Manual of Spoken Tzeltal Written in Spanish by Joshua Hinmán Smith Translated into English by Stuart P. Robinson Edited by Madelief Bertens 27/4/99 0.0 Translator's Introduction I first came across a reference to Smith's Tzeltal grammar when I translated John B. Haviland's grammar of Tzotzil, Sk'op Sotz'leb: El Tzotzil de Zinacantán, into English before going to Mexico for fieldwork. Haviland held Smith's grammar in sufficiently high esteem to model his grammar of Tzotzil after it. But since the grammar has never been published and is distributed only as a manuscript, it was only recently that I obtained a copy. This work is badly needed, since-not too suprisingly-there are no pedagogical grammars of Tzeltal written in English and the only reference grammar for the language, written in English, is Kaufman's 1971 publication of his dissertation (a descriptive grammar of Oxchuc Tzeltal). It lacks any substantial discussion of the language's syntax. Feeling a need for anglophile materials on the language, I decided to translate my recently-obtained copy of the manuscript and make it available to the wider linguistics community. I have introduced a number of non-substantive changes to the work, which range from the introduction of chapters (for ease of presentation and reference) to the inclusion of a largish bibliography of Tzeltal materials (in Spanish and in English). Despite these changes, the spirit of Smith's work should nonetheless remain intact. I should acknowledge the help of three people who have helped in one way or another to bring this work to fruition: Brent Berlin, Penny Brown and John Haviland. They are of course without blame for any errors or omissions in this work. Comments and criticisms are welcome and can be sent to me by e-mail at . Table of contents 13/4/99 0.0 TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION 1.0 INTRODUCTION 2.0 SOUND SYSTEM 3.0 TZELTAL GRAMMAR FROM SCRATCH 3.1 STARTERS 3.1.1 'ay 3.1.2 bal 3.1.3 Negation using ma'yuk 3.1.4 Particle me 3.1.5 Preposition ta 3.1.6 'ay conveying existence and position 3.1.7 Particles 3.1.7.1 to 3.1.7.2 'ix 3.1.8 Definite article te 3.1.9 Personal names 3.1.10 ley 3.1.11 Word compounds 3.1.12 banti 3.2 CONSTRUCTIONS 3.2.1 Nominal constructions 3.2.2 Negatives 3.2.3 Possessive prefixes, possessed nouns and grammatical possession 3.2.4 Pronoun -tukel 3.2.5 Adjectives and negation 3.2.6 Kinship terms 3.2.7 Grammatical possession 3.2.8 Particles 3.2.9 Relational nouns 3.3 VERBS 3.3.1 Intransitive verbs 3.3.2 Possessed noun 3.3.3 Adverbial construction 3.3.4 Negative past tense of intransitive verbs 3.3.5 Transitive verbs and the difference with intransitive verbs 3.3.6 Verbal noun 3.3.6.1 Directional noun 3.3.6.2 Perfect 3.3.6.3 Relational words 3.3.7 Past tense 3.3.7.1 Possessive prefixes 3.3.7.2 Word order in transitive sentences 3.3.7.3 Negation 3.3.7.4 Suffixes 3.3.7.5 Combinations with 'ay 3.3.8 Irregular verbs 3.3.9 Perfect tense of transitive verbs 3.3.10 Negation in present tense 3.3.11 Derived verbs 3.3.12 Present tense using yak and -'o'tan 3.3.13 Greetings 3.3.14 chih- 3.3.15 Imperative of intransitive verbs 3.3.16 Future tense using ya to 3.3.17 Subordination 3.3.18 Object of transitive verbs 3.3.19 Using two verbs 3.3.20 Imperative form 3.3.21 Reflexive 3.4 PRONOUNS AND NOUNS 3.4.1 Pronouns 3.4.2 Derived nouns from other nouns 3.4.3 Loan-words 3.4.4 Particles 3.4.4.1 ha' 3.4.4.2 le'to and lum to 3.4.4.3 me 3.4.4.4 'a 3.4.4.5 te 3.5 VERBS AND VERBAL NOUNS 3.5.1 Definite and indefinite references 3.5.1.1 'ay 3.5.1.2 Negation 3.5.1.3 Negation of phrases with a non-defined tense 3.5.2 Indirect object 3.5.3 Transitive verbs derived from intransitive verbs 3.5.4 Constructions using two verbs 3.5.5 Verbal nouns 3.5.5.1 Verbal nouns from transitive verbs 3.5.5.2 Possessive prefix 3.5.5.3 Passive transitive