Mam language

Mam has 10 vowels, 5 short and 5 long:[9]

• The Mid-central vowel is an allophone of short a, e and u that can occur in the syllable following a stressed long vowel.

Like in many other Mayan languages, vowel length is contrastive, and short and long vowels have different phonemic values and are treated as separate vowels. The long versions of the back vowels, /o/, /u/, /ɑ/ vowels, transcribed as [oo], [uu], and [aa] are slightly compressed and pronounced as /o͍ː/, /u͍ː/, and /ɑ͍ː/ respectively, being partially rounded.

In the Todos Santos dialect the vowel structure is somewhat different. While /o/, /a/, and /u/ remain the same as in other varieties, short /e/ has become the diphthong /ɛi/, an audio example of this can be heard here:[10]

In the Todos Santos dialect, the long vowels (distinguished by the doubling of the letter) have evolved into separate sounds altogether. Long /aː/ has become /ɒ/, long /oː/ has become /øː/ and long /uː/ has become /yː/.

In some dialects vowels interrupted by a stop have evolved into individual phonemes themselves, for example in Todos Santos dialect /oʔ/ (spelled oʼ) has evolved into /ɵʏˀ/ and /oʔo/ (spelled oʼo) has evolved into /ɵʼʉ/.

Mam has 27 consonants, including the glottal stop:[5]

• Todos Santos Mam has an extended amount of affricate consonants being apical palato-alveolar /t̺͡ʃ̺ʰ, t̺͡ʃ̺ʼ, ʃ̺/.[11]

/ɓ/ is realized as [βʼ] word-finally and when part of a consonant cluster in many dialects. In the Todos Santos dialect it is pronounced as [v] as part of a consonant cluster and as [βv̻] word finally.

Examples: tzebʼ [tsɛβʼ] goat, kbon [kβʼɤŋ] small table. In the Todos Santos dialect, tsebʼ is [tsɛiβv̻] and kbon is [kvoŋ] small table.

/p/ is realized as [pʰ] word-finally and word initially, [p] elsewhere, [ɸ] in a consonant cluster and before short i, o, and u. It is pronounced as [ɸʰ] word finally in certain dialects. [f] is an interchangeable pronunciation of [ɸ].

Examples: piich [pʰiːt͡ʃ] bird, txkup [ʈ͡ʂkʰɯpʰ] or [ʈ͡ʂkʰɯɸʰ] animal , ptzʼan [pʰt͡sʼaŋ] or [ɸʰt͡sʼaŋ] sugarcane.

/ch/ has evolved from /tʃ/ to /sʃ/ in most Mexican dialects and some northern Guatemalan dialects. Sometimes the /t/ sound is still lightly pronounced before the stressed /sʃ/ sound.

Example: choot [tʃʰoːtʰ] weeds has evolved into [sʃøːtʰ] or [^tsʃoːtʰ]

/t/ is realized as [tʰ] word-finally and before another consonant, [t] elsewhere.

Examples: taʼl [taʔl̥] juice, soup, chʼit [t͡ʃʼɪtʰ] bird, qʼootj [ʛoːtʰχ] dough

/k/ is realized as [kʰ] word-finally and before another consonant, [k] elsewhere.

Examples: paakiʼl [pɑːkɪʔl̥] butterfly, xtook [ʂtʰoːkʰ] staff, kjoʼn [kʰχɤʔŋ] cornfield

/w/ can be pronounced [ʋ], [v], [v̥] or [β] word initially, [w], [ʍ] [ʋ] following a consonant, and [ʋ], [v], [v̻ʰ] or [fʰ] word finally. It is freely variable between [w] [v] [ʋ] [v̥] in all other positions with [ʋ] being the most common pronunciation. In the Todos Santos dialect, /w/ is realized as either [v] or [ʋ] word-initially or between vowels and before another consonant, as [ʍ] following a consonant and as [v̥] word finally.

Examples: waaj [ʋɑːχ], [vɑːχ], [v̥ɑːχ], or [βɑːχ]tortilla, twon [twɤŋ], [tʍɤŋ], [tʋɤŋ] introversion, lew [lɛʋ], [lɛv] [lɛv̥ʰ] [lɛfʰ] care.

/q/ is realized as [qʰ] word-finally and before another consonant, [q] elsewhere.

Examples: muuqin [muːqɪŋ] tortilla, aaq [ɑːqʰ] honeycomb, qloolj [qʰɺoːlχ] obscurity

/tʼ/ is realized interchangeably as [tʼ] and [ɗ] word-initially and -finally, after a vowel or before [l].

Examples: tʼrikpuul [tʼɾɪkʰɸuːl̥] ~ [ɗɾɪkʰpuːl̥] to jump, chʼuut [t͡ʃʼuːtʼ] ~ [t͡ʃʼuːɗ] something sharp-pointed

Examples: tʼutʼan [tʼɯtʼaŋ] ~ [ɗɯɗaŋ] wet, witʼli [vɪtʼli] ~ [vɪɗli] seated squatting

/n/ is realized as [ŋ] before velar- and uvular consonants and word-finally,
as [ɲ] before [j] and as [m] before /ɓ/ and /p/, [n] elsewhere.

Examples: nim [nɪm] much, juun [χuːŋ] one, qʼankyoq [ʛaŋkʲɤqʰ] thunder

Examples: saajel [sɑːŋχel̥] sent, nyuxh [ɲɯʃ] my godfather

Examples: qanbʼax [qamɓaʂ] foot, npwaaqe [mpwɑːqɛ] my money

/l/ is realized as [l̥] word-finally, [ɺ] before short vowels and after plosives, bilabial, aveolar and retroflex consonants and [l] elsewhere.

Examples: luux [luːʂ] cricket, loʼl [ɺoʔl̥] to eat fruits, wlat [vɺatʰ] stiff.

/ky/ is realized as [kɕʲ] in front of another consonant and kɕʰ word finally. It is pronounced as kʲ in all other instances.

Examples: kyjaʼtzan [kɕʲχaʲʔtsʰaŋ], kyokleen [kʲɤkleːŋ]

/ ʼ / is realized as [ʲʔ] following /a/, /aa/, /e/, /ee/, /i/, /u/, /uu/ and /oo/. The standard pronunciation is simply [ʔ] after all vowels however in spoken speech [ʲʔ] is the common pronunciation. A similar trend can be seen in other Eastern Mayan languages. After /o/ it is pronounced as [ʉʔ] and after /ii/ it is pronounced simply as [ʔ]. Following consonants / ʼ / modifies each individual consonant differently as explained in the section above. In the Mam language every word must start with a consonant. In the current orthography initial / ʼ / is not written but if a word ever begins with a vowel, the word is treated as if it begin with a / ʼ /. The initial / ʼ / may be pronounced as either [ʔ] or [ʡ] in free variation.

Mam has no independent pronouns (England 1983:155). Rather, pronouns in Mam always exist as bound morphemes.

Below is a table of Set A (ergative) and Set B (absolutive) prefixes from England (1983:56). (Note: The terms "Set A" and "Set B" are frequently used by Mayanists to describe the ergative systems typical of Mayan languages.)

Phonologically conditioned allomorphs are as follows.

• n- ~ w-
  • n- /__C
  • w- /__V
• Ø ~ tz- ~ tzʼ- ~ k-
  • k- /potential
  • tzʼ- /__V initial root, non-potential
  • tz- /__uul 'arrive here', iky' 'pass by', non-potential
  • Ø- /__C, non-potential
• -a ~ -ya
  • -ya /V__ ; In the first person in post-vowel environments, -ya varies freely with -kyʼa and -y'.
  • -a /C__

Set A prefixes can also be used with nouns. In this context, the Set A prefixes become possessives.

• n- 'my'
• t- 'your (sg.)'
• t- 'his, her, its'
• q- 'our (exclusive)'
• q- 'our (inclusive)'
• ky- 'your (pl.)'
• ky- 'their'

Some paradigmatic examples from England (1983) are given below. Note that "Ø-" designates a null prefix. Additionally, ma is an aspectual word meaning 'recent past'.

The following Set B person markers are used for non-verbal predicates (i.e., nouns, adjectives). Also, in statives, aa can be omitted when the rest of the stative is a non-enclitic (in other words, a separate, independent word).

Paradigmatic examples from England (1983:76) are given below.

The Mam language displays inalienable possession. Certain Mam nouns cannot be possessed, such as kya'j 'sky' and che'w 'star' (England 1983:69). On the other hand, some Mam nouns are always possessed, such as t-lokʼ 'its root' and t-bʼaqʼ 'its seed'.

Noun phrase structure can be summarized into the following template (England 1983:140).

Demonstrative

Number

Measure

Plural

Possessive affixes

NOUN ROOT

Possessor

Adjective

Relative clause

The plural clitic is qa.

San Ildefonso Ixtahuacán Mam numbers are as follows (England 1983:84). Numbers above twenty are rarely used in Ixtahuacán and are usually only known by elderly speakers. Although the number system would have originally been vigesimal (i.e., base 20), the present-day number system of Ixtahuacán is now decimal.

1. juun
2. kabʼ
3. oox
4. kyaaj
5. jwe'
6. qaq
7. wuuq
8. wajxaq
9. bʼelaj
10. laaj
20. wiinqan
40. kya'wnaq
60. oxkʼaal
80.. junmutxʼ

Like all other Mayan languages, Mam is an ergative language.

• Pérez, Eduardo & Jiménez, Odilio (1997). Ttxoolil Qyool Mam - Gramática Mam. Cholsamaj.

• England, Nora C. (1983). A grammar of Mam, a Mayan language. Austin: University of Texas Press.