| Proto-Mayan | |
| Region: | Mesoamerica |
| Familycolor: | American |
| Target: | Mayan languages |
Proto-Mayan is the hypothetical common ancestor of the 30 living Mayan languages, as well as the Classic Maya language documented in the Maya inscriptions. While there has been some controversy with Mayan subgrouping, there has been a general agreement that the following are the main five subgroups of the family: Huastecan, Yucatecan, Cholan-Tzeltalan, Kanjobalan-Chujean, and Quichean-Mamean.[1]
The Proto-Mayan language is reconstructed (Campbell and Kaufman 1985) as having the following sounds:
Five vowels: a, e, i, o and u.Each of these occurring as short and long: aa, ee, ii, oo and uu,
| Type | Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound | plain | ejective | plain | ejective | plain | ejective | plain | ejective | plain | ejective | plain | ||
| Stop | p pronounced as /[p]/ | bʼ/pʼ pronounced as /[ɓ]/[pʼ]/ | t pronounced as /[t]/ | tʼ pronounced as /[tʼ]/ | ty pronounced as /[tʲ]/ | tyʼ pronounced as /[tʲʼ]/ | k pronounced as /[k]/ | kʼ pronounced as /[kʼ]/ | q pronounced as /[q]/ | qʼ pronounced as /[qʼ]/ | ʼ pronounced as /[ʔ]/ | ||
| Affricate | ts pronounced as /[tsʰ]/ | tsʼ pronounced as /[tsʼ]/ | ch pronounced as /[tʃʰ]/ | chʼ pronounced as /[tʃʼ]/ | |||||||||
| Fricative | s pronounced as /[s]/ | x pronounced as /[ʃ]/ | j pronounced as /[χ]/ | h pronounced as /[h]/ | |||||||||
| Nasal | m pronounced as /[m]/ | n pronounced as /[n]/ | nh pronounced as /[ŋ]/ | ||||||||||
| Liquid | l pronounced as /[l]/ r pronounced as /[r]/ | ||||||||||||
| Glide | y pronounced as /[j]/ | w pronounced as /[w]/ | |||||||||||
The following set of sound changes from proto-Mayan to the modern languages are used as the basis of the classification of the Mayan languages. Each sound change may be shared by a number of languages; a grey background indicates no change.
| Huastecan | Yucatecan | Cholan–Tzeltalan | Qʼanjobʼalan–Chujean | Kʼichean–Mamean | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chʼolan | Tzeltalan | Qʼanjobʼalan | Chujean | Kʼichean | Mamean | |||||
| Core Kʼicheʼ | Kaqchikel- Tzʼutujil | Mam | Ixil | |||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
|
| --inconsistent with Nicholas A. Hopkins. A DICTIONARY OF THE CHUJ (MAYAN) LANGUAGE. 2012;;; Popti' (Qanjobalan) words preserve ng as well--> |
| |||||||
|
|
|
|
| ||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
|
| |||||||||
| --in Chorti--> |
| ||||||||
| CVʔVC > CVʔC | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
The palatalized plosives pronounced as /[tʲʼ]/ and pronounced as /[tʲ]/ are not carried down into any of the modern families. Instead they are reflected differently in different branches allowing a reconstruction of these phonemes as palatalized plosives. In the western branch (Chujean–Qʼanjobʼalan and Cholan) they are reflected as pronounced as /[t]/ and pronounced as /[tʼ]/. In Mamean they are reflected as pronounced as /[ts]/ and pronounced as /[tsʼ]/ and in Yukatek and Kʼichean as pronounced as /[tʃʰ]/ and pronounced as /[tʃʼ]/.[2]
| +reflexes of Proto-Mayan pronounced as /[tʲʼ]/ and pronounced as /[tʲ]/ [3] | Proto-Mayan | Qʼanjobʼal | Mam | Kʼicheʼ | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pronounced as /
| pronounced as /teʔ/ | pronounced as /tseʔ/ | pronounced as /tʃeːʔ/ | tree | |
pronounced as /
| pronounced as /tan/ | pronounced as /tsaʔχ/ | pronounced as /tʃaːχ/ | ashes |
The Proto-Mayan liquid pronounced as /[r]/ is reflected as pronounced as /[j]/ in the western languages (Chujean–Qʼanjobʼalan and Cholan), Huastecan and Yukatek but as pronounced as /[tʃʰ]/ in Mamean and pronounced as /[r]/ in Kʼichean and Poqom.[2]
| +reflexes of Proto-Mayan pronounced as /[r]/ | Proto-Mayan | Yukatek | Ixil | Kʼicheʼ | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pronounced as /
| pronounced as /jaʔʃ/ | pronounced as /tʃaʔʃ/ | pronounced as /raʃ/ | green | |
pronounced as /
| pronounced as /kaj/ | pronounced as /tʃaj/ | pronounced as /kar/ | fish |
Proto-Mayan velar nasal pronounced as /
| +reflexes of Proto-Mayan pronounced as /[ŋ]/ | Proto-Mayan | Qʼanjobʼal | Ixil | Poptiʼ | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pronounced as /
| pronounced as /ne/ | pronounced as /xeh/ | pronounced as /ŋeh/ | tail | |
The changes of Proto-Mayan glottal fricative pronounced as /[h]/ are many and it has different reflexes according to position. In some positions it has added length to the preceding vowel in languages that preserve a length distinction. In other languages it has the reflexes pronounced as /[w]/, pronounced as /[j]/, pronounced as /[ʔ]/, pronounced as /[x]/ or a zero-reflex.[5]
Only Kʼichean–Mamean and some Qʼanjobʼalan languages have retained Proto-Mayan uvular stops pronounced as /[q]/ and pronounced as /[qʼ]/ whereas all other branches have changed these into pronounced as /[k]/ and pronounced as /[kʼ]/ respectively.
In Mamean a chain shift took place changing pronounced as /
In polysyllabic words Kaqchikel and Tzʼutujil have changed a final Proto-Mayan pronounced as /
Huastecan is the only branch to have changed Proto-Mayan pronounced as /
The Yucatecan languages have all shifted Proto-Mayan pronounced as /
Several languages particularly Cholan and Yucatecan have changed short pronounced as /[a]/ into pronounced as /[ɨ]/.
All Cholan languages have changed long proto-Mayan vowels pronounced as /[eː]/ and pronounced as /[oː]/ into pronounced as /[i]/ and pronounced as /[u]/ respectively.
Vowel length distinction has been lost in Qʼanjobʼalan-Chujean (except for Mochoʼ and Akateko), Kaqchikel and Cholan. Some languages have reduced the vowel length distinction into a tense lax distinction that was later lost for most vowels, Kaqchikel however retains a centralized lax schwa-like vowel as a reflex of Proto-Mayan pronounced as /[a]/.[8] Two languages, Yukatek and Uspantek and one dialect of Tzotzil have introduced a tone distinction in vowels between high and low tones as reflexes of former vowel length and pronounced as /[h]/ and pronounced as /[ʔ]/.