verbal nouns 3.5.5.4 Nominalized verbs 3.5.5.5 Passive counterpart of transitive verbs 3.5.5.6 Perfect passive 3.5.5.7 -a'i'y 3.6 PLURALS 3.7 INCLUSIVE PRONOUNS VERSUS EXCLUSIVE PRONOUNS 3.7.1 Imperatives 3.7.2 Exclusive form of intransitive verbs 3.8 PLURALS 3.8.1 Pronouns 3.8.2 Nouns 3.8.3 Adjectives 3.8.4 Possessed nouns 3.8.5 Kinship terms 3.9 STORIES FROM "THE SECOND READER OF TZELTAL" 3.9.1 Text 1 3.9.2 Explanatory comments 1 3.9.3 Text 2 3.9.4 Explanatory comments 2 3.9.4.1 Numbers 3.9.5 Text 3 3.9.6 Explanatory comments 3 3.9.7 Text 4 3.9.8 Explanatory comments 4 3.9.8.1 Inanimate and animate possession 3.9.8.2 Variation in vowels 3.9.8.3 Nominalization of adjectives 3.9.8.4 Attributive nouns 3.9.9 Text 5 3.9.10 Explanatory comments 5 3.9.10.1 Verb deviation 4.0 VOCABULARY LIST 5.0 REFERENCES 1.0 Introduction Since I was first introduced to Tzeltal, I have felt the need for practical pedagogical materials. Of the methods I have seen, some give very confusing explanations and others lack exercises with a gradual introduction to the vocabulary. That's why I was overjoyed to find the book Cartilla Tzeltal from the INI (Instituto Nacional Indigenísta) written by Mariana Cowan and Mariana Slocum of the Summer Institute of Linguistics in collaboration with Samuel Hoffman. Although it was written to teach indigenous students to read, it presents the language in such a gradual manner which could easily be adopted to teaching the language to those wishing to learn it. This manual is an adaptation and elaboration of that book, which seemed the most appropriate for teaching the Tzeltal language to Spanish-speakers. To the extent to which it is possible, I have organized the subject matter and simple conversations. I hope that this will help students to get accustomed to the rhythm and style of Tzeltal conversation. I have also tried to explain each grammar and style item when introducing them, so that the student can master each section before continuing. Once the new material of a section has been mastered, the student can practice by adopting one of the roles in the conversation. This manual is neither complete nor, I suspect, entirely correct. There are many individuals who speak Tzeltal better than I. Nevertheless, no one has written an adequate introductory manual. Thus, I have allowed myself to write one that is not perfect, but is that best possible in the little amount of time that I had. I hope that it serves the reader well. The Tzeltal taught in this manual is not spoken anywhere, but is rather a mix of the various dialects that are spoken in the Tzeltal-speaking area. The student will have to bear in mind the differences between the dialect presented in this manual and the dialect of the people with whom he speaks. Since I want this manual to aid in the learning of any one of the dialects of Tzeltal, I teach the subjects of each dialect that seem the most important from a didactic point of view. I am most accustomed to the Tzeltal of Oxchuc and it has the most accessible materials, so the grammar is more or less of this dialect. Nevertheless, the phonetics of Oxchuc dialect of Tzeltal differ from other dialects. The Bachajón dialect is the most conservative in many aspects of its phonetics and the majority of the format of other dialects can be deduced from those of Bachajón according to simple rules. We will therefore use the phonetic forms that are found in Mariana Slocum's Bachajón Tzeltal Dictionary. I do not intend to teach everything that is known about Tzeltal, but rather to inculcate the reader with the capacity of speaking a little Tzeltal and learning it directly from the source, which is the Tzeltal-speaking community. Any method of language-teaching depends considerably on the ear of the student. I hope that the material presented in this manual is sufficient for the reader to advance without its help. I want to pardon myself for the many errors in Tzeltal and in Spanish. I hope that they do not impede the understanding of the explanations nor the learning of the language. It is impossible to name everyone that has helped me learn Tzeltal or to those individuals who made my stay in Chiapas a pleasant one, but I do wish to thank all of them. A bibliography of Tzeltal references can be found at the end of this grammar. 2.0 Sound System The basic sounds of Tzeltal are the following: Vowels: low mid a mid front e high front i mid back o high back u The five vowels of Tzeltal are more or less identical to those of Spanish. Consonants: Voiceless p t ts ch k ' Voiced b Ejectives (Glottalised) p' t' ts' ch' k' Fricatives s x j h Sonorants m n l w y The symbol ['] represents a glottal stop ([?] in IPA) only after a fricative. Some authors use the symbol [?] for this sound in order to avoid confusion with the other use of the symbol about to be discussed. The symbol ['] does not indicate a separate sound when following a (non-fricative) consonant. While the mouth is closed, the closed glottis is raised in such a way that when pronouncing the consonant, there is a small explosion of pressurized air. It is possible that the beginner will have more success in pronouncing the ejective consonant if he or she begins with a consonant without a vowel but with the explosion (as in t't't') and later adds the vowel. The consonant b is closely related to p' and m. In the dialect of Oxchuc, the sound p' does not exist, having changed into b. The suffixes that carry b often have a form with m instead of b. In initial position and after a consonant it sounds like the b of English. That is to say, it is true stop and not the fricative found intervocalically in Spanish. In postvocalic position it is preceded by a glottal stop. For example, chabek ("wax") sounds like cha'bek. In final position, the b of the combination 'b often reduces to m or disappears completely. For example, cheb ("two") sounds like che'b or che'm or even che'. The letter x represents the sound sh in English or the x of Xochimilca (a place in Mexico). The letter h represents the English sound h, with light aspiration. In many dialects this sound is no different from j. Where possible, this work distinguishes them in order to clarify the structure of the language. Other sounds sometimes appear in the language. The sound [r] occurs rarely in the native vocabulary but it is frequently the equivalent of [d] and [r] in Spanish loan-words while the sounds [d] and [g] are only found in loan-words. The basic structure of Tzeltal roots is CVC or CVhC (where C represents any consonant and V represents any vowel). The majority of longer words can be analyzed in terms of a root of this form plus prefixes and suffixes. Here are a few words that consists of simple roots: pim "fat" tat "father" t'ul "rabbit" si' "firewood" puy "snail" sots' "bat" waj "tortilla" pohp "mat" naht "long" k'ahk' "fire" The phonemes [h] and ['] are weak consonants that are sometimes silent. They are heard more in careful speech that in rapid speech and more in some dialects (especially Bachajón) than in others. According to the formula, each word begins and ends with a consonant. Each word whose ending is silent ends with [h]. Each word whose onset is silent begins with [']. In the majority of cases, the silent letters are written. The student should learn the rules that determines their omission in the dialect of interest. The word-ending [h] (but not the word-ending [j]) is very light and has disappeared completely in the majority of dialects. In the dialect of Bachajón, the final [h] only is heard if it is protected by some following element. For example, if it is isolated, the root bah ("corncob/fieldmouse") loses its [h] and sounds like