Chuj language

Chuj
Pronunciation	[tʃuːx]
Native to	Guatemala, Mexico
Region	Northern Huehuetenango, Chiapas
Ethnicity	Chuj
Native speakers	unknown (43,000 cited 1991–2000)
Language family	Mayan Q’anjobalan–Chujean Chujean Chuj
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cac
Glottolog	chuj1250

Chuj is a Mayan language spoken by around 40,000 members of the Chuj people in Guatemala and around 10,000 members in Mexico. Chuj is a member of the Q'anjob'alan branch along with the languages of Tojolab'al, Q'anjob'al, Akateko, Popti', and Mocho' which, together with the Ch'olan branch, forms the Western branch of the Mayan family. The Chujean branch emerged approximately 2,000 years ago. In Guatemala, Chuj speakers mainly reside in the municipalities of San Mateo Ixtatán, San Sebastián Coatán and Nentón in the Huehuetenango Department. Some communities in Barillas and Ixcán also speak Chuj. The two main dialects of Chuj are the San Mateo Ixtatán dialect and the San Sebastián Coatán dialect.

The Chuj language has been influenced by Spanish, and Chuj speakers have a tendency to borrow Spanish words or code-mix. It is estimated that 70% of the Chuj language is purely Chuj. There are language conservation and revitalization efforts taking place in San Mateo Ixtatán, through groups like the Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala.

Phonology

Phonemic Inventory

Chuj vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

Chuj consonants

	Bilabial		Labiodental	Alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Glottal
	Plain	Implosive	Plain	Ejective	Plain	Ejective	Plain	Ejective	Plain	Ejective	Plain	Plain
Oral stops	p	ɓ		t	tʼ			k	kʼ			ʔ
Oral stops			v
Fricative				s		ʃ				χ
Affricates				t͡s	t͡s'	t͡ʃ	t͡ʃʼ
Nasals	m			n				ŋ
Liquids				l   r
Glides						j

Orthography

Orthography	IPA	Example	Translation
a	/a/	atz'am	salt
b'	/ɓ/	b'eyi	to walk
ch	/t͡ʃ/	chich	rabbit
ch'	/t͡ʃʼ/	ch'al	thread
e	/e/	ewi	yesterday
i	/i/	ix	woman
j	/χ/	jun	one
k	/k/	kukay	firefly
k'	/k'/	k'atzitz	firewood
l	/l/	lolonel	word
m	/m/	much	bird
n	/n/	nun	parent
nh	/ŋ/	nhab'	rain
o	/o/	ok'	foot
p	/p/	pat	house
r	/r/	retet	woodpecker
s	/s/	sak	white
t	/t/	tut	beans
t'	/t'/	t'oy	soft
tz	/t͡s/	tzatz	hard
tz'	/t͡s'/	tz'i'	dog
u	/u/	unin	child
w	/v/	winak	man
x	/ʃ/	xanhap	shoe
y	/j/	yax	green
'	/ʔ/	'onh	avocado

The letter 'h' is conventionally used in words with initial vowels to distinguish them from words that begin with a glottal stop.

Grammar

Verb stem morphology

Below is a template for the verbal stem in Chuj. Verbal predicates in Chuj appear with a status suffix: -a with transitive verbs and –i with intransitive verbs. Finite clauses inflect for Tense-Aspect, person, and number.

Verb structure

Tense/aspect/mood	Absolutive marker	Ergative marker	Verb root	Status suffix
tz-	ach-	in-	chel-	a'
Imperfective	2nd person sg. absolutive	1st person sg. ergative	hug	transitive
tzachinchela' 'I am hugging you.'

Non-verbal predicates

Non-verbal predicates are non-verbal words like adjectives, nouns, positionals, or directionals that act as the main predicate and are semantically stative. These constructions do not inflect for Tense-Aspect, but do inflect for person and number. There is no overt copula in Chuj and copula constructions are expressed through non-verbal predicates.

Chuj: a ix Malin k'ayb'um ix.
Gloss: top/foc CL Maria teacher CL
English: Maria is a teacher.

Chuj: Ay ix hin-nun niwakil ix.
Gloss: top/foc CL my-mother large CL
English: My mother is large.

Person-markers

Chuj is an ergative-absolutive language. The subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb are both cross-referenced with an absolutive marker, which appears in the verbal stem. The subject of a transitive verb is cross-referenced with an ergative marker in the verbal stem.

Person markers

	Ergative marker		Absolutive marker
	Pre-consonantal	Pre-vocalic	Pre-consonantal/Pre-vocalic
1 Person Sg	hin-	w-	hin-
2 Person Sg	ha-	h-	hach-
3 Person Sg	s-	y-	Ø
1 Person Pl	ko-	k-	honh-
2 Person Pl	he-	hey-	hex-
3 Person Pl	s-... heb'	y-... heb'	heb'

Tense-Aspect

Chuj has four attested Tense-Aspect markers. Finite clauses inflect obligatorily for Tense-Aspect.

Tense-Aspect markers

Marker	Meaning
tz-	imperfective
ix-	perfective
lan	progressive
ol-	prospective

Nominal classifiers

Chuj nominal classifiers represent a closed class of approximately a dozen words. They specify gender for humans, and the base material for objects, such as wood (te') for houses and metal (k'en) for knives.

Nominal classifiers

Classifier	Domain
a'	water
anh	plant [grow from ground]
atz'am	salt
chanh	vine
ix	female
ixim	grain
k'ak	cloth
k'en	metal
lum	earth
nok'	animal
te'	wood
waj	male name
winh	male

Chuj nominal classifiers have two main functions: they act as articles for referential nouns, and as pronouns. They have a lexical origin, but have undergone semantic bleaching and may therefore refer to a larger semantic field than the nominals that they are derived from.

Articles for referential nouns

Chuj: Heb‘ winh unin ix-s-lo‘ [te‘ manzan] heb‘ winh.
Gloss: Pl cl.masc child prfv-a3s-eat cl.wood apple pl cl.masc
English: As for the boys, they ate the apple.

Pronouns

Chuj: Ol-s-lo te’ ix.
Gloss: Prosp-b3s-a3s-eat cl.wood cl.fem
English: She (Elsa) will eat it (the apple).

Numbers 1 through 10 in Chuj

San Mateo Ixtatán / San Sebastián Coatán

1. Ju'un / Jun
2. Cha'ab' / Cha'ab'/chab'
3. Oxe' / Oxe'
4. Chanhe' / Chanhe'
5. Hoye' / O'e'
6. Wake' / Wake'
7. Huke' / Huke'
8. Wajxake' / Wajxke'
9. B'alunhe' / B'alnhe'
10. Lajunhe' / Lajnhe'

A tongue twister in Chuj from San Sebastián Coatán

Nok' Xankatat yet' nok'xe'en

Xenhxni xekxni xanhxni hinb'eyi

Xankatak xanhb' wek' a stixalu

Xchi nok' xankat a nok' xe'en,

Xwila xwabi, xelab'a to ojinwekla,

to jinxekla manhx ojinwekla.

External links

• Academia de las Lenguas Mayas