and third decades of that century. The last document in the Titles of Ebtun bears a date of 1835.
The variety of contexts in which ley (or lei or le) appeared in these documents suggests that this form
of the demonstrative pronoun was in free variation with lay (and its variants). Only in the formulaic legal
language used to certify these documents did lay usually prevail:
(54a) lay u hahil in tħan
‘this is the truth of my words’ (EBT675A)
(54b) lay u hahil ca firma
‘this is the truth that we certify’ (EBT784A)
(54c) lay u hahil ca firmanahon
‘this is the truth that we certified’ (EBT813A)
(54d) lay v hahil yn firma y testigosob
‘this is the truth that I certify with witnesses’ (EBT814C)
(54e) lay v hahil en 12 de julio de 1822
‘this is the truth on the 12th of July of 1822’ (EBT822A)
Although ley and lei had clearly emerged during the Colonial period and were well represented in the
Titles of Ebtun, the vast majority of documents contained only lay, lai, or la, and only two documents in
that collection employed only ley, lei, or le. It was not until much later that lay disappeared altogether as a
variant of the demonstrative pronoun in Ebtun (le was the only form of the demonstrative pronoun in use
when I lived there for three and a half months during the winter and spring of 1979).
The documentary record for ley began much later in Tekanto (1739) than in Ebtun (1675), but once
underway ley took hold more consistently in Tekanto and its hinterland than in Ebtun (compare Tables 15-1
and 15-2).
The document written in 1739 contained two instances of ley (or le) and no instances of lay (or lai):
(55a) he
ley xan v sima ti santo
‘this one here also, he has given to the saint’ (TK739A)
408
DEICTIC PARTICLES
Table 15-1. Documents containing le, ley, or lei as initial
deictics in the Titles of Ebtun.
Document
le(y) or lei
la(y) or lai
a. Ebtun
1784 (Mar 23)
3
6
1788 (Jan 26)
1
2
1791 (May 14)
1
3
1791 (Dec 19)
1
0
1809 (Jul 30)
5
0
1811 (Apr 18)
3
3
1811 (Dec 13)
0
2
1811 (Dec 13)
1
2
1813 (Feb 24)
1
1
1813 (Feb 24)
1
2
1813 (Mar 6)
1
3
1814 (Jan 28)
2
1
1814 (Jun 28)
2
2
1817 (Dec 19)
2
2
1817 (Dec ?)
1
3
1819 (Aug 15)
1
1
1822 (Jul 12)
1
1
1822 (Jul 12)
3
1
1822 (Nov 20)
1
1
1825 (Apr 15)
1
1
b. Nearby town
1675 (May 9)
1
6 (Kaua)
(55b) ca t u siah ley Juo Ak(e) lae
‘and this John Ake gave it’ (TK739A)
Four testaments, each containing one example of ley, were penned in 1743 by the notary Manuel Poot.
The following phrase appears in each of them:
(56)
ley licil yn tzolic yn testamento
‘this is what I advise in my testament’ (TK743G)
Each testament also contains three to six examples of lay.
DEICTIC PARTICLES
409
Table 15-2. Documents containing le, ley, or lei as initial deictics in the
Documentos de Tekanto.
Document
le(y) or lei
la(y) or lai
a. Tekanto
1739 (Jan 12)
2
0
1743 (Aug 4)
1
6
1743 (Aug 10)
1
4
1743 (Aug ?)
1
4
1743 (Aug 22)
1
3
1749 (Feb 12)
1
0
1749 (Feb 13)
1
0
1804 (Jul 2)
5
1
1807 (Jan 13)
1
1
1808 (Jul 22)
4
0
1812 (Jul 21)
1
0
1812 (Nov 20)
2
0
1814 (Sep 20)
1
0
1815 (Aug 9)
3
0
1816 (Mar 3)
1
0
1816 (Sep 21)
1
0
1816 (Oct 24)
2
0
1817 (Mar 6)
2
0
1817 (Apr 26)
1
0
1817 (?)
3
0
1819 (Feb 8)
1
1
1819 (Jul 29)
1
0
1819 (Jul 30)
4
0
1819 (Aug 4)
1
0
1819 (Aug 17)
5
0
1820 (May 17)
1
0
1821 (Oct 5)
2
1
1833 (Dec 10)
1
0
b. Region
1763 (Apr 6)
1
3
(Dzidzantun)
1781 (Jun 19)
1
8
(Dzidzantun)
1782 (Aug 20)
3
0
(unspecified)
1790 (May 25)
6
0
(Izamal)
1792 (Dec 16)
3
7
(Izamal)
1794 (May 18)
3
1
(unspecified)
1798 (Mar 6)
6
1
(Izamal)
1798 (Mar 12)
3
0
(Izamal)
1799 (Aug 11)
1
2
(Izamal)
1805 (Jul 30)
1
7
(Tixkochoh)
1805 (Sep 18)
1
1
(Cacalcħen)
1812 (Jan 14)
4
8
(Xoccħel)
1813 (Feb 15)
2
16
(Nolo)
410
DEICTIC PARTICLES
In 1749, the same notary recorded two additional testaments with one example each of ley in identical
phrases:
(57)
ley bin tocic yn pixan ti v lobol balob
‘this will defend my soul against evil things’ (TK749D)
Neither document has any examples of lay or its variants.
