Chʼortiʼ language

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

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. 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).

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 glyphic 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. 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. Because the Classic Mayan language was ancestral to the modern Chʼorti, Chʼorti can be used to decipher the ancient language. Researchers realized that the ancient language was based more on phonetics than previously thought.

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

The name Ch'ortiʼ (with unglottalized <ch>) means 'language of the corn farmers', which references to the traditional agricultural activity of the Chʼortiʼ families. 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. 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.

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 Mayan script (also known as Mayan Glyphs). The language of the Mayan Glyphs is realized as 'Classic Chʼoltiʼan' by John Robertson, David Stuart, and Stephen Houston. And then the language of the Mayan script in turn becomes the ancestor of Chʼortiʼ. The relationship shows as the chart below.

Language Endangerment

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.

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.

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. 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. 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.

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.

Consonants

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

Instances of both /b/ and /d/ usually only appear in Spanish loan words. The j has two pronunciations, as either a voiceless velar fricative [x] or a voiceless glottal fricative [h]. Classic Mayan differentiated between the [x] and the [h]. This differentiation can be seen in some Ch’orti’ literature, such as with the texts by Wisdom. 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.

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

When two vowels are put together in Ch’orti’ the second vowel always takes precedence and then is always followed by a glottal stop. Ch’orti’ doesn’t have any long vowels. According to historians, long vowels occur in Classical Mayan, but have been lost in modern Ch’orti’.

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 [tunoʔɾon] = everyone, todos
• Ku’m [kuʔm] = egg, huevo

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.

Chʼortiʼ tripartite pronominal system (data from Hull 2005)

Transitive

e

def

sitzʼ

boy

u-buyi-Ø

A-3-chop-B-3

e

def

siʼ

wood

e sitzʼ u-buyi-Ø e siʼ

def boy A-3-chop-B-3 def wood

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

Intransitive completive

intzaj

sweet

lokʼoy-Ø

go.out-B-3

e

def

peʼych

tomato

intzaj lokʼoy-Ø e peʼych

sweet go.out-B-3 def tomato

'The tomato turned out delicious'

Intransitive incompletive

e

def

kʼin

sun

a-lokʼoy

C-1-go.out

ta

prep

ixner

going

kʼin

sun

e kʼin a-lokʼoy ta ixner kʼin

def sun C-1-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, meaning verb-object-subject. The following rules apply VSO, SVO, SOV,OVS, OSV.

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).

Uchoni

verb

sells

e kar

object

vegetables

enoya

subject

grandma

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.

Predicative adjective indicate the size, color or state

E b’ik’it

adjective

The little

yurwob’

noun

chicks

chamob’

verb

died

{E b’ik’it} yurwob’ chamob’

adjective noun verb

{The little} chicks died

inchoni

verb

I am selling

e yaxax

adjective

green

pe'ych

noun

tomato

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.

E

The

chij

horse

numuy

passed

tu't

in.front.of

e

the

max-tak

child-PL

E chij numuy tu't e max-tak

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

"The horse passed in front of the children"

Vocabulary Examples

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

Common Words

English	Ch'orti'	English	Ch'orti'
Big	Nixi’	Fire	K’ajk’
Bird	Mut	Here	Tara
Cold	Insis	How	Tuk’a
Dog	Tx'i'	Husband	Noxib’
Day	Ajk’in	Man	Winik
Drink	Uch’i	Moon	Uh
Earth	Rum	Mountain	Witzir

According to "A Dictionary of Ch'orti' Maya, Guatemala" by Kerry Hull, some words may be used as nouns (as shown above) or can double as a verb as well. For example "Witzir" can mean mountain as a noun, or 'to go uphill' as a verb.

Morphology

Verb inflection

Verb Inflections in Ch'orti'

	Ergative (Set A)	Absolutive (Set B)	Subjective (Set C)
1S	in-/ni-	-en	in-
2S	a-	-et	i-
3S	u-	-Ø	a-
1P	ka-	-on	ka-
2P	i-	-ox	ix-
3P	u-...-ob'	-ob'	a'...-ob'

Examples of inflected verbs from Isidro González's stories (John Fought, 1972):

Verb Inflection Examples

Uninflected Verb	Definition	Inflected Verb	gloss	Translation
ixin	"to go"	ixinob’	’go’-A3-PL	"they went"
ira	“to see”	uwira	E3-’see’-A3	“he sees it”
kojko	“to guard”	ukojkob’	E3-’guard'-A3-PL	“they guard over it”
ixin	“to go”	a’xin	S3-go	“he goes”

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.

