Chʼortiʼ language

The Chʼortiʼ language (sometimes also Chorti) is a Mayan language, spoken by the indigenous Maya people who are also known as the Chʼortiʼ or Chʼortiʼ Maya. Chʼortiʼ is a direct descendant of the Classic Maya language in which many of the pre-Columbian inscriptions using the Maya script were written.[3] This Classic Maya language is also attested in a number of inscriptions made in regions whose inhabitants most likely spoke a different Mayan language variant, including the ancestor of Yucatec Maya. Chʼortiʼ is the modern version of the ancient Mayan language Chʼolan (which was actively used and most popular between the years of A.D 250 and 850).[3]

Chʼortiʼ
Chʼortiʼ
Native to	Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador
Region	Copán
Ethnicity	Chʼortiʼ
Native speakers	30,000 (2000)[1]
Language family	Mayan Cholan–Tzeltalan Cholan Chorti Chʼortiʼ
Early form	Classic Maya
Language codes
ISO 639-3	caa
Glottolog	chor1273
ELP	Ch'orti'[2]

Relationship to other Mayan languages

Chʼortiʼ can be called a living "Rosetta Stone" of Mayan languages. The Chʼortiʼ language is an important factor to comprehend the contents of Maya hieroglyphic writings, some of which are not yet fully understood. Over several years, many linguists and anthropologists expected to realize the Chʼortiʼ culture and language by studying its words and expressions.[4] Chʼortiʼ is spoken mainly in and around Jocotán and Camotán, Chiquimula department, Guatemala, as well as adjacent areas of parts of western Honduras near the Copán Ruins.[5] Because the Classic Mayan language was ancestral to the modern Chʼorti, Chʼorti can be used to decipher the ancient language.[3] For example, it was discovered that the Mayan language had distinct grammatical patterns, such as a consonant/vowel syllable aspect. Researchers realized that the ancient language was based more on phonetics than previously thought.[3]

A map showing the present-day locations of the Mayan Languages. The colours of the language names shows closely related groups. The size of the name shows the relative number of speakers.

The name Chortiʼ (with unglottalized <ch>) means 'language of the corn farmers', which references to the traditional agricultural activity of the Chʼortiʼ families. The politicized spelling Chʼortiʼ was introduced later in an attempt to lessen associations between Chʼortiʼ speakers and stereotypical professions.

Chʼortiʼ is one of the three modern descendants of Chʼolan language which is a sub-group of Mayan languages. Other two modern descendants are Chontal and Chʼol.[6] These three descendants are still spoken by people. Chʼortiʼ language and Chʼolti language are two sub-branches belong to the Eastern Chʼolan. And Chʼolti language is already extinct today.

Actually there are some debates among the scholars how the Chʼolan language should be classified. John Robertson considered the direct ancestor of colonial Chʼoltiʼ is the language of the hieroglyphs. The language of the hieroglyphs is realized as 'Classic Chʼoltiʼan' by John Robertson, David Stuart, and Stephen Houston. And then the language of the hieroglyphs in turn becomes the ancestor of Chʼortiʼ. The relationship shows as the chart below.[5]

Phonology and orthography

The Chʼortiʼ have their own standard way of writing their language. However, the inaccurate ways to represent phoneme led to some variations among all of the publications recently.[7][8]

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p [p]	t [t]		k [k]	ʼ [ʔ]
	ejective		tʼ [tʼ]		kʼ [kʼ]
	voiced	b [b]	d [d]		g [ɡ]
	implosive	bʼ [ɓ]
Fricative			s [s]	x [ʃ]	j [x]
Affricate	voiceless		tz [ts]	ch [tʃ]
	ejective		tzʼ [tsʼ]	chʼ [tʃʼ]
Nasal		m [m]	n [n]
Trill			r [r]
Approximant			l [l]	y [j]	w [w]

The consonants of Chʼortiʼ include glottal stop ʼ, b, bʼ, ch, chʼ, d, g, j, k, kʼ, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, tʼ, tz, tzʼ, w, x, y.

Both /b/ and /d/ rarely occur in native vocabulary. Instead, they usually appear in Spanish words. The <j> is a voiceless velar fricative. The <x> is a voiceless palatal fricative. The <w> and <y> are semivowels.

The ordering of terms would be that the consonants follows after the non glottal versions. Besides, words with rearticulated root vowels follow after their corresponding short vowels.

