| Poqomam | |
| States: | Guatemala |
| Region: | Alta Verapaz |
| Ethnicity: | 46,500 Poqomam (2019 census) |
| Date: | 2019 census |
| Ref: | e24 |
| Familycolor: | American |
| Fam1: | Mayan |
| Fam2: | Core Mayan |
| Fam3: | Quichean–Mamean |
| Fam4: | Greater Quichean |
| Fam5: | Pocom |
| Minority: |  Guatemala |
| Agency: | Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala |
| Iso3: | poc |
| Glotto: | poqo1253 |
| Glottorefname: | Poqomam |
Poqomam is a Mayan language, closely related to Poqomchiʼ. It is spoken by 50,000 or so people in several small pockets in Guatemala, the largest of which is in Jalapa department.[1]
Poqomam is spoken in the following municipalities of Escuintla, Jalapa, and Guatemala departments (Variación Dialectal en Poqom, 2000).
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sibilant | ||||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| ejective | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| implosive | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||||
| Trill | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||||
| Approximant | central | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| glottalized | (pronounced as /ink/) | ||||||||
| Front | Central | 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/ |
In the journal Natural Language & Linguistic Theory[3] it is noted that if subjects are realized as negative indefinite pronouns, they may also trigger agent focus. The Mayan languages differ with respect to the degree of how obligation for agent focus. In this case Poqomam's agent focus is optional in all relevant contexts.
These are every day greetings from Poqomam, which is one of the Mayan languages of Guatemala. The translations are provided by the International Journal of American Linguistics:[4]
According to American Anthropologist,[5] the revitalization of Mayan languages in Guatemala has increased in importance. In the 1996 Peace Accords the idea of officializing or co-officializing Mayan languages was introduced. Unfortunately in the 1999 referendum of the constitutional changes it was turned down. In May 2003, the Guatemala congress passed the "Law of National Languages" that, while it states that Spanish is the official language of Guatemala, the Law recognizes that indigenous languages are essential parts of the national identity which must be promoted. This is a considerable change from the Guatemalan Constitution, which only recognizes indigenous languages as a part of the "national patrimony."
The Mayans have taken a number of actions that are intended, in part, to address the problem of language status and language shift: