basic one there is also a completive passive that emphasises the completion of an action and the resulting state of its object. Their suffixes are the following:[29]