A Historical Grammar of the Maya Language of Yucatan (1557-2000)
Page 44
cħehelac
drop by drop
hak
astonish, marvel;
hak(a)lac
moaning (patient near death),
frighten
dismayed [because of lack of
resources to pay debt quickly],
afflicted [because of having
eaten too much]
kux
bite, gnaw, crunch;
kuxlac
feverish, aching
fray, erode
mak
eat soft food
maklac
soft, tender (lettuce, chaya leaves)
muc
hide, conceal, deny,
muclac
hidden, concealed, temporarily
disclaim, dissimulate
visible
nol
gnaw /bones/
nollac
hard, hardy, obdurate
puk
melt /wax, gold, silver, puklac
juicy, greasy
lead/; mix
ppic
break off /flower, leaf/ ppicilac
aching, painful
tepp
burst, break /cord, rope, tepplac
taut, swollen [about to burst]
thread/
No adjectives derived from suffixing -lac to transitive roots are mentioned in the Hocaba dictionary of
Modern Yucatec.
2.6.4. ADJECTIVES DERIVED FROM POSITIONAL ROOTS WITH -LAC OR -LIC. The suffix, -lac, also derived ad-
jectives from positional roots in Colonial Yucatec:
(31) Positional
Root
Gloss
Adjective
Gloss
chel
lie down, stretch out,
chelac
lying down
lie full length; be
stretched out, lying
down; dismissed
lech
hang from pole or
lechlac
hanging from rope or pole
shoulder (clothing,
(clothing)
axe)
nay
be leaning, tilted,
naylac
leaning, tilted to one side
falling, lying down
ppuc
stoop, squat, crouch
ppuclac
stooped, crouched
ppux
bend, stoop, crouch
ppuxlac
bent, stooped, crouched
xac
bend over, fall on
xacalac
on all fours
hands and knees
260 ADJECTIVES
However, the Calepino de Motul lists a much larger number of adjectives derived from positionals by suf-
fixing -lic, instead of -lac, to the root:
(32) Positional
Root
Gloss
Adjective
Gloss
ac
settle, form puddles,
aclic
seated, placed firmly
seat firmly
ban
pile up, be joined;
banlic
piled up
stretch out
cul
sit down, reside,
culic
seated, residing
be in a place
çin
stretch out, spread out çinlic
extended, broad, prolonged,
enduring
chel
lie down, stretch out,
che(l)lic
hurled, flung; stretched out,
lie full length; be
spread out; dismissed
stretched out, lying
down; dismissed
chin
bow, grovel; be
chinlic
bowed, humbled
ashamed
cħuy
hang, dangle
cħuylic
dependent, hanging
lech
hang from pole or
lechlic
hanging from pole
shoulder (clothing,
axe)
nac
lean against
naclic
leaning
naɔ
be close or nearby
naɔlic
near
ppoh
bend over
ppohlic
bent over
tak
stick, adhere (plaster,
taklic
presence
paper)
tħon
lean, droop [from
tħonlic
humble, meek, lowly, humiliated
sickness]
xol
steady, prop up
xo(l)lic
secure
The only positional adjectives that have both -lac and -lic suffixes have /e/ as their root vowel (chel and
lech), suggesting that -lac was a vestige of a more widespread pattern before it eventually became -lic in
the majority of such adjectives. However, neither -lic nor -lac co-occurs with positional roots in Modern
Yucatec, nor in the other Yucatecan languages spoken today.
2.7. POSITIONAL ADJECTIVES MARKED BY -CABAL. Adjectives were also derived from positional roots in
Colonial Yucatec by suffixing -cabal to the root, and cognates of them are present in Modern Yucatec,
Lacandon, Itsaj, and Mopan. They are described at length in 1. of Chapter 11 and will not be considered
further here.
2.8. DERIVED ADJECTIVES MARKED BY -EN. The Calepino de Motul lists five adjectives derived from verbal
roots, four transitive and one intransitive, and one adjective derived from an adjectival root, all marked by
-en. The adjectives derived from verbal roots appear below:
ADJECTIVES
261
(33)
Verb
Gloss
Adjective
Gloss
biz
bore, pierce, perforate bizen
bored, pierced, perforated
cim die
cimen dead
tzil
unravel, shred, tear
tzilen
unravelled, torn, shredded
/paper, cloth/,
deflower /maiden/
hom
clear, level
homen
opened, cleared
lab
deteriorate, wear out
laben
corruptible, easily spoiled or
used up
The adjective derived from an adjectival root was coyen ‘crazy, foolish, lewd, mischievous’ (< co ‘crazy, fool-
ish, insolent, boisterous, roguish, cunning, deceitful’). The suffix, -en, survives only in kimen, the cognate of
cimen ‘dead,’ in Modern Yucatec.