ba. However, if it takes the particle -e, the [h] is retained and the word sounds like [bahe]. By the same token, the homophonous word bah ("on top of") loses its [h] when it is by itself, but retains it in the compounds bah-wits ("on top of mountain") and bah-tsibiltik ("on top of the ferns"). In this manual the [h] is written in order not to change the form of the root in its different uses. The medial [h] has suffered a similar fate. In the Bachajón dialect, the h is retained in the words ch'ahil ("smoke") and yahl ("below"), while in the Oxchuc dialect one says ch'ail and yal. All dialects retained the [h] before voiceless consonants (p, p', t, etc.) but sometimes it is very difficult to hear them in rapid speech. In the Oxchuc dialect an [h] changes the plain consonant following it into an ejective stop. Thus baht' ("he/she went") in the Oxchuc dialect corresponds to baht in other dialects. Many authors omit root-initial glottal stops when writing. However, it is pronounced in the majority of cases and I will not omit it in this manual. The ['] is only lost when the root is closely related with another word that precedes it. For example, one never hears a root-initial glottal stop in the particle 'ix ("already"), since it always combines with the preceding word. The prefix 'a- ("you(r)") has the glottal stop in many cases but not when it occurs in a verb form. In la (')apas ("you did it") the medial glottal stop is silent. Similarly, the final glottal stop of the particle ma' ("no") is lost in verbal forms. It is silent in e.g. ma' jk'an ("I don't want it"). I will not write ['] in the positions where it is silent, nor the final h in the particles where it is never pronounced. Thus, any words that begins or ends with a vowel (and not a glottal stop) should be pronounced together with the word preceding or following it. Thus, tal ix ("he already came") sounds like [talix] and ma xtal ("he isn't coming") sounds like [maxtal]. Like the orthography, the division of words in Tzeltal has not been standardized. This is to be expected from a language that lacks written literature. I have selected the word division that seem best for beginners. I will write all compounds divided up in their parts in order to show the roots of which they are comprised. It is likely that the student will look for another orthography when he or she begins to write other material. It is worth noting at this point that stress always falls on the last syllable of a word. For example, one says ch'ahíl ("smoke") and t'uyúy ("passionfruit"). If a root takes a suffix or if it follows a particle, the accent falls on the latter. For example, bah é ("corncob/fieldmouse") or tal íx ("he came already"). Many loan-words retain penultimate stress in the Spanish style (e.g., lóbleh, "oak"), but the older loans have undergone a shift of stress to the final syllable (e.g., markúx, "Marcus"). I will not write the accent since it is predictable in the majority of cases. Aside from the monosyllabic roots, there are also nominal (but not verbal) roots of the form CVCVC or CVhCVC. Some examples are: makom "blackberry" chojak' "net" chitam "pig, hog, boar" bahlam "tiger" mahtan "gift" kohtom "badger" The majority of polysyllabic roots repeat V or CV. For example: tuluk' "turkey" 'ixim "corn" ts'unun "hummingbird" jojoch' "cornhusk" Some dialects have words with double or long vowels. In these words an intervocalic h has disappeared. Thus, paay ("skunk") in Oxchuc corresponds to pahay in Bachajón. Many bisyllabic or longer words end in Vl, which does not form part of the root but rather is a derivational suffix, as we will see later. For example, the word ch'ahil ("smoke"), which we saw earlier, is not a bisyllabic root but rather a monosyllabic root ch'ah ("bitter") combined with a suffix -il. When one finds an unknown word, it is