Quiché language

From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.

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

The most famous work in the Quiché language is the Popol Vuh.

Quiché Phonology

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
/pʼ/	ejective bilabial plosive	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

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 (http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/dictionary/christenson/quidic_complete.pdf)

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