A Historical Grammar of the Maya Language of Yucatan (1557-2000)
Page 10
čùuhul
burned
chuyul
sewn, embroidered
čùuyul
sewn
cħaacál
cut, chopped
č’àakal
cut
haxál
bored (hole)
hàašal
laid (strands of rope);
beaten (chocolate)
hulúl
speared, threaded
hùulul
focused, lighted,
thrusted, threaded
hupúl
inserted
hùupul
inserted, sunk
mucúl
secret, hidden
mùukul
buried
PHONOLOGY 37
nutzúl
joined, closed, blocked
nùuȼul
joined, closed, blocked
nuppúl
closed, covered, spliced
nùup’ul
closed
ppatál
left, abandoned, forgotten, lost
p’àatal
left, abandoned
tabál
tied; mended
tàabal
grafted; rooted
tookóol
sharp (metal, stone)
tòok’ol
punctured
vuákal
netted
wàak’al
netted
uatál
broken (long, hard object)
wàatal
broken in half
ucħúl
narrowed, constricted
ʔùuč’ul
slumped
uecél
spilled, scattered, shed
wèekel
spilled
xetħél
torn, broken apart
šèet’el
torn
xotól
cut
šòotol
cut, sliced
(37) shows that the first syllable in the Modern reflexes is heavy, containing a long vowel and low tone,
contrasting in this respect with the first syllable of the Calepino participles, whose vowel was short and
therefore unstressed. This is a significant difference between Colonial and Modern Yucatec, one that raises
the question of whether Colonial Yucatec distinguished between high and low tone.
2.3.2.2. PITCH ACCENT. A strong piece of evidence for the presence of tones in Modern Yucatec has been
the contrast between mediopassive and participial stems derived from transitive roots:
(38)
Mediopassive Gloss
Participle
Gloss
káačal
split slowly
kàačal
split, fractured
síinil
stretch out, extend
sìinil
extended, stretched out
súup’ul
block
sùup’ul
fenced
ȼíilil
shred
ȼìilil
shredded
ȼúuȼul
close, fill up, obstruct, scar
ȼùuȼul
closed, filled up, obstructed,
scarred
ȼ’áamal
soaked
ȼ’àamal
soaked, immersed
čúuyul
get sewn
čùuyul
sewn
č’áakal
cut
č’àakal
cut
háašal
wipe, stroke, beat
hàašal
laid (strands of rope);
beaten (chocolate)
húulul
focus, light; thrust
hùulul
focused, lighted,
thrusted, threaded
húupul
sink, invade
hùupul
inserted, sunk
múukul
bury oneself
mùukul
buried
núuȼul
block, close
nùuȼul
joined, closed, blocked
núup’ul
close, finish
nùup’ul
closed
p’áatal
remain, stay
p’àatal
left, abandoned
táabal
graft, take root
tàabal
grafted; rooted
tóok’ol
bleed
tòok’ol
punctured
wáatal
part
wàatal
broken in half
ʔúuč’ul
slump
ʔùuč’ul
slumped
wéekel
spill, shed
wèekel
spilled
šéet’el
tear, break apart
šèet’el
torn
šóotol
cut
šòotol
cut, sliced
38 PHONOLOGY
(38) shows that the first syllable in mediopassive stems contains a long vowel with high or rising tone and
that the first syllable in participial stems contains a long vowel with level or falling tone. Although not the
only evidence of the existence of tones in Modern Yucatec, these minimal pairs (and many others like
them) serve as strong, prima facie evidence for this distinction in the Modern language.