advisable to determine whether it is a simple root or if it carries prefixes or suffixes. For example, if a word begins with two consonants, it is clear that it carries a prefix, given that no root can begin with more than a single consonant. In the word stat ("his father"), the letter s necessarily represents a prefix, given that tat but not stat is a possible root form. The affixes thus facilitate to understand the meaning of the word and the function in the sentence. I emphasize the phonetic distinction that the beginner should take note of and give a few examples of each distinction. C vs. C' koh "I descended." k'oh "He arrived." takin "dry" tak'in "money" tut "boy" t'ut' "miserable" CVC vs. CVhC 'ak "herb" 'ahk "turtle" bat "hail" baht "He left" 'ach' "new" 'ahch' "He got wet" 'ik' "wind" 'ihk' "black" CVCVC vs. CVhCVC chukul "tied up" chuhkul "difficult" tokal "clouds" tohkal "burning, fire" CVh vs. CV' me PARTICLE me' "mother" hah "fly" ha' "water" CVh vs. CVj ta PREPOSITION taj "torch" to "still" toj "right" CVhVC vs. CVC k'aal "day" k'al "cornfield" j vs. h jun "one" hun "paper" ts vs. s tsuy "vegetable" suy "flint" I hope that these notes on phonetics will be more helpful than confusing. It is not necessary to learn the vocabulary that until now has been given for the sake of illustration, because we will begin from scratch. 3.0 Tzeltal Grammar from Scratch 'ay bah. "There is a corncob/fieldmouse." (bah, "corncob/fieldmouse") 3.1 Starters 3.1.1 'ay The word 'ay has a meaning quite like that of Spanish hay or there is/are in English. However, there are differences in its use. It is a not a loan-word. Note that 'ay comes first. In the Tzeltal phrase, the verb precedes the operative word (as in 'ay). 'ay beh. "There is a road." 'ay 'ixim "There is corn." 'ay 'uh "There is a moon." 3.1.2 bal 'ay bal 'ixim? "Is there corn?" The word bal indicates that the phrase is a question. It is always the second element in the sentence. Questions also can be made with a change of intonation. 'ay bal 'echej? "Is/are there an ax(es)?" ('echej, "ax") Tzeltal is not particularly fussy with respect to the singularity of plurality of nouns. The word 'echej can refer equally well to a single ax or multiple axes, according to the situation or context. I will use a hyphen (-) in order to indicate a change of speakers. -'ay bal 'uh? "Is there a moon?" -`ay. "Yes, there is" There is not a word in Tzeltal that means "yes". In order to say "yes", one must give (part of) the positive phrase. One usually uses only the first part of the response. -'ay bal 'oxom? -'ay. 'ay 'oxom. ('oxom, "pot, pan") -'ay bal 'ixim? -'ay. 'ay 'ixim. ('ixim, "corn") -'ay bal 'uh? "Is there a moon?" -ma'yuk. "No, there isn't." 3.1.3 Negation using ma'yuk The word ma'yuk is the negative form of 'ay. -'ay bal tak'in? -ma'yuk. ma'yuk tak'in. (tak'in, "metal, money") -'ay bal ha'? -'ay. 'ay ha'. (ha', "water") -'ay bal beh? -ma'yuk beh. (beh, "road") 3.1.4 Particle me 'ay bal 'oxom me ma'yuk? "Is there or is there not a pot?" The word me is a particle whose use is more or less equivalent to "or". It is used to coordinate two mutually exclusive alternatives. -'ay bal tak'in me ma'yuk? -ma'yuk tak'in. -'ay bal beh me ma'yuk beh? -'ay beh. 3.1.5 Preposition ta -'ay bah ta beh. "There is a corncob/fieldmouse in the road. A corncob/fieldmouse is in the road." The word ta is the only Tzeltal preposition. According to context, it can mean "on, at, through, etc.". If one wishes to specify the relationship with great precision, a more complex phrase can be used. Normally, there is no need for that in Tzeltal. 3.1.6 'ay conveying existence and position Note that according to context 'ay can translate as "there is/are" or "is/are". It conveys both existence and location. -'ay bal bah ta beh? -'ay. 