Examples on possesives:

e mutob' war ub'axyob' nijinaj

e

DEF.ART

mut-ob'

bird-3.PL

war

PROG

u-b'ax-i-ob'

-pull up--3.PL

ni-jinaj

.SG-maize plant

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}

The birds are pulling my maize plant.

Yarob' b'ik'it ruch

Yar-ob'

small-3.PL

b'ik'it

small variety of

ruch

gourd container

Yar-ob' b'ik'it ruch

small-3.PL {small variety of} {gourd container}

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

Language Organizations

There are currently multiple organizations and projects that are currently working on the revitalization, documentation, and education of the Ch'orti' language.

The Proyecto Lingüístico Francisco Marroquín (PLFM)

The PLFM was founded in 1969. When the foundation was opened the two main purposes of the organization were to teach Spanish Language with native Spanish speakers from Guatemala as well as to teach, investigate, and preserve the Mayan Languages spoken around Guatemala.

“The program... has published dictionaries, grammars, and other pedagogical materials on many Mayan languages. The organization sustains itself by offering Spanish-language classes to foreigners and applying the proceeds to their trainings and publications”

The PLFM hosts a variety of projects regarding the preservation of Mayan languages, such as Ch’orti’, including cooperation with: Academy of Mayan Languages of Guatemala -ALMG-, the Indigenous Municipality of Sololá, the Ancient Maya organization for the Mayas -MAM- and liaison with brothers of the Mayan Linguistic Communities of the Mesoamerican area, the University of Tulane USA, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee USA, the Tojolab'al Language Research Center, Chiapas – Mexico, Intercultural University of Chiapas - Mexico. UNICH.

Academia des Lenguas Mayas De Guatemala (ALMG)

The Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala was founded in 1990 by a group of Guatemalan professionals interested in the research, development and promotion of the indigenous languages existing in the country. The academy is currently considered by some to be "the highest governing body for the promotion and development of Mayan languages in the country". The ALMG is an organization of the State of Guatemala that regulates the use, writing and promotion of Mayan languages.

The ALMG website provides a variety of information and resources regarding Ch’orti’, as well as many other Mayan languages. For Ch’orti, there are historical as well as pedagogical documents available, all of which are in a mixture of Ch’orti’ and Spanish.

The Ch'orti' Project Collaboration

The Ch’orti’ Project is a community-based language documentation, revitalization, and reclamation project focused on the Ch’orti’ (Mayan) language of Guatemala and Honduras. It was founded in 2013 by Dr. Rebecca Forgash and Dr. Robin Quizar. The project is a collaborative effort involving MSU Denver faculty, students, Ch’orti’ community members, and others. The project is run out of and in association with MSU Anthropology’s Ethnography Lab. The project is multidisciplinary and multifaceted in that it has engaged in work on producing Ch’orti’ language educational materials, preparing Ch’orti’ stories from legacy texts in the local writing system, and conducting linguistic research on various aspects of the language, among other things.

Current elements of the project include putting all previously written texts into the official Ch’orti’ alphabet with English and Spanish word-for-word translations, supporting individual research projects for faculty and students with on-campus and on-the-ground fieldwork, and working with archaeologists and museums to highlight the Ch’orti’ language and cultural connection with the Classic Maya civilization. A free-access internet platform of written resources available to Guatemalan scholars and Ch’orti’ speakers is also in the works, as is an initiative to help reconnect the Ch’orti’ community with the heritage held within the Classic Maya script.

CONIMCHH

“CONIMCHH - the Consejo Nacional Indigena Maya Ch'ortí de Honduras - is a private nonprofit organization in Honduras that facilitates the comprehensive development of its affiliated communities, including efforts promoting economic development, the recovery of ancestral lands, cultural recognition and general education.”

Through strategic planning, the systematic payment of the membership dues, and the efficient use of funds and resources, they plan to achieve the technical training to introduce our goals of sustainable development to all of the necessary program areas for the communities to reach financial sustainability and the quality of the life the community members deserve, where an open community and a duty to human service prevail.

The organization is divided into smaller groups that represent both geographical location as well as specific projects. They have a long history of fighting for social causes to try and benefit the conditions for Ch’orti’ people in Honduras.

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