Quiché language

From Freepedia

Quiché (K'iche')
Spoken in:	Guatemala
Region:	Central highlands
Total speakers:	approx. 1,000,000
Ranking:	Not in top 100
Genetic classification:	Mayan Quichean-Mamean Greater Quichean Quichean Quiché-Achi Quiché
Official status
Official language of:	-
Regulated by:	-
Language codes
ISO 639-1	-
ISO 639-2	-
SIL	QUC,CUN,QUU,QUJ,QXI,QUT
See also: Language – List of languages

The Quiché language (K'iche') is a part of the Mayan language family. It is still spoken by many Quiché people in Guatemala, although most also have at least a working knowledge of Spanish except in some isolated rural villages. With close to a million speakers (some 7% of Guatemala's population), it is the second most widely spoken language in the country after Spanish.

There is substantial dialectal variation, and the main dialects are sometimes considered to be separate languages. However most speakers use Central Quiché, which is the most commonly used in the media and education. Although it has no official status in Guatemala and the first-language literacy rate is low, it is increasingly taught in schools and used on radio.

The most famous work in the Quiché language is the Popol Vuh (written Popol Wuj in modern Quiché).

Contents 1 Quiché Phonology 2 Syntax and morphology 3 References 4 External links

Quiché Phonology

Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The spellings indicated below are as standardized by the Guatemalan government. Also mentioned in the notes field are areas where these differ from the spellings found in the Popol Vuh, as transliterated by Dennis Tedlock.

Plosives
Phoneme	Sound	Spelling	Notes
/p/	voiceless bilabial plosive	p
/ɓ/	voiced bilabial implosive	b'	Spelt "b" in the Popol Vuh
/t/	voiceless dental plosive	t
/tʼ/	ejective dental plosive	t'	Spelt "tt" in the Popol Vuh
/k/	voiceless velar plosive	k	Spelt "c" (or "qu" before "e", "i") in the Popol Vuh.
/kʼ/	ejective velar plosive	k'	Spelt "3" in the Popol Vuh.
/q/	voiceless uvular plosive	q	Spelt "k" in the Popol Vuh.
/qʼ/	ejective uvular plosive	q'	Spelt "4" in the Popol Vuh.
/ʔ/	voiceless glottal plosive	'	Indicated by doubling a preceding vowel in the Popol Vuh.
Affricates
/ts/	voiceless alveolar affricate	tz
/tsʼ/	ejective alveolar affricate	tz'	Spelt "4," in the Popol Vuh
/ʧ/	voiceless postalveolar affricate	ch
/ʧʼ/	ejective postalveolar affricate	ch'	Spelt "4h" in the Popol Vuh
Fricatives
/s/	voiceless alveolar fricative	s	Spelt "z" in the Popol Vuh.
/ʃ/	voiceless postalveolar fricative	x
/x/	voiceless velar fricative	j	Spelt "h" in the Popol Vuh.
Nasals
/m/	bilabial nasal	m
/n/	alveolar nasal	n
Laterals and Rhotics
/l/	alveolar lateral approximant	l
/ɾ/	alveolar flap	r
Semivowels and/or Semiconsonants
/j/	palatal approximant	y
/w/	labio-velar approximant	w	Spelt "u" or "v" in the Popol Vuh.
Vowels
/a/	open front unrounded vowel	a
/ə/	mid centre unrounded vowel	ä	Not distinguished from "a" in the Popol Vuh.
/e/	close-mid front unrounded vowel	e
/i/	close front unrounded vowel	i
/o/	close-mid back rounded vowel	o
/u/	close back rounded vowel	u

Syntax and morphology

Quiché uses subject-verb-object order, unlike most Mayan languages, which are verb-initial.

References

• Dennis Tedlock, Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. Touchstone Books (1996). ISBN 0684818450.
• A K'iche'-English Dictionary

External links

Ethnologue report for Central Quiché