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FAMSI © 2005: Kerry Hull |
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A Dictionary of Ch'orti' Maya, Guatemala User’s Guide for the Dictionary There are a number of important points that need to be addressed in the presentation of the data that follows. In an effort to be concise, I will only mention a few of the crucial aspects of Ch'orti' morphophonemics, orthography, allomorphs, and certain variations that might confuse a reader unfamiliar with the inner workings of the Ch'orti' language. The style of this user’s guide is adapted from Hofling’s excellent dictionary of Itzaj (1997). There has been no firm consensus among early researchers of the Ch'orti' language in terms of orthographic conventions. The Ch'orti' themselves have, along with other Maya groups in Guatemala, adopted a standardized way of writing their language. In practice, however, there is still some variation among recent Ch'orti' publications, often due to inaccurate phonemic representations. The data in this dictionary follow Pérez Martínez et al. (1996) in general with a few minor differences. For example, I represent the conjunction for ‘and’ in Ch'orti' as /i/, whereas most publications by the Ch'orti' today use /yi/. The use of /yi/ is inaccurate phonetically and is motivated by an effort to distinguish the form of the word from the Spanish /y/ rather than actually representing how the phoneme is pronounced. It should be noted that there are cases where the /i/ meaning ‘and’ in Ch'orti' palatalizes to a /y/ in spoken Ch'orti' when preceding a vowel, but this is a result of assimilation and not indicative of the true articulation of the phoneme. 1.2.1 Phonetic Description and Alphabet The consonants of Ch'orti' are b, b', ch, ch', d, g, j, k, k', l, m, n, p, r, s, t, t', tz, tz', x, and the glottal stop '. Both /b/ and /d/ are rare and usually appear in Spanish borrowings. The /j/ is a voiceless glottal fricative. The /x/ is a voiceless palatal fricative. The semivowels are /w/ and /y/. The vowel inventory consists of /a/ (short low central vowel), /e/ (short mid-front vowel), /i/ (short high front vowel), /o/ (short mid-back vowel), and /u/ (short high back vowel). The reader is referred to the published sources for a fuller phonetic description (cf. Pérez Martínez 1994; Pérez Martínez et al. 1996). The ordering of terms follows the natural order of the alphabet with allowance made for consonants with glottal stops, which follow after the non-glottal versions. Words with rearticulated root vowels (e.g., xe'x) will follow after their corresponding short vowels in order. Therefore, the order of presentation will be as follows: a, a', b, b', ch, ch', d, e, e', g, i, i', j, k, k', l, m, n, o, o', p, r, s, t, t', tz, tz', u, u', w, x, y. 1.2.2. /b'/ The /b'/ is a glottalized voiced bilabial stop at the beginning or in the middle of a word, but it is only lightly articulated in word-final position. 1.2.3. /l/ The Ch'orti' language has fully adopted the use of the phoneme /r/ in places where historically /l/ was employed, as it was in Ch'olti'–a closely related language now extinct. Ch'orti', however, has not fully abandoned the use of /l/. In some cases, there is free variation between /r/ and /l/ depending on the speaker and dialect. In most cases the /r/ phoneme is dominant, but the /l/ is still occasionally in use. When a term preserving /l/ is in the data set, it will be listed together with the term using /r/ and separated by "~". Since most terms preserving the /l/ phoneme are rare, unless otherwise stated, the term with /r/ should be considered the most common form. 1.2.3. /g/ and /w/ The phoneme /g/ has two pronunciations in Ch'orti', a voiced velar stop and a voiced labio-velar glide (cf. 1.3.). The presence of the /g/ phoneme in Ch'orti' is a result of contact with Spanish and through Spanish borrowings. In Ch'orti', especially among older Ch'orti' speakers, /g/ is used in some Spanish borrowing where it replaces the standard Spanish phoneme; for example, ahora > agora. In addition, /g/ and /w/, once allophones in Ch'orti', have now become distinct but related phonemes. Both /g/ and /w/ regularly substitute for each other before /o/ (e.g., kawori ~ kagori, ‘we rolled it into a ball’). The choice of /g/ or /w/ is simply one of speaker’s preference. I do not see any need to harmonize the forms in this dictionary, since it would not reflect the variation on the ground among Ch'orti' speakers. Therefore, the pronunciation of /g/ and /w/ can vary as either a voiced velar stop or a voiced labio-velar glide with no change in meaning in when preceding /o/. 