Therefore, the order of presentation will be as follows: a, aʼ, b, bʼ, ch, chʼ, d, e, eʼ, g, i, iʼ, j, k, kʼ, l, m, n, o, oʼ, p, r, s, t, tʼ, tz, tzʼ, u, uʼ, w, x, y.

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e	o
Open	a

The vowels consist of a, e, i, o, and u.[8]

Vowel clusters

Characters we use	Sometimes also used	IPA symbol	Ch'orti' pronunciation
aa	ā, a·, a:	a	Like regular a but held longer
ee	ē, e·, e:	e	Like e only held longer
ii	ī, i·, i:	i	Like i only held longer
oo	ō, o·, o:	o	Like o only held longer
uu	ū, u·, u:	u	Like u only held longer

In Ch'orti' language, aa or a: is used as a’ or A’, we can see this pattern with all vowel clusters including e’, I’, o’ and u’.

Some examples of words with vowel clusters are:

Ja’x [xa ʔʃ] = Her, ella

We’r [weʔr] = meat, carne  

B’i’x [p’iʔʃ] = seed, semilla

Tuno’ron [tu.’noʔ.o.’ɾon] = everyone, todos

Ku’m [kuʔm] = egg, huevo [9]

Consonant clusters

Characters we use	Sometimes also used as	IPA symbol	Ch'orti' pronunciation
ch	č	tʃ	ch like in chair
ch'	č', chh, 'ch	tʃ'	like ch but pronounced with a pop of air.
ng	ŋ, nh	ŋ	ng like in sing
tz	ts, c, ¢	ts	ts like in cats

Some examples of words with consonant clusters are:

Cha' [t͡sa’] = two, dos

Ch'aku' [ʧ͡’a.’kuʔ] = woodpecker, pájaro carpintero

Tze'ne'r [t͡seʔ.’neʔr] = laugh, reírse

Tz'i' [t͡s’iʔ ] = dog, perro [10]

Word order

The aspectual system of Chʼortiʼ language changed to a tripartite pronominal system which comes with different morphemes used for the subject of transitive verbs, the object of transitive verbs and the subject of intransitive completive verbs, and a third set of pronouns only used for the subject of incompletive intransitive verbs.[11]

Chʼortiʼ tripartite pronominal system (data from Hull 2005)

Transitive

e	sitzʼ	u-buyi-Ø	e	siʼ
def	boy	A3-chop-B3	def	wood

'The boy chops the wood (into tiny pieces)'

Intransitive completive

intzaj	lokʼoy-Ø	e	peʼych
sweet	go.out-B3	def	tomato

'The tomato turned out delicious'

Intransitive incompletive

e	kʼin	a-lokʼoy	ta	ixner	kʼin
def	sun	C1-go.out	prep	going	sun

'The sun sets in the west'

Basic word order

In the Ch'orti language and other Mayan sentences it always starts with verbs but also there are agents or patients added and in which they are commonly represented by the acronym VOS, and it stands for Verb, Object and Subject. The following rules apply VSO, SVO, SOV,OVS, OSV.[12]

In most of the Ch’orti' language there are phrases surrounding transitive verbs and they are order subject first (first-most) and it’s followed by the verb then the object (SVO).[13]

E	Maria	u'-ri-Ø	u-pik
	Subject	verb	Object
	Maria	put on her	dress

Verb object subject [12]

Uchoni	e kar	enoya
Verb	Object	Subject
Sells	Vegetables	Grandma

"Grandma sells vegetables"

Adjectives with attributive function

The adjective works together with the nouns as a modifier formed with a noun phrase that plays some syntactic role, object etc.[12]

Predicative adjective indicate the size, color or state

E b'ik'it	yurwob'	chamob'
Adjective	Noun	Verb
The little	chicks	died

Inchoni	e yaxax	pe'ych
Verb	Adjective	Noun
I am selling	Green	Tomato

Ch'orti has many other different forms, in the following sentence the words that appear to be bold is a preposition and underline one is a relational noun.[12]

E chij numuy tu't e max-tak

The horse passed in.front.of the child-plural

"The horse passed in front of the children"

Writing Mayan script

Mayan glyph writing and how Ch’orti' can be written.