2.9. DERIVED ADJECTIVES MARKED BY -EM OR -OM. The suffix, -em, derived four adjectives from active tran-
sitive or middle voice stems, one from an adjectival root, and one from a nominal root in Colonial Yucatec.
The adjectives derived from active transitive or middle voice stems appear below:
(34)
Verb
Gloss
Adjective
Gloss
çahal
disdain, withdraw
çah(a)lem
moderate, circumspect, decorous
cħehel
consume, use up
cħeh(e)lem
sparsely
kool
transgress, violate,
kolem
mischievous, incorrigible,
scorn /order,
disobedient
command/
xot
determine
xotem
fixed, determined, resolute
The other two derived adjectives were hulem ‘similar, like’ (< hul ‘similar, like’) and kulem ‘divine, holy, sacred’ (< ku ‘God’). The Hocaba dictionary of Modern Yucatec contains no examples of -em as an adjectival
suffix.
A possibly related suffix, -om, derived adjectives from intransitive roots and stems, as well as from
adjectival roots in Colonial Yucatec. The adjectives derived from intransitive or middle voice verbs are listed
below:
(35)
Verb
Gloss
Adjective
Gloss
cim die
cimom mortal
oc enter
ocom entering
ok
cry, weep
okom
sad
tichil
protrude, extrude
tich(i)lom
exceeding
uacal
swell up
uac(a)lom
extruding
Two adjectives were derived from adjectival roots with -om:
(36)
Adjective
Gloss
Adjective
Gloss
çaatay perishable
çaatayom2 perishable
hauay
finite, perishable
hauayom
finite, perishable
The suffix, -om, is represented only by ʔok’om, the cognate of okom ‘sad,’ in Modern Yucatec.
262 ADJECTIVES
2.10. ADJECTIVES DERIVED FROM CVC TRANSITIVE AND POSITIONAL ROOTS WITHOUT SUFFIXATION. Hof-
ling (2000:156) lists a small group of adjectives that are derived from CVC transitive roots in Itsaj “with a
change in the root vowel involving lengthening or glottal insertion.” One of the examples in his list has
cognates in both Colonial and Modern Yucatec:
(37)
Transitive
Derived
Root
Adjective
Itsaj təȼ’
taȼ’
‘to straighten’
‘straight’
Modern taȼ’
táaȼ’
Yucatec
‘to plane, straighten’
‘directly, at once’
Colonial
taɔ
taɔ
Yucatec
‘to plane, straighten;
‘straight, continuous’
extend, stretch out’
The differences between the Itsaj and the Modern Yucatecan examples can be explained as follows: Itsaj
has retained the schwa of Proto-Yucatecan in transitive roots, whereas Modern Yucatec has lowered it
to [a]. Therefore, vowel lengthening in Itsaj involves raising schwa to [a], but because the vowel in the
transitive root in Modern Yucatec is already [a], it is both lengthened and given a tonal contour. On the
other hand, the distinction between schwa and [a] was neutralized in the Colonial orthography (cf. 2.3.3. in
Chapter 3 and V. Bricker and Orie 2014:186–192), accounting for the taɔ spelling of both the root and the
adjectival examples in Colonial Yucatec in (37) above.
Direct evidence of vowel lengthening or glottal-stop insertion in adjectives derived from CVC transitive
or positional roots appears in four examples of such adjectives in the Calepino de Motul:
(38) Transitive
Derived
Root
Gloss
Adjective
Gloss
chal
to rinse out, wash out
chaal
settled and clear
ɔuy
to bend, twist
ɔuuy
flexible, strong
taɔ
to straighten; extend,
taaɔ
lame, stiff (leg or foot that will not
stretch out
bend or drags)
upp
crack, bruise, break into (u)upp
cracked, bruised, broken
pieces in the hands;
diminish, reduce
The adjective derived from upp is described as consisting of two syllables in the Calepino de Motul (Ciudad
Real 1600?:fol. 451v), which implies that it contained an infixed glottal stop.