1.2.4. Vowel Rearticulation Ch'orti' does not have long or geminate vowels. Ch'orti' does, however, show vowel rearticulation in several different forms. First, vowel rearticulation appears in some terms as the underlying form of the vowel. For example, xex, ‘dirty’, and xe'x, ‘corn husk’, are minimal pairs only distinguished by the presence of the rearticulated vowel of xe'x. In other situations, rearticulation appears as a morphophonological process due to vowel assimilation. For example, when the plural suffix -ob' is added to a vowel-final term, such as apatna, ‘he/she works’, the resulting form is apatno'b' (see Fought 1971; Wichmann 1999). It should be noted that speakers do not uniformly make these assimilations in all cases. This is especially true for the third-person plural of some verbs classes, which shows no vowel rearticulation when appearing after a thematic vowel in the speech of some Ch'orti' speakers. Likewise, the assimilation of the adverbial clitic -ix, ‘already’, with some vowel-final terms produces varying results (e.g., ma'chi + -ix > ma'chi'x, but taka + -ix > takix). A third case involves the rearticulation of a medial vowel in closed syllables. For example, the verbal root pak', ‘to plant’, is often pronounced with a rearticulated root vowel in closed syllables (e.g., pa'k'ma'r). There is variation among different speakers, however. 1.2.5. Consonant Reduction When the combination of /jn/ appears at the end of a word, the phoneme /n/ is reduced and is practically inaudible (e.g., kojn, ‘ravine’, k'ajn, ‘bench, seat’, warajn, ‘trap’). 1.2.6. /n/ and /m/ The realization of the alveolar nasal /n/ in Ch'orti' is often phonologically conditioned. When /n/ appears before a bilabial stop such as /b'/ and /p/, it is often pronounced as /m/ (e.g., inb'utz, ‘good’, is pronounced imb'utz, and ak'unpa, ‘is content’, is pronounced ak'umpa). Some among the Ch'orti' have opted to show the underlying forms as a general rule (cf. Pérez Martínez et al. 1996). In most cases, however, this does not reflect the actual pronunciation of the vast number of such terms in Ch'orti'. Therefore, as a compromise, I show both forms as main entries separating them with a "~" (e.g., chonpati ~ chompati, where the first term is the underlying representation of the term, and the second is its common realization in speech). This is only being done for main entries, and all other occurrences of that term are given in the manner in which the speaker gave it originally. 1.2.7. Glottal Stop The glottal stop of some phonemes in Ch'orti' shows considerable variation among different speakers with certain lexical items. The phoneme /k'/, for example, often loses its glottalization and is pronounced simply as /k/ when preceding another consonant or in word-final position. There is a group of terms in which this variation is quite common: k'ajk', ‘fire’, nak', ‘stomach’, ak'b'ar, ‘night’, ak'ta, ‘dance’, and nuk', ‘neck’. The glottal stop is in a state of fluctuation in these and other similar terms. In the data presented below, I preserve the form used by the speaker rather than attempting to harmonize the forms. Therefore, the reader will notice some variation in the way these terms are recorded in examples sentences. In order to indicate terms in which there is some variation with the glottal stop, I will give both forms as main entries and separate them with "~" to indicate they are observed variants. 1.3.1. Fonts The dictionary is a trilingual format consisting of Ch'orti', Spanish, and English. Ch'orti' will appear in bold type, Spanish in italics, and English in standard type. The grammatical abbreviations appear in standard type, but underlined. 1.3.2. Main Entry The main Ch'orti' entry is given first. In order to be included in the dictionary, any entry must only have been encountered once. With data only encountered once, I may not have a good handle on frequency of usage in such cases. When a term is known to be rare or archaic, however, it will be so noted later in the entry (see 1.3.6.). I have attempted to present and organize the data in a way that would be easily accessible to scholars and laypersons alike. In Mayan languages, where verbal morphology often precedes the verbal root, organizing verbal entries with the inclusion of any prefixed morphology can disguise root forms, or at the least, make it more difficult for those unfamiliar with the language. An obvious option for Ch'orti' would be to list verbs in their imperative form since all imperative morphology is suffixed, thereby allowing the primary root to be shown clearly. The downside of listing verbs based on imperative forms is that they often introduce new final thematic vowels that are not used in standard conjugations. Therefore, in an effort to make the presentation of the data as clear and accessible as possible, I have opted to list verbs in a system similar to a root dictionary (cf. Laughlin 1975) but with some variation on the theme. Verbs will be listed according to their third-person-singular perfective form minus prefixed verbal morphology for transitives. For example, the term ub'ut'i, ‘he filled it’, would be listed as b'ut'i. The thematic vowel–common to active mood conjugations–is preserved and the root apparent. This rule will not be followed, however, in the case of a vowel-initial verb. Vowel-initial verbs, which require prefixed verbal inflection in the form of a pronoun (in-, a-, etc.) in imperfective contexts, regularly rely on epenthetic ligatures (either /w/ or /y/) before the pronouns can be prefixed (e.g., uk'i, ‘to cry’ becomes u-(y)-k'i in the third-person-singular perfective form). In such cases of vowel-initial verbs, I will list the root of the verb without the pronoun or epenthetic consonant or vowel. Therefore, the reader can assume that the verb forms given represent the root and all suffixed morphology relevant to the specific term in the active voice. 