Unfortunately, there is no comparable dataset in Colonial Yucatec because, as the participial examples
in (35) show, the first syllable in participial stems did not have a long vowel at that time (and therefore could
not have had a low tone). Colonial Yucatec resembled Mopan in that respect, both of whose participial syl-
lables contain short vowels (Hofling 2011):
(39)
Colonial
Gloss
Mopan
Gloss
cachál broken
kachal broken
tzilíl
torn, shredded
tzilil
torn
chuyul
sewn, embroidered
chuyul
sewn
hulúl
speared, threaded
hulul
threaded
mucúl
secret, hidden
mukul
hidden, in hiding
nuppúl
closed, covered, spliced
nup’ul
stacked
ppatál
left, abandoned, forgotten, lost
p’atal
abandoned
uecél
spilled, scattered, shed
wekel
scattered
The same is true of Itsaj, except that the vowel in the participial suffix is /a/, not a copy of the root vowel
(Hofling and Tesucún 1997):
(40)
Colonial
Gloss
Itsaj
Gloss
cachál broken
kachal broken
çuppúl
dense (vegetation)
sup’al
overgrown
tzilíl
torn, shredded
ȼilal
torn
ɔamál
caked
tz’amal
sunk
chuyul
sewn, embroidered
chuyal
sewn
hupúl
inserted
hupal
inserted
mucúl
secret, hidden
mukal
hidden
nuppúl
closed, covered, spliced
nup’al
ppatál
left, abandoned, forgotten, lost
p’atal
remained, left
ucħúl
narrowed, constricted
uch’al
crushed
uecél
spilled, scattered, shed
wekal
sprinkled
xetħél
torn, broken apart
xet’al
broken
xotól cut
xotal cut
On the other hand, the Calepino assigns accents and/or double vowels to the first syllable in mediopas-
sives, which corresponds to long vowel and high tone in Modern Yucatec:
(41)
Colonial
Gloss
Modern
Gloss
çíppil
swell up, form welts, ripen
síip’il
increase, swell up
ɔúcul
fall, drop; rot, decay
‘úukul
squash, fall [from tree]
cħóoxol
fall like a beast of burden or
č’óošol
twist
when a person falls after
stumbling
háatzal
divide, separate
háaȼal
divide
PHONOLOGY
39
háual
stop, cease
háawal
stop, cease
héekel
break (branches of trees)
héek’el
break
hócħol
fall (cloth onto floor)
hóoč’ol
fall, faint, swoon
hóomol
sink (feet in earth), subside
hóomol
subside (earth)
(earth)
húkul
become dislocated,
húuk’ul
twist, sprain
disjointed (bone)
húutul
fall down (leaves on trees),
húutul
fall down
fall out (hair, feathers)
tijcil unravel
tíikil unravel
tómol
sink [in water, mud, hole];
tóomol
invade, trespass; sink
step in pit, snare
tóppol
open (flower, road)
tóop’ol
bud, hatch
uácal
pop out (board from wall),
wáakal
swell, appear
burst forth (pus in wound)
xíjcil
crack, split, break apart
šíikil
crack, split, break apart
xíjtil
open (flowers, cotton bolls),
šíitil
open
crack, split
In Mopan, as in Colonial and Modern Yucatec, the stem vowel in mediopassives is long (Hofling 2011):
(42)
Colonial
Gloss
Mopan
Gloss
çíppil
swell up, form welts, ripen
siip’il
swell
háatzal
divide, separate
haatz’əl
divide
héekel
break (branches of trees)
heek’el
split, break
hóomol
sink (feet in earth), subside
hoomol
sink
(earth)
tóppol
open (flower, road)
toop’ol
split, hatch
xíjtil
open (flowers, cotton bolls),
xiitil
sprout, open, blossom, loosen
crack, split
In Itsaj, the stem vowel in mediopassives is short (Hofling and Tesucún 1997):
(43)
Colonial
Gloss
Itsaj
Gloss
çíppil
swell up, form welts, ripen
sip’il
swell
ɔúcul
fall, drop; rot, decay
tz’ukul
rot
háatzal
divide, separate
hatzəl
split, divide
háual
stop, cease
hawəl
disappear, end
héekel
break (branches of trees)
hek’el
split open
hóomol
sink (feet in earth), subside (earth) homol
collapse, cave in, get a hole
húutul
fall down (leaves on trees),
hutul
collapse
fall out (hair, feathers)
tóppol
open (flower, road)
top’ol
hatch, be born, shatter
uácal
pop out (board from wall),
wakəl
bulge, swell
burst forth (pus in wound)
xíjcil
crack, split, break apart
xikil
blister, erupt, explode
40 PHONOLOGY
2.3.2.3. YUCATECAN TONOGENESIS. According to John Justeson (personal communication, 26 May 2010),
an infixed /h/ is the most likely source of the long vowel with a high tone in mediopassives (see also Hiro-
nymous 1982). When the infixed /h/ disappears, it can leave behind a long vowel and rising-falling pitch as
the ghost of its earlier presence (Justeson 1986:34n1), which was apparently the case in the transition from
Proto-Yucatec to Modern Yucatec. Alternatively, it can disappear without a trace (as in Itsaj), or only the
long vowel is left behind (as in Mopan).
