K'iche' language

Infobox Language
name=K'iche'
nativename=Katzijobal
pronunciation=/kʼiʧeʔ/
states=Guatemala
region=Central highlands
speakers=approx. 1,000,000 [According to the official 2002 census 1,270,953 were considered Maya K'iche' people (see cite web |url=http://www.ine.gob.gt/Nesstar/Censo2002/survey0/dataSet/dataFiles/dataFile1/var26.html |title= XI Censo Nacional de Población y VI de Habitación (Censo 2002) - Pertenencia de grupo étnico |accessdate=2008-05-27 |publisher=Instituto Nacional de Estadística |year=2002 ), of which 890,596 were considered K'iche' speakers (see cite web |url=http://www.ine.gob.gt/Nesstar/Censo2002/survey0/dataSet/dataFiles/dataFile1/var27.html |title= XI Censo Nacional de Población y VI de Habitación (Censo 2002) - Idioma o lengua en que aprendió a hablar |accessdate=2008-05-27 |publisher=Instituto Nacional de Estadística |year=2002 ).
However, data from the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) suggests that the total number of K'iche' speakers is over 2,000,000 people (see cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=gt |title= Languages of Guatemala |accessdate=2008-05-27 |publisher=Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) |year=2000 ]
familycolor=American
fam1=Mayan
fam2=Quichean-Mamean
fam3=Greater Quichean
fam4=Quichean
fam5=Quiché-Achi
iso2=myn
lc1=quc|ld1=Central Quiché|ll1=none
lc2=cun|ld2=Cunén Quiché|ll2=none
lc3=quu|ld3=Eastern Quiché|ll3=none
lc4=quj|ld4=Joyabaj Quiché|ll4=none
lc5=qxi|ld5=San Andrés Quiché|ll5=none
lc6=qut|ld6=West Central Quiché

The K'iche' language ("Quiché" in Spanish) is a part of the Mayan language family. It is spoken by many K'iche' people in the central highlands of Guatemala. 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. Most speakers of K'iche' also have at least a working knowledge of Spanish except in some isolated rural villages. One of the notable speakers of the Quiché language is Rigoberta Menchu.

There is substantial dialectal variation, and the main dialects are sometimes considered to be separate languages. Most speakers use Central K'iche', which is the most commonly used in the media and education. Other dialects include West Central K'iche', San Andrés K'iche', Joyabaj K'iche', Eastern K'iche', Nahualá K'iche' and Cunén K'iche'. Although it has no official status in Guatemala and the first-language literacy rate is low, K'iche' is increasingly taught in schools and used on radio.

The most famous work in the Classical Quiché language is the "Popol Vuh" ("Pop Wuj" in modern spelling).

Phonology

Vowels

yntax and morphology

K'iche' uses subject-verb-object (SVO) order, unlike most Mayan languages, which are verb-initial. Variation in word order is not uncommon, and some modern speakers do also use VSO order.

Dialects

The Nahualá dialect of K'iche' shows some differences from other K'iche' dialects:Nahualá’s local dialect preserves an ancient Proto-Mayan distinction between five long vowels (aa, ee, ii, oo, uu) and five short vowels (a, e, i, o , u). It is for this conservative linguistic feature that Guatemalan and foreign linguists have actively sought to have the language called "K'ichee'," rather than K'iche' or Quiché.

Unlike the most prominent K'ichee' dialects, the Nahualá dialect of K'ichee' also has a phoneme /h/ and a phoneme /N/, both of which occur only at the ends of words, almost exclusively after short vowels. Linguists have established firmly that the /h/ is a reflex of a proto-Mayan */h/. Linguists have not thoroughly investigated the origin of the /N/ phoneme, which occurs only in a few words.

Notes

References

*Munro S. Edmonson, "Quiche-English Dictionary". Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, publ. no. 30 (1965).
*James L. Mondloch, "Basic Quiche Grammar". Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, University at Albany, The State University of New York, publ. no. 2 (1978).
*Abraham García-Hernández, Santiago Yac Sam, and David Henne Pontius, "Diccionario Quiché-Español". Instituto Linguistico de Verano, Guatemala (1980).
* 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 0-684-81845-0.
*Sam Colop, "Popol Wuj — Versión Poética K‘iche‘." PEMBI/GTZ/Cholsamaj, Guatemala (1999). (In the Quiché Maya language).
*María Beatriz Par Sapón and Telma Angelina Can Pixabaj, "Ujunamaxiik ri K'ichee' Ch'ab'al, Variación Dialectal en K'ichee' ". Proyecto de Investigación Lingüística de Oxlajuuj Keej Maya' Ajtz'iib' (OKMA)/Editorial Cholsamaj, Guatemala City (2000). ISBN 99922-53-07-X

External links

* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=quc Ethnologue report for Central Quiché]
* [http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/dictionary/christenson/quidic_complete.pdf A K‘iche‘-English Dictionary]
* [http://www.taterenner.com/engkiche.pdf A reversal of Christenson's K'iche'-English Dictionary into an English-K'iche' Dictionary]