1.3.2.1 Always possessed Nouns There are certain nouns in Ch'orti' which do not appear without possessive prefixes in non-compound forms. Examples of these would be *ok, ‘foot; base’, *ar, ‘child’, and *ej, ‘tooth; mouth; blade’. When such terms appear in main entries, they will be marked with "-" to signify that this term does not appear without a prefixed possessive pronoun. For example, u-(y)ok e machit, ‘handle of a machete’, will be given as -ok machit for clarity’s sake. 1.3.2.2. Possessive Forms Nouns will be given in an unpossessed form as main entries. Nouns with possessive suffixes (usually in conjunction with possessive prefixes) in -Vr may be listed after the unpossessed main entry (e.g., kanar {pf. -kanarir}). The "-" signifies this term does not appear without a prefixed possessive pronoun. 1.3.2.3. Reflexive Pronouns The base of reflexive pronouns in Ch'orti' is -b'a, meaning ‘body’. All reflexive pronouns will be unpossessed in main entries, e.g., xab'i -b'a (instead of xab'i ub'a), for ‘he scratched himself’. If the reflexive pronoun appears within parentheses with a main entry verb, it signifies the reflexive pronoun is optional and the meaning will not be significantly changed with or without it. 1.3.2.4. Multiple-word Entries In main entries consisting of more than one term, I give the unpossessed, core lexemes of the expression without any of the possessive morphology that would appear in natural use. Listing multi-word entries in this fashion is useful since possessive markers are not consistent in most cases (except for frozen expressions, in which case the possessive will appear in the entry). For example, the expression "she opens her eyes widely" is (with ergative pronouns underlined) utz'ujri unak'u't. The main entry generally lists this form with any prefixed ergative pronouns (e.g., tz'ujri nak' ut). The accompanying sentence to each entry will make the pattern of possession perfectly clear. In some cases, however, when dealing with a frozen expression, the ergative pronouns will appear. 1.3.2.5. jut / ut The term jut or ut has a wide variety of usages in Ch'orti'. At its core jut or ut means ‘surface’, ‘face’, ‘eye’, or ‘appearance’. When the initial /j/ is dropped and a third-person ergative pronoun (u-) from Set A or Set C is prefixed, the /u/ is rearticulated as u't. In common usage, ut is sometimes difficult to translate but does affect the meaning of the phrase, albeit minimally at times. In main entries, jut and ut are in free variation and can usually be substituted into any phrase where the other is mentioned. 1.3.2.6. jor / or The term jor is widely used in a large number of expressions and in different parts of speech. There is an important morphophonological variation in which the /j/ of jor regularly drops in any situation producing a rearticulation of the /o/ when a pronoun is prefixed, e.g. ujor ~ o'r. Since forms with /j/ are the original, they will all be given as /j/ entries and not listed under or. However, even though only one form is given for a certain expression, it should be kept in mind that jor and or are in free variation and can substitute for one another in almost every situation (although there may be further morphophonological changes that occur in some cases). No attempt will be made to show overtly both forms in any primary entry since the reader can generally assume either will work. 1.3.2.7. Verbal Nouns Ch'orti' has a considerable range of verbal nouns derived in several different ways. In the translation of a main entry of a verbal noun in Ch'orti', the Spanish will be given as either the noun form or as the infinitive preceded by the definite article el to show its verbal nouns status (e.g., k'ek'ojsena'r. ‘el fortalecer’). Similarly, the English translations will usually be nominal or the "-ing" verbal noun form (e.g., pijch'na'r. ‘touching’). 1.3.2.8. Neologisms I have for the most part not included neologisms in this dictionary. This was a conscious choice to try to represent the language in its truest state possible. Recent work by the Academia de Lenguas Mayas has produced a full dictionary of new terms created to replace Spanish ones commonly in use in Ch'orti' today (Alvarez Ramírez et al. 2004). The process of introducing neologisms to the general population and having them gain acceptance is a daunting one, but progress is being made. If a neologism has been generally received among a sizable portion of the Ch'orti' population, it may appear in this data, but will be so noted. 