Because medial /h/ is not represented in the orthography of Colonial Yucatec, it is not clear whether the
syllable in mediopassive stems whose vowel is doubled and/or accented contains an infixed /h/ or a long
vowel. The acute accent in disyllabic stems indicates only that the syllable is heavy. The vocalic doubling is
suggestive of vowel length, but not conclusive.
In a few other contexts, the Calepino de Motul does mention vowel length explicitly, implying that the
infixed /h/ had already been replaced by a long vowel in the late sixteenth century. For example, folio 394r
of the Calepino de Motul (Ciudad Real 1600?) contains the following set of entries:
(44)
ppul. golpe de açote o de campana.
ppuul. de dos silabas. cosa que esta descosida y libro desenquadernado.
ppul. una silaba larga. cantaro.
The first entry is simply glossed as ‘whiplash or striking of bell.’ The others contain an explanation of how
the word is pronounced, followed by a gloss:
(45)
ppuul. ‘of two syllables. unstitched object and disbound book.’
ppul. ‘one long syllable. water jar.’
The last of these entries is of special interest because it specifies that the word in question consists of one
long syllable, contrasting with the entry directly above it, which is described as having two syllables and
with the first in the sequence, which presumably has one short syllable. The root of the entry with two syl-
lables appears two pages earlier (Ciudad Real 1600?:fol. 392v) as:
(46)
ppu.ah.ub. descoser mantas: y deshazer o desencuadernar libros.
Its gloss means ‘to unstitch cloths and undo or unbind books.’ (ah and ub represent the perfective and
future suffixes of this verb.) The fact that the root is ppu rather than ppuu implies that
it ended in h (pho-
netic [p’uh]), not a glottal stop, and that the phonetic value of the related participle, ppuul, was [p’uh-ul].
The reflexes of Colonial ppul ‘water jar’ in the currently spoken languages are p’úul in Modern Yucatec
and Lacandon (V. Bricker et al. 1998:234; Canger 1995) and p’uul in Mopan and Itsaj (Hofling 2011:372;
Hofling and Tesucún 1997:542). Kaufman and Justeson (2003:985) have reconstructed them back to *p’uhl.
The fact that the entry is described as having “one long syllable” in the Calepino de Motul implies that the
infixed /h/ had already been replaced by vowel length by the time it was elicited from a sixteenth-century
speaker of Colonial Yucatec. Support for this inference appears in two of the example sentences containing
this noun:
(47)
nóci y aalil in ppuul ‘my jar of water was overturned.’
chupaan haa ti ppuul ‘the jar is full of water.’
PHONOLOGY
41
The doubled vowel in both instances of ppuul agrees with the description of the word for water jar as con-
sisting of “one long syllable.”
The Calepino de Motul also lists two transitive verb stems that contrast only in vowel length (Ciudad
Real 1600?:fol. 378r):
(48)
poc.ah.ob. pronunciado breue. lavar fregando o fregar lavando assi como platos, escudillas,
jarros y qualquier vasija y loça ...
poc.ah.ob. pronunciado largo. cozer jarros y cantaros y otras vasijas y qualquier loça. Item calen-
tar a la lumbre alguna cosa ponerla junto al fuego para que se asse o seque o enxugue ...
An English translation of the quoted Spanish glosses appears in (49):
(49)
poc.ah.ob. ‘pronounced short. to wash by scrubbing or to scrub by washing plates, bowls, pots,
water jars and other vessels and any kind of crockery ...’
poc.ah.ob. ‘pronounced long. to heat jugs, water jars and other vessels or any kind of crockery.
Furthermore, to heat something in a fire, place it next to the fire so that it roasts or dries out or
shrivels ...’
The two head words are identical, but the first is “pronounced short” (pronunciado breue) and the second
is “pronounced long” (pronunciado largo). (ah and ob represent the perfective and future suffixes of these
verbs). The reflex of the “long” poc is póok ‘to toast, reheat over coals’ in Modern Yucatec (V. Bricker et al.
1998:219); the same verb means ‘to roast’ in San Quintín Lacandon (Canger 1995). There is no reflex of the
“short” poc in Modern Yucatec, but it is a transitive root in San Quintín Lacandon, whose active stem is pak
and means ‘to wash dishes’ (Canger 1995). Neither Itsaj nor Mopan has a reflex of “short” poc either, but
they both have pook ‘to roast on coals’ (Itsaj) and ‘to roast’ (Mopan) (Hofling 2011:359; Hofling and Tesucún
1997:522).
Another set of examples in the Calepino marks the distinction between two verb stems by doubling the