'ay bah ta beh. -'ay bal tak'in ta beh? -ma'yuk. ma'yuk tak'in ta beh. -'ay bal 'ixim ta 'oxom? -ma'yuk. 'ay ha' ta 'oxom. -'ay bal ha' ta 'uh? -ma'yuk. ma'yuk ha' ta 'uh. -'ay bal tak'in ta 'oxom me 'ay ha'? -'ay ha' ta 'oxom. -'ay bal 'ul ta 'oxom me 'ay ha'? -ma'yuk 'ul ta 'oxom. 'ay ha' ta 'oxom. ('ul, "atole (drink made from corn)") 3.1.7 Particles 3.1.7.1 to -'ay to bal bah ta beh? Is there still a corncob/fieldmouse in the road? The word to is a particle of many uses that here means "still". It occurs in second position just like bal. When both of them occur in the same phrase, to precedes bal. -'ay to bal 'ixim ta 'oxom? -'ay to. 'ay to 'ixim ta 'oxom. -'ay to bal 'echej ta beh? -'ay to. 3.1.7.2 'ix -'ay to bal bah ta beh? -ma'yuk ix. "There is none. There isn't any now." The particle 'ix means "already". It occurs in second position and combines with the word that precedes. Thus, its initial glottal stop is never pronounced. -'ay to bal ha' ta k'ib? -ma'yuk ix. ma'yuk ix ha' ta k'ib. (k'ib, "pitcher/jug") -'ay to bal bah ta beh me ma'yuk ix? -ma'yuk ix. -'ay bal ha' ta beh? -ma' to. ma' to 'ay uk. "No, there still isn't any". Here one sees that ma'yuk is a reduced form of ma' 'ay uk: ma' indicates negation while uk is a particle that accompanies ma'. Note that to and 'ix occupy different positions in the phrases ma' to 'ay uk and ma'yuk ix. It is important to place particles in the correct position. -'ay bal ts'i' ta beh? -ma' to. ma' to 'ay uk ts'i' ta beh. (ts'i', "dog") 'ay ta ha'. "It is/they are in the water." -'ay bal ix bah ta 'ixim me ma' to 'ay uk? -'ay ix. -'ay bal ix ts'i' ta beh me ma' to? -ma' to 'ay uk ts'i' ta beh. 'ay to ta ha'. -ma' bal 'ay uk ix 'ixim? -ma'yuk ix. -ma' to bal 'ay uk 'ixim. -ma' to 'ay uk. -'ay to bal xan 'ixim? (xan, "more") -'ay to xan. -'ay to xan ha'? -ma'yuk ix xan ha'. ma'yuk ix ha'. 3.1.8 Definite article te 'ay ta beh te bahe. "The corncob/fieldmouse is in the road." The word te ("the") is Tzeltal's definite article. It does not distinguish gender or number. It is usually accompanied by the particle -e, which is written together with the word that precedes it. The particle -e is used a great deal at the end of a phrase and at the arrival of a pause. It is not used much in a medial phrase. I will gives some examples of the te construction: 'ixim "corn" te 'ixime "the corn" ts'i' "dog" te ts'i'e "the dog" In the phrase above, 'ay has the sense of "to be (in a location)". We already saw this sense in the sentence: 'ay bah ta beh. The definite article te is not used with ta. Thus, ta beh means either "on a road" or "in the road". It is clear that the latter is more frequent, but both are possible. Note the difference between the order of words in the sentences below: 'ay bah ta beh "There is a corncob/fieldmouse in the road." 'ay ta beh te bahe. "The corncob/fieldmouse is in the road." In each phrase the most defined word comes last. In the first phrase bah ("corncob/fieldmouse") is by no means definite. On the other hand, one can imagine that ta beh ("in the road") comes from ta te beh with the loss of te. This is more definite and takes the final position. However, when the article te is placed on bah in the second phrase, this is more defined than ta beh and comes last. From its final position, the subject can move to the beginning for greater emphasis. A pause separates it from the verb. 'ay ta beh te bahe. "The corncob/fieldmouse is in the road." te bahe, 'ay ta beh. "The corncob/fieldmouse, it's in the road." 3.1.9 Personal names -'ay ta 'oxom te 'ixime. -'ay ta k'ib te ha'e. -te ts'i'e, 'ay ta beh. -te jnike, 'ay ta beh. (jnik, "Nicholas") Unlike English, the names of people take the definite article te in Tzeltal. For example, one says: te jpetul "Peter" te xamel "Mary" The forms of the names used in this manual are conservative. One also hears Spanish names or names that are intermediate between Spanish and Tzeltal. There is a good deal of dialectal variation in this respect. The names of men take the prefix j- while the names of women take the prefix x-. Here are some examples: jpetul "Peter" jtom "Thomas" jtsyak "Diego" xpet "Patrona" xtom "Tomasina" xkatal "Katherine" These prefixes also are used with the names of some animals and plants: j'ib "armadillo" jmo' "parrot" x'ak' "*?