The Mayan language in its written form uses logo glyphs and syllable glyphs. These glyphs are the components of a syllable and whole word concepts. Glyphs are written in blocks formed by syllable forms combined to create a word or idea.[14]

Syllable glyphs are the basic units of sound while logo glyphs are representative of whole words ideas or places. Glyphs are also transmutable and any one glyph can be written in multiple forms. This is where the Mayan artistic creativity is visible and expressed within their writing system. Glyphs are written in descending columns and read from left to write in a Z pattern. The combination of syllable glyphs also follows this pattern when combining to make a new word glyph.[15]

The Mayan syllabary contains about 200-250 known syllable glyphs and approximately 500 logo glyphs. Some syllable glyphs are still unknown while the glyphs for syllables are unknown.

Common words

The following list contains examples of common words in the Chʼortiʼ language:

all: tuno\r	ashes: tan
bark: pat	big: nohta
bite: ac\uhxop	bird: mut
black: negru u\t	blood: ch\ich\
blow: uyuhta	bone: b\ac
breast: uchu\	burn: pur
child: sitz/ihch\oc	cloud: tocar
cold: insis	come: yo\p
cut: xur	day: ahq\uin
die: cham	dig: impahni
dog: tz\i\	drink: ch\I
dry: taquin	dust: pococ
ear: chiquin	earth: rum
eat: we\	egg: cu\m
eye: naq\uiu\t	fall: c\ax
far: naht	fat (n.): ch\ichmar
fear: ap\a\cta	feather: tzutz
fingernail: or uyoc	fire: c\ahc
fish: chay	five: inmohy
fly (v.): top	fog: mayuhy
foot: oc	four: chan
full: b\ut\ur	give: ahc\
good: imb\utzop	green: yaxax
hair: tzutz	hand: c\ap \
head: hor	hear: oyp\ica
heart: alma	heavy: mb\ar
here: tara	hit: tz\ohy
horn: cachu	how?: tuc\a
husband: noxip	I: en
kill: chamse	knee: pix
know: na\t	lake: eha\
laugh: tze\n	leaf: uyopor
left: utz\ehc\ap	lie: ch\a
liver: xemem	long: innaht
louse: u\ch	man: winic
meat: we\r	moon: uh
mountain: wίtzir	mouth: ti\
name: uc\ab\a	near: nuťur
neck: nuc	new: tapop
night: acb\are	nose: ni\
one: in	other: inmohr
person: winicop	pull: nquerehb\a
rain: haha\r	red: chacchacop
right: wach\ c\ab\	river: xucur
road: b\i\r	root: wi\r
rope: ch\a\n	rope: succhih
rotten: oq\uem	round: gororoh
sand: hi\	say: a\r
seed: hinah	see: wira
sing: c\aywi	sit: turu
skin: pat	sleep: way
smell: chuchu\ co\c	smoke: b\utz
stab: inxeq\ue	stand: wa\r
star: e\c	stone: cha\
stone: tun	suck: catz\upi
sun: q\uin	swell: asampa
swim: nuhx	tail: neh
that: yaja\	there: yaha\
thick: pim	thin: jay
this: ira	thou: et
tongue: a\c	tooth: cha\m
tooth: eh	tree: te\
two: cha\	walk: axanop
warm: inq\uin	wash: poc
wash: pohch\	water: ha\
we: oŋ	wet: cuxur
what: tuc\a	when?: tuc\a dia
where?: tia\	white: sacsac
who: chi	wife: wixca\r
woman: ihch\oc	woman: \ixic
year: hap	yellow: c\an
ye: no\x

[16]

Morphology

Verb inflection

Sg	Set A	Set B		Set C
1	ni(w)-	-en		in-
2	a(w)-	-et	i-
3	u(y)-	-Ø		a-
PL
1	ka(w)-	-on		ka-
2	i(w)-	-ox		ix-
3	u(y)-ob'	-ob'		a-...ob'

There are two types of Functions, verbal and nonverbal.

Set A: Subject of transitive verb

Possessor of noun

Set B: Object of transitive verb

Subject of intransitive verb in perfective aspect

Subject of predicative nominal

Argument of participials (in -an, -b'ir, -em, -Vr, -en)

Argument of adjectives

Argument of tamar `for, to, etc.’