1.3.3. Grammatical Description Each main Ch'orti' entry is followed by a grammatical abbreviation identifying the grammatical category of the term. The corresponding definitions for the abbreviations appear in Appendix 1 after the dictionary in both Spanish and English. Some words cover more than one grammatical category. I will use a "/" between the grammatical abbreviations to show they can serve both functions. It is important to stress that the grammatical assignments made are not always full descriptions of the term or phrase. Some are provisional pending further analysis. In such cases, more general grammatical categories are given. A sizeable portion of the grammatical categories given correspond in full or in part to descriptions done by Søren Wichmann (1999). 1.3.4. Translations of Main Entry After the grammatical abbreviation, a Spanish and English translation of the Ch'orti' main entry is given. Translations of all the main entries will be glossed in infinitive-style form in Spanish and English (e.g., k'eche. rvt. cargar. carry.). It is also noteworthy that the Spanish in this dictionary reflects the Spanish of the Ch'orti' area of southeastern Guatemala. 1.3.5. Sample Sentences At least one example sentence is given for each main entry to provide a context for the use of the term, except for terms used in healing rites, which are often opaque and difficult to translate. In addition, some terms gleaned since my last fieldwork trip to Guatemala do not have example sentences from native speakers and are left blank. Translations of the Ch'orti' sentence are first given in Spanish then English. All sentences were recorded from native speakers in natural speech situations, elicitation sessions, or recorded oral histories. No attempt is made to harmonize the data when dialectal variations appear. Since the data from this dictionary was derived from more than 40 different Ch'orti' speakers, some minor points of difference naturally arise. The sentences preserve these minor variations among different speakers. Therefore, the reader will find some variation in glottal stops in a few cases since that is a reflection of the living language. In addition, the fact that plurals are not used with any regularity by Ch'orti' speakers is also attested to in the example sentences given. Again, this is a reflection of the actual use of the language today. 1.3.5.1. Spanish Definite Articles Since Spanish uses definite articles instead of possessive pronouns with body parts, the translations to Spanish may not completely reflect the morphology of the Ch'orti' (and the English). When another indicator is present in the sentence to make the possessor clear, I will use definite articles to mark possession of body parts in Spanish translations. If, however, there are no overt indicators outside of the possessive pronoun for the body part to indicate the possessor, I will use standard possessive pronoun in Spanish to make the referent clear. 1.3.6. Cultural or Linguistic Notations Any cultural or linguistic data relevant to the term may be included in square brackets "[ ]" following the example sentences. 1.3.7. Scientific or Ethnobotanical Data A large amount of data referring to flora and fauna was gathered during this project. A scientific taxonomy of plant and animals was both outside of the scope of this project and my personal expertise. Future research will require the collaboration of specialists in ethnobotanical research to properly identify plant names and types in the Ch'orti' area. My focus was on recording the Ch'orti' terms (or Spanish terms if a Ch'orti' form was not known) for as many plants as possible. I also spent considerable time investigating plant usage in cooking, healing, and other areas of daily life. Fortunately, Johanna Kufer of the Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy in London, England has been conducting field research among the Ch'orti' and is compiling her data in her upcoming Ph.D. dissertation. My research has benefited from productive joint research in the field with Johanna Kufer. In addition, she has kindly allowed me to include scientific classifications of some plants from her unpublished data in this dictionary. When I draw upon her data, I will include her bibliographic information in square brackets and cite her in parentheses within the square brackets; for example, [Citrus arurantium L. (Kufer 2005)]. The bibliographic reference for her citation is: Kufer, Johanna. 2005. Plants used as medicine and food by the Ch'orti' Maya: Ethnobotanical Studies in Eastern Guatemala. Ph.D. thesis (Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy), The School of Pharmacy, University of London. The symbols found in data section of this dictionary are as follows: - signifies a form does not appear without a possessive prefix ~ separates alloforms that vary in one single phoneme / separates related forms that vary in more than one phoneme A: represents Speaker A in a dialogue B: represents Speaker B in a dialogue [ ] enclose cultural or linguistic notations about main entry, or enclose scientific nomenclature ( ) enclose an epenthetic semivowel when around a phoneme ( ) represent a variable item that doesn’t significantly alter the meaning of expression when enclosing a lexeme = signifies it is an enclitic lit. literally |
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