[chaya]" xch'uch' "frog" 3.1.10 ley -'ay ta beh te bahe. -'ay bal ta beh te bahe? -ley 'ay a. (ley, "there") Ley ("there") refers to places already mentioned (with a prepositional phrase with ta). If the prepositional phrase is omitted, it is substituted by the particle a. This also disappears when there is a definite article (te) following it. Thus, one finds: 'ay ta beh te bahe. ley 'ay ta beh te bahe. ley 'ay a. ley 'ay te bahe. In the last phrase, the particle a is suppressed by the definite noun te bahe. The majority of Tzeltal dialects use tey where Oxchuc use ley. The form appears to be related to the word te, but I cannot define this relationship. -'ay bal ta 'oxom te 'ixime? -ley 'ay a. 'ay ta 'oxom te 'ixime. -'ay bal ta k'altik te ts'i'e? -ley 'ay a. (k'altik, "cornfield") The suffix -tik indicates a place where a good deal of a substance is found. The root k'al- does not occur in isolation. The same suffix is used in nahnahtik ("houses, ranch") from the root nah ("house"). -'ay bal ta nah te ts'i'e? -ley 'ay a. 3.1.11 Word compounds -'ay te'. -'ay te' ta ti' beh. (te', "tree") (ti', "edge, border") The word ti' ("edge, border") and beh ("road") form a compound ti' beh ("roadside"). It is word order that indicates possession, since there is no relational word that is equivalent to "of" in English. Note that the grammatical possessor beh ("road") follows the possessed noun ti' ("edge, border"). The basic meaning of the root -ti' ("mouth") has undergone a metaphorical extension from the meaning "mouth", through "roadside", to the meaning "edge". This is not such a strange process, since in English we also use the same word "mouth" for a body part and part of a river. -'ay bal bah ta ti' beh? -ma'yuk. 'ay bah ta ti' k'altik. 3.1.12 banti -banti 'ay te jnike? (banti, "where") -'ay ta k'altik. -banti 'ay k'altik? -'ay ka'ltik ta ti' beh. -'ay bal ch'oh? (ch'oh, "rat") -'ay. 'ay ta k'altik, 'ay ta nahe. -banti 'ay te ts'i'e? -'ay ta ti' nahe. (ti' nah, "door") -banti 'ay te nahe? -'ay ta ti' beh ta ba 'ay k'altik. "It is on the side of road there where there is a cornfield." The word ba is another form of banti ("where"). The forms bay and ban are also found. I don't know of a rule that determines which form is used where and when. It seems that the form banti is composed of bah plus an element related to the article te. -banti 'ay te bahe? -'ay ta k'altik ta pat nahe (pat, "back, behind") -banti 'ay te ts'i'e? -'ay ta ti' nahe. -'ay bal ch'oh? -'ay. 'ay ta jol nah. (jol, "head") (jol nah, "roof") -'ay ta 'oxom ta ba 'ay 'ixim. -banti 'ay te bahe? -'ay to ta k'altik te bahe. 3.2 Constructions -banti 'ay te jpetule? -'ay ta 'a'tel. "He is working". "He is at work". ('a'tel, "work") 3.2.1 Nominal constructions Note that Tzeltal uses the nominal construction 'ay ta 'a'tel ("to be at work"), similar to English. In order to express the present progressive ("to be working") Tzeltal usually does not use a verb form but rather a construction with a noun ('ay ta 'a'tel, "to be at work"). For example, the phrase 'ay ta beh ("be in the road") sometimes means "to be walking". The construction with 'ay is used when someone is not present and it answers the question banti 'ay X ("Where is X?") If someone is present and it is known where he or she is, one uses the construction yak ("to be (doing)"). For example, "He is working here" is yak ta 'a'tel, which literally means "he is in work". A few more examples are: yak ta pus "He is bathing." pus "sweathouse/ bathroom" yak ta 'aw "He is yelling." 