Jakaltek language
Encyclopedia
The Jakaltek language is a Mayan language
of Guatemala
spoken by around 90,000 Jakaltek people
in the department of Huehuetenango
and the adjoining part of Chiapas
in southern Mexico
. The name Poptí for the language is used by the Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala and the Guatemalan Congress.
The Jacaltec language has a verb–subject–object syntax. Like many Native American
languages, Jacaltec has a lot of complex agglutinative morphology
and uses ergative–absolutive case alignment. It is divided in two dialects, Eastern and Western Jakalteko. "Eastern and Western Jakalteko understand each other's spoken languages, but not written text."
Owing to Jacaltec's dissimilarity with Indo-European languages, the reasonably healthy linguistic population and the relative ease of access to Guatemala, Jacaltec has become a favorite of students of linguistic typology
.
The Eastern Jacaltec language includes the following phoneme
s: a a, b ɓ, c/qu k, c'/q'u kʼ, ch tʃ, ch' tʃʼ, e e, i i, j h, k q, k' qʼ, l l, m m, n n, n̈/ŋ ŋ, o o, p p, r r, s s, t t, t' tʼ, tx tʂ, tx' tʂʼ, tz ts, tz' tsʼ, u u, w w, x ʃ, ẍ ʂ, y j, and ' ʔ.
Eastern Jacaltec is one of the few languages besides the Malagasy language
of Madagascar
to make use of an n-trema character in its alphabet. In both languages, the n-trema represents a velar nasal
consonant ŋ (like "ng" in "bang").
Jakaltek-language programming is carried by the CDI
's radio station XEVFS, broadcasting from Las Margaritas, Chiapas
.
Mayan languages
The Mayan languages form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras...
of Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
spoken by around 90,000 Jakaltek people
Jakaltek people
The Jakaltek people are a Mayan people of Guatemala. They have lived in the foothills of the Cuchumatanes Mountains in the Department of Huehuetenango in northwestern Guatemala since pre-Columbian times, centered around the town of Jacaltenango...
in the department of Huehuetenango
Huehuetenango
Huehuetenango is a city and a municipality in the highlands of western Guatemala. It is also the capital of the department of Huehuetenango. The municipality's population was over 81,000 people in 2002...
and the adjoining part of Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
in southern Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. The name Poptí for the language is used by the Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala and the Guatemalan Congress.
The Jacaltec language has a verb–subject–object syntax. Like many Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
languages, Jacaltec has a lot of complex agglutinative morphology
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
and uses ergative–absolutive case alignment. It is divided in two dialects, Eastern and Western Jakalteko. "Eastern and Western Jakalteko understand each other's spoken languages, but not written text."
Owing to Jacaltec's dissimilarity with Indo-European languages, the reasonably healthy linguistic population and the relative ease of access to Guatemala, Jacaltec has become a favorite of students of linguistic typology
Linguistic typology
Linguistic typology is a subfield of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural features. Its aim is to describe and explain the common properties and the structural diversity of the world's languages...
.
The Eastern Jacaltec language includes the following phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s: a a, b ɓ, c/qu k, c'/q'u kʼ, ch tʃ, ch' tʃʼ, e e, i i, j h, k q, k' qʼ, l l, m m, n n, n̈/ŋ ŋ, o o, p p, r r, s s, t t, t' tʼ, tx tʂ, tx' tʂʼ, tz ts, tz' tsʼ, u u, w w, x ʃ, ẍ ʂ, y j, and ' ʔ.
Eastern Jacaltec is one of the few languages besides the Malagasy language
Malagasy language
Malagasy is the national language of Madagascar, a member of the Austronesian family of languages. Most people in Madagascar speak it as a first language as do some people of Malagasy descent elsewhere.-History:...
of Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
to make use of an n-trema character in its alphabet. In both languages, the n-trema represents a velar nasal
Velar nasal
The velar nasal is the sound of ng in English sing. It is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is N....
consonant ŋ (like "ng" in "bang").
Jakaltek-language programming is carried by the CDI
National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples
The National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples is a decentralized agency of the Mexican Federal Public Administration. It was founded in 2003 as a replacement for the National Indigenist Institute . It has its headquarters in Mexico City and, since 15 December 2006, has been...
's radio station XEVFS, broadcasting from Las Margaritas, Chiapas
Las Margaritas, Chiapas
Las Margaritas is a city, and the surrounding municipality of the same name, in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The municipal seat is located some 25 km to the northeast of Comitán de Domínguez, while the municipality extends to the east as far as the border with Guatemala...
.