There are no more examples of ley or lei in documents
originating in Tekanto during the rest of the
eighteenth century. However, notaries in other towns in the hinterland of Tekanto were producing docu-
ments with ley or le, beginning in 1763 in Dzidzantun:
(58)
le yan t u lakin y otoch Josefa Miranda lae
‘this exists east of the home of Josefa Miranda’ (KAN763A)
As in the documents from 1743 produced in Tekanto, this example was in the minority, contrasting with
three examples of lay elsewhere in the document.
ley showed up again in Dzidzantun in a document dating to 1781:
(59)
mex hun-hun tul ti leyob
‘nor each of these’ (KAN781A)
Here, too, lay was dominant, showing up in eight phrases.
One year later, a testament was produced in a town in the hinterland of Tekanto with three examples
of ley and no examples of lay:
(60a) ley oclal c in mentic yn tokyah tħan
‘this is the reason I make my testament’ (KAN782A)
(60b) ley oclal c in mentic yn tħan
‘this is the reason I make my words’ (KAN782A)
(60c) ley oclal maa=mac vchac v conic y xane
‘this is the reason no one may sell it either’ (KAN782A)
The spread of ley at the expense of lay continued during the 1790s in the hinterland of Tekanto, begin-
ning in 1790 with a land document crafted in Izamal with six examples of ley (or lei or le) and no examples
of lay:
(61a) hoki lei seniyor Matias Duran v tial v manee
‘this Señor Matias Duran left in order to pass’ (KAN790B)
(61b) he yx lei solar c in ɔaic lae
‘and here is this house plot that I give’ (KAN790B)
(61c) lei solar lae
‘as for this house plot’ (KAN790B)
DEICTIC PARTICLES
411
(61d) ley solar lae
‘as for this house plot’ (KAN790B)
(61e) ho t u kal yani le solar lae
‘25 are these house plots’ (KAN790B)
(61f) menchahi v hunil lei conol lae
‘the papers for this sale were prepared’ (KAN790B)
And another land document also originating in Izamal, but dated to 1798, has three examples of lei and no
examples of lay:
(62a) he ix lei chun lae
‘and this stump here’ (KAN798B)
(62b) lei kax c u conic lae
‘this forest that he sells’ (KAN798B)
(62c) lei u hahil ca firma yalan u hunil
‘this is the truth that we certify at the bottom of the letter’ (KAN798B)
Finally, three more documents from Izamal bearing dates in the last decade of the eighteenth century
contain examples of both lei and lay. One was written in 1792 and has three examples of lei:
(63a) ox pel peso t u kamah lei al=mehen Alonso Chi lae
‘three coins did this noble Alonso Chi receive’ (KAN792B)
(63b) he ix lei solar lae cunpul
‘and here is this house plot: Cunpul’ (KAN792B)
(63c) he yix lei kax lae cunpul’
‘and here is this forest: Cunpul’ (KAN792B)
It contains seven examples of lay. Another dated to 1798, has six examples of lei:
(64a) y u hel u hunil lei kax lae
‘and another document of this forest’ (KAN798A)
(64b) he ix lei cheen lae
‘and here is this well!’ (KAN798A)
(64c) la u nucul ca mentic u hunil y oklal u conic u yumil lei kax lae
‘this is the reason we prepare the document for the owner of this forest to sell it’ (KAN798A)
(64d) he ix lei kax lae
‘and here is this forest!’ (KAN798A)
412
DEICTIC PARTICLES
(64e) he ix lei kax c u conic lae
‘and here is this forest that he sells’ (KAN798A)
(64f) lei u hahil
‘this is the truth’ (KAN798A)
It has one example of la, in (64c). The third has a date of 1799:
(65)
he ix lei solar kubic lae
‘and here is this house plot that he gives’ (KAN799A)
There are also one example of lay and another of lai in this document.
By 1804, there were once again examples of ley (or le) in a document originating in Izamal:
(66a) he ix tux yan le solar lae
‘and here is where this house plot exists’ (KAN804A)
(66b) he ix yan ychil ley solar lae
‘and here it exists within this house plot’ (KAN804A)
(66c) minan v tħan y oklal ley solar lae
‘there is no word about this house plot’ (KAN804A)
(66d) le v nucul t u kubah ti in kab
‘this is the reason why he delivered it into my hands’ (KAN804A)
(66e) le v hahil c in ɔaic yn firma yalan caba(l)
‘this is the truth that I certify below’ (KAN804A)
In contrast to these five examples of ley or le, there is only one example of lay (as la) in this document.