Set C: Subject of intransitive verb in the imperfective aspect

Possessions

Tak is plural for women and children’

ijch'ok-tak `little girls’

max-tak `children, young ones, family’ (max does not occur without -tak)

ixik-tak `women’

These are the only instances encountered. It is worthy of notice that ixka'r `wife’, ch'urkab' `baby’ and ar `offspring’ take -ob'.

ob' is a general plural. The suffix can be found in nouns, verbs, adjectives, and participials. Here are some examples:

e     mutob'   war ub'axyob' nijinaj

e   mut-ob' war u-b'ax-i-ob' ni-jinaj

DEF.ART bird-3.PL PROG 3A-pull_up-THEM-3.PL 1A.SG-maize_plant

`Los pájaros están arrancando mi milpa.’ (b'axa)

The birds are pulling my maize plant.

Yarob' b'ik'it ruch

Yar-ob' b'ik'it ruch

small-3.PL small_variety_of gourd_container`

And then come two little gourds,...’ (f330040)

[17]

Extinction of the language and culture

The Chʼortiʼ people are descendants of the people who lived in and around Copán, one of the cultural capitals of the ancient Maya area. This covers parts of modern-day Honduras and Guatemala. Chʼorti is considered an endangered language as well as an endangered culture.

Geographic location of Chʼortiʼ speakers

This region is the only region in the world that Chʼorti speakers can be found. Although the area is completely shaded in, the majority of speakers reside in Guatemala, while the rest are sparsely distributed throughout the rest of the area.[18]

Honduras

The government of Honduras has been trying to promote a uniform national language of Spanish, and therefore discourages the use and teaching of native languages such as Chʼorti. The Chʼortiʼ people in Honduras face homogenization and have to assimilate to their surroundings. The government has been clashing with the Chʼorti people over land disputes from the 1800s, which puts the people (and thus the language) at risk. In 1997, 2 prominent Chʼorti leaders were assassinated. This assassination is just one example of many cases where Chʼorti advocates have been harmed or killed. Every one of these killings reduces the number of Chʼorti speakers. As of right now, there are only 10 remaining native speakers in Honduras.[19]

Guatemala

The government of Guatemala has been more supportive of Chʼorti speakers and has promoted programs that encourage the learning and teaching of Chʼorti. The Chʼorti's in Guatemala wear traditional clothing, unlike their counterparts in Honduras, who wear modern-day clothing.[19] Currently there are about 55,250 Chʼorti speakers in Guatemala. Even though Guatemala has established Spanish as its official language, it supports the teaching of these native languages.

Ethnonyms: Cholotí, Chorté, Chortí

The majority of Chʼortiʼ live in the Chiquimula Department of Guatemala, approximately 52,000. The remaining 4,000 live in Copán, Honduras. Traditionally, the highland Maya Indian people were dependent on maize and beans. The Kʼicheʼ Maya however, dominated the Chʼortiʼ dating back to the early fifteenth century. Warfare as well as disease devastated much of the Chʼortiʼ during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Much of their land was lost to the Guatemalan government in the nineteenth century as well. More recently, 25 percent of the Guatemalan Chʼortiʼ went to the United States during the 1980s to escape political persecution.[20]

Chʼortiʼ rosary prayers

Catata Dios / Our Father

9b Catata Dios xeʼ turet tichan, catattzʼi acʼabʼa xeʼ erach.

Lar tuaʼ icʼotori tara tor e rum wacchetaca. Y chen lo que acʼani tara tor e rum bʼan cocha war ache tichan tut e qʼuin.

Ajcʼunon lo que ucʼani tuaʼ cacʼuxi tama inteʼ inteʼ día.

Cʼumpen tacaron tamar camabʼambʼanir lo que cay cache toit net, bʼan cocha war cacʼumpa taca tin e cay uchiobʼ e mabʼambʼanir

capater ubʼan.

Ira awacton tuaʼ capijchna sino que corpeson tama tunor ucʼotorer e diablo. Porque net jax Careyet, y net ayan meyra acʼotorer, y net ayan meyra atawarer xeʼ machi tuaʼ acʼapa. Amén.[21]