In addition, nine CVC adjectives, seven derived from CVC transitive roots and two derived from CVC
positional roots in Colonial Yucatec, have cognates in Modern Yucatec:
ADJECTIVES
263
(39)
Colonial
Modern
Derived
Derived
CVC Root
Adjective
CVC Root
Adjective
coy coy
koy
kòoy
‘to tilt, bend,
‘unequal, uneven,
‘to fold unevenly’
‘uneven’
fold, shift
folded unevenly
unevenly’
(clothes, blanket, mat)’
chup
chup
čup
čùup
‘to fill’
‘full, swollen, inflamed’ ‘to fill’
‘swollen, full’
hay hay
hay
hàay
‘to spread out, ‘flat, level, smooth, thin’ ‘to spread out,
‘thin (paper, clothes)’
extend;
extend’
prepare’
pucħ
pucħ
puč’
pùuč’
‘to crush,
‘crushed, mashed,
‘to crush, mash,
‘crushed, mashed, bruised’
mash, bruise, bruised, smashed’
bruise’
smash’
puk
puk
puk’
pùuk’
‘to melt /wax, ‘turbid’
‘to dilute, dissolve, ‘scrambled (egg)’
gold, silver,
mix’
lead/, mix’
taɔ
taɔ
taȼ’
táaȼ’
‘to plane,
‘straight,
‘to plane,
‘directly, at once’
straighten, continuous’
straighten’
extend,
stretch out’
taaɔ
taȼ’
—
‘lame, stiff (leg or foot
‘to plane,
that will not bend
straighten’
and drags)’
tax
tax
—
táaš
‘to level,
‘flat, smooth, even’
‘flat, smooth [without stones]’
smooth,
flatten’
xach
xach
šač
šáač
‘to thin out’
‘thin, sparse, not dense’ ‘to part, separate, ‘separated (threads in hammock)’
spread (legs)’
264 ADJECTIVES
In the next to the last set of examples, only the adjective derived from tax has survived in Modern Yucatec
(V. Bricker et al. 1998:271); it is tàaš in Lacandon (Canger 1995). Neither the transitive root nor the adjective
derived from it is documented in Itsaj or Mopan.
All the derived adjectives in the last column of (39) have long vowels and tone, low or falling tone in the
first five examples and high or rising tone in the last three examples. The Colonial counterpart of [áa] in
the last three adjectives in (39) was [a], contrasting with schwa i
n the roots from which they were derived,
as explained in the discussion of taɔ/táaȼ’ above. The Modern examples of derived adjectives with long
vowels and low or falling tone have cognates in Colonial Yucatec whose vowels may not have lengthened
yet (cf. 2.3.2.2. in Chapter 3).
In addition to the thirteen examples of adjectives derived from CVC transitive or positional roots in
(38–39), there are ca. 60 examples of such adjectives in the Calepino de Motul that are spelled with a sin-
gle vowel, but do not have cognates in the Hocaba dictionary of Modern Yucatec. Because the Calepino
marked vowel length or the infixation of laryngeals only when a pair of entries differed in one of those
features, the absence of vocalic doubling in a derived adjective did not automatically mean that it lacked
such a characteristic. Fortunately, there are a few examples with vocalic doubling or cognates in Modern
Yucatec that make it possible to demonstrate that at least some Colonial adjectives derived from CVC
transitive or positional roots without suffixation underwent the same vocalic modifications that Hofling
(2000:156) has described for Itsaj.
3. PARTICIPLES
Three kinds of participles were derived from verbal roots and stems in Colonial Yucatec: (1) participles
marked by -(a)an, (2) participles marked by -Vl, and (3) participles marked by -bil. Although, by definition,
participles are based on verbal roots and stems, the -(a)an suffix was also used for deriving participles from
adjectival and nominal roots in Colonial Yucatec. A fourth class of participles involving reduplication of part
or all of the verb root is treated at length in Chapters 12 and Chapter 13 and will not be considered further
here.
3.1. PARTICIPLES MARKED BY -(A)AN. Ten of the many -(a)an participles derived from transitive roots have
cognates in Modern Yucatec; they appear side-by-side below:
(40)
Colonial
Modern
Transitive
Transitive
Root
Participle
Root
Participle
bay
bayan
b’ay
b’ayan
‘to straighten, ‘straight, aligned’
‘to straighten’