In a land document dated to 1808 from Tekanto, there were four examples of ley or le and no examples
of lay:
(67a) ɔooc tun yn manic le v tial yn lakobie
‘I finished buying this one for my companions’ (TK808A)
(67b) c in tuliscuntic hun ac le solar yn tialil
‘I complete one lot of this house plot of mine’ (TK808A)
(67c) ley v hahil
‘this is the truth’ (TK808A)
(67d) he solar lae le yn cahlic vay lae
‘the house plot here, this is my residence in here’ (TK808A)
DEICTIC PARTICLES
413
In addition, fourteen documents from Tekanto and the second decade of the nineteenth century have
examples of ley or le, but none of lay (Table 15-2). For example, a document written in 1819 had five exam-
ples of le:
(68a) c in kalic le u hunil
‘I close this letter’ (TK819C)
(68b) he ix le kax lae
‘and here is this forest’ (TK819C)
(68c) ca pel kal tun yani le u pic=tunil u kax ah bokoba
‘there are 40 stones in this boundary marker of the forest of the people of Bokoba’ (TK819C)
(68d) le c u haltic u pic=tunil u kax Christoval Ku
‘this one passes the boundary marker of the forest of Christobal Ku’ (TK819C)
(68e) le t in conah lae
‘this is what I purchased’ (TK819C)
Table 15-2 shows that other towns in the vicinity of Tekanto produced documents during the same decades
with a mixture of phrases and sentences containing variants of ley and lay. For example, a document writ-
ten in Xoccħel in 1812 contained four instances of ley and eight of lay; both ley and lay appeared in the
following sentence:
(69a) ley tun sut u hel lay ox pel pesoe
‘this one, then, returned the other of these three coins’ (KAN812E)
The rest of the sentences or phrases containing ley are given below:
(69b) ley yx mehen Leonarda Puc
‘this daughter Leonarda Puc’ (KAN812E)
(69c) ca t u conah ley tun Saluador Puce
‘and Salvador Puc sold this then’ (KAN812E)
(69d) ley u nohol c u binel
‘this one goes to the south’ (KAN812E)
And, of course, a large number of documents not listed in Table 15-2 had only lay or its variants, lai and la.
Nevertheless, the fact that several notaries in Tekanto and its hinterland produced documents only with
ley and its variants is evidence that ley was well on the road to replacing lay between 1780 and 1833 in that
region, in contrast to Ebtun, where only two documents during that period had examples of ley
without
also examples of lay.3
Apart from its persistence in láayliʔ ...eʔ ‘still, even, now, yet’ in the Puuc region today (see 2.3. in Chap-
ter 4), lay itself continued to be used in a few expressions as recently as the 1930s in Tixcacal Guardia in the
southeastern part of the peninsula (now the state of Quintana Roo):
414
DEICTIC PARTICLES
(70a) lay hun peel carta
‘this one letter’ (TIX935B, TIX935G; TIX936B)
(70b) la betiic inv alic ti tex
‘this is what I say to you-all’ (TIX935J, TIX935K, TIX935L)
(70c) lay hunna t u noh u kab ser gepee
‘this letter in the right hand of Mr. Chief’ (TIX936A)
These examples come from letters addressed to the archaeologist, Sylvanus G. Morley, who was working at
the Maya ruins of Chichen Itza during the 1930s (Sullivan 1989). le served as the demonstrative pronoun in
other phrases and sentences in those letters, as well as in other letters sent to Morley during those years,
and it is now the only form of the demonstrative pronoun used in the Yucatan peninsula today.
The history of the shift of bay ‘as, likewise, thus’ to bey parallels that of the shift of lay to ley. It, too,
begins in Ebtun, but in 1711, more than three decades later than the first appearance of ley in that town:
(71)
bey ah tepal lae
‘likewise the ruler’ (EBT711B)
The next example of bey (as bei) appeared more than seventy years later in 1784 in a land document:
(72)
bei xan he ix u nucul c sihsic lay hun lae
‘thus also, and here is the reason why we created this document’ (EBT784A)
This document contained two sentences with ley and one with lei that are given in (49a–c) above. However,
there are also seven examples of bay xan and eight examples of lay in that letter, suggesting that bey and
ley were in free variation with bay and lay at that time.
A few years later, in 1792, bey appeared in another land document:
(73)
bey uac ppel bara t u nohol v chun cruz
‘likewise six rods south of the base of the cross’ (EBT792A)
There were also five examples of bay and one example of lay in this document, but no examples of ley or
its variants, which implies that neither bey nor ley had a strong presence in Ebtun during the eighteenth
century.
The same is true of Ebtun during the first three decades of the nineteenth century;4 the only evidence
of bey during that period appeared in a document written in 1822:
(74)
bey tuno hecen cheob c u ichchancile
‘thus then, those trees that bear fruit’ (EBT822C)
bey (or bei) first appeared in the documentary record in Tekanto in 1752, thirteen years after the first
appearance of ley:
(75a) bei ti Ambrocio Pol
‘likewise to Ambrocio Pol’ (TK752F-108A)
DEICTIC PARTICLES
415
(75b) bei tun yn ɔaic ti yn mehen Juo Pol
‘thus then, I give it to my son, Juan Pol’ (TK752F-199A-B)
A Historical Grammar of the Maya Language of Yucatan (1557-2000) Page 66