Copan

The communities of Copan are populated by "farmers with indigenous tradition", essentially, agricultural laborers known as the Chʼortiʼ. Illiteracy rates in these communities fall between 92 and 100 percent, infant mortality rates of 60 percent, and life expectancy being 49 years for men and 55 years for women. A conflict that has effected the Copan area immensely is land tenure. Originally, Chʼortiʼs used communal land and owned individual plots. Shortly after the Spanish conquest, the land and people became Spanish property. The land was then used in the aparceria system (farmers rent land in return for payment of a proportion of the harvest obtained). This system was stable for hundreds of years, until the Honduran government signed Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1991. This organization was established to protect and benefit indigenous communities such as the Chʼortiʼ by improving access to land, health, and housing as well as other basic necessities. The murder of Chʼortiʼ leader Candido Amador in April 1997 sparked another conflict, resulting in the government signing an agreement with the Chʼortiʼ organization (CONICHH) offering 2,000 ha of land in Copan.[22]

References

1. Chʼortiʼ at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Endangered Languages Project data for Ch'orti'.
3. Houston, S, J Robertson, and D Stuart. "The language of Classic Maya inscriptions." Current Anthropology 41.3 (2000): 321-356. Print.
4. Keys, David. "'Lost' Sacred Language of the Maya Is Rediscovered." Mayanmajix.com. N.p., 07 Dec. 2003. Web page: http://www.mayanmajix.com/art439a.html%5B%5D
5. Hull, Kerry M. (2003). Verbal art and performance in Chʼortiʼ and Maya hieroglyphic writing [electronic resource]. Doctoral dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin. Available electronically from http://hdl.handle.net/2152/1240
6. Mathews,Peter and Bíró,Péter Maya Hieroglyphs and Mayan Languages.[electronic resource] Available electronically from
7. Hull, Kerry. (2005) "A Dictionary of Chʼortiʼ Maya, Guatemala." FAMSI.org Web. Available online:http://www.famsi.org/reports/03031/03031Hull01.pdf.
8. Pérez Martínez, Vitalino(1994) Gramática del idioma chʼortíʼ. Antigua, Guatemala: Proyecto Lingüístico Francisco Marroquín.
9. "Chorti Maya Pronunciation Guide, Alphabet and Phonology". www.native-languages.org. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
10. "Ch'orti' Talking Dictionary". talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
11. Law, Danny, John Robertson, and Stephen Houston. "Split Ergativity In The History Of The Chʼolan Branch Of The Mayan Language Family." International Journal of American Linguistics 72.4 (2006): 415-450..
12. Pérez, Lauro (2004–2008). "GRAMÁTICA PEDAGÓGICA CH'ORTI" (PDF). Retrieved November 17, 2020.CS1 maint: date format (link)
13. Dugan, James (May 20, 2013). "The grammar of Ch'orti Maya Folktales".
14. "Maya glyphs". www.jaguarstones.com. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
15. "Maya Hieroglyphic Writing - Activities". Maya Archaeologist. 2018-10-09. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
16. http://www.language-archives.org/item/oai:rosettaproject.org:rosettaproject_caa_swadesh-1
17. Wichmann, Søren (1999). A CH'ORTI' MORPHOLOGICAL SKETCH. p. 153.
18. • McAnany, Patricia, and Shoshaunna Parks. "Casualties of Heritage Distancing Children, Chʼortiʼ Indigeneity, and the Copan Archaeoscape." Current Anthropology 53.1 (2012): 80-107. Print.
19. • "World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples." Minority Rights Group International : Honduras : Lenca, Miskitu, Tawahka, Pech, Maya, Chortis and Xicaque. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013. <"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2013-10-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)>.
20. Chenier, Jacqueline, and Steve Sherwood. "Copan: Collaboration for Identity, Equity and Sustainability (Honduras)." Ciesin.Columbia. Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM), n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://srdis.ciesin.columbia.edu/cases/Honduras-Paper.html>."http://www.everyculture.com/Middle-America-Caribbean/Ch-orti.html%5B%5D
21. "Chʼorti Rosary Prayer." Mary's Rosaries. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2013. <http://www.marysrosaries.com/Chorti_prayers.html>.http://www.marysrosaries.com/Chorti_prayers.html%5B%5D
22. Copan: Collaboration for Identity, Equity and Sustainability (Honduras) Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Online version of Wisdom's Chorti Dictionary (1950)
• Oral Histories of the Chʼortiʼ Maya (2011)
• Mayan Languages Collection of John Fought at the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America, containing several hundred recordings of Chʼortiʼ made between 1964 and 1967 in Guatemala, field notes and photographs.
• Information about Ch'orti' language

• https://web.archive.org/web/20120708050908/http://www10.gencat.cat/pres_casa_llengues/AppJava/frontend/llengues_detall.jsp?id=1000&idioma=5