Poqomchiʼ language explained

Poqomchiʼ (Pokomchi: Poqomchiiʼ) is a Mayan language spoken by the Poqomchiʼ Maya of Guatemala, and is very closely related to Poqomam. Its two main dialects, eastern and western, were spoken by 90,000 or so people in the year 2000, in Purulhá, Baja Verapaz, and in the following municipalities of Alta Verapaz: Santa Cruz Verapaz, San Cristóbal Verapaz, Tactic,Tamahú and Tucurú. It is also the predominant language in the municipality of Chicamán (El Quiché), which borders Alta Verapaz.^[1]

Distribution

Poqomam is spoken in the following municipalities of Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, and El Quiché departments (Variación Dialectal en Poqom, 2000).

In Western Poqomchi', pronounced as //ɓ// is non-existent and a glottalized pronounced as //wʼ// occurs in alteration. Sometimes an allophone of pronounced as //wʼ// can be heard as pronounced as /link/.
pronounced as //pʼ// mainly exists among the western dialects.
pronounced as //r// can be heard as a flap sound pronounced as /link/ when occurring word-medially.
If a glottal sound precedes pronounced as //l//, it is then heard as a voiceless fricative pronounced as /link/.

	Front	Back
Close	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Mid	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Open	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/

Short allophones of vowels pronounced as //i//, pronounced as //a o// can be heard as pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/.

Web site: Spanne, Joan. 2009-02-19. ISO 639-3 Change Requests Series 2008: Summary of Outcomes. SIL International. 2009-03-09.
News: Mariscal, David. 2015. Mayan-poqomchi´ identity in its spiritual and religious manifestations. Revista De Estudios Sociales.
News: Mariscal, David. 2014. Ethnic Relations between the Q́eqchí and Poqomchí of Guatemala: Preservation, Transculturation and Mutual Influence. Procedia - Social And Behavioral Sciences.
News: Mó Isém, Romelia. 2007. Rutoxl qʼorik pan Poqomchiʼ Derivación de palabras Poqomchiʼ. Guatemala: Cholsamaj.
Mora‐Marín, D. F.. 2003. Historical Reconstruction of Mayan Applicative and Antidative Constructions. International Journal of American Linguistics. 69 . 2 . 186–228 . 10.1086/379684. 144204931 .
News: Wichmann, S.. Brown, C. H.. 2003. Contact among Some Mayan Languages: Inferences from Loanwords. 30028873. Anthropological Linguistics.
News: Weichel. Lindsay A.. 2006. The grammatical structure of Western Pokomchi'. University of Regina.