'aw "shout/yell" yak ta 'ok "He is running." 'ok "foot" yak ta pul "It's sprouting." pul "sprout" yak ta jalab "He is sewing." jalab "sew" I want to stress that these examples are not examples of the present progressive, but rather a special construction in Tzeltal. The words pus, 'aw, etc. are not verbal but rather nominal. Not every noun can be used in this construction. One must take note of whether the meaning of the noun and the habit of the language accept such a construction. Some nouns, for example, 'aw ("shout/yell"), are rarely used outside of this construction. The word 'a'tel ("work") is a noun formed from the root 'abat ("servant") plus the suffix -el, which serves to derive nouns with a verbal meaning from verbal and nominal roots. The nouns with -el are very productive in the constructions 'ay ta __ and yak ta __. The formation of the noun 'a'tel is a special case. When the accent moves from the last syllable of the root 'abát to the last syllable of the derived noun 'abatél (remember that in Tzeltal stress always falls on the last syllable), the medial vowel remains very weak. This weak vowel disappears because it has only a single consonant on either side. The medial a disappears because the group of consonants that results (bt) is not difficult. The resulting form ('a'btél or actually 'a'btél) reduces to 'a'tél according to the phonetics of b. The disappearance of the medial vowel is common in derived forms. One can see that the reduction of ma' 'ay uk (ma'ayuk) to ma'yuk results from the same process. -banti 'ay te xpete? 'ay bal ta pat nahe? -'ay ta beh te xpete. -te jpetule, 'ay ta 'a'tel ta k'altik. 3.2.2 Negatives -banti 'ay 'ixim? -ma'yuk ba 'ay 'ixim. "Nowhere is there corn." -ma'yuk ix 'ixim. Tzeltal does not have the words "nobody, none, never, etc.". One must get used to expressing these concepts with constructions using ma'yuk ("there is not"). -mach'a 'ay ta jol nahe? (mach'a, "who") -'ay ta jol nah te jxape. -mach'a 'ay ta pat nahe? -ma'yuk mach'a 'ay ta pat nahe. -banti 'ay te 'echeje? -'ay ta jol nahe. -binti 'ay ta ti' nahe. (binti, "what") -te ts'i'e, 'ay ta ti' nahe. -binti 'ay ta k'altik? -ma'yuk bin 'ay ta k'altik. ma'yuk 'ixim ta k'altik. -ma'yuk bah ta k'altik. ma'yuk ch'oh ta k'altik. Like banti/ban/ba, binti also occurs in the form bin, bi. There is another word, beluk ("that") which appears to be related. 3.2.3 Possessive prefixes, possessed nouns and grammatical possession 'ay nah ta ti' beh. 'ay te' ta nah. 'ay te' ta ba 'ay te nahe. 'ay ta ti' beh te 'anahe. "Your house is on the side of the road." The word 'anah means "your house". It is composed of the possessive prefix 'a- ("your") plus the noun nah ("house"). The possessive prefixes are as follows: j-nah "my house" 'a-nah "your house" s-nah "his house" Tzeltal lacks an equivalent to Usted (the formal "you" in Spanish). Hence, 'anah ultimately corresponds to either "your (formal) house" or "your (informal) house". It will therefore be translated as "you" for all grammatical explanations. -banti 'ay te 'anahe? -te jnahe, 'ay ta ti' beh ta ba 'ay te bahe. Note that one says te 'anahe-literally, "the your house". -banti 'ay te bahe? -'ay ta snahe. -banti 'ay te ch'ohe? -te ch'ohe, 'ay ta 'ajol. -ma'yuk ch'oh ta jjol. I will write jjol with two j's because it is properly j-jol ("my head"). However, it sounds as if there were only jol with a single j-. Similarly, jjwan ("John") (j-jwan) sounds like [jwan]. It is the same for all double written consonants. -'ay bal ts'i'e ta jpate? -'ay. -binti 'ay ta 'apate? -'ay bah ta jpate. te bahe, 'ay ta snah. ay ta jpat te snahe. -binti 'ay ta 'ajol? -'ay ch'ak ta jjol. (ch'ak, "flea") 'ay bal ta 'ajol? -ma'yuk ch'ak ta jjol. 'ay ta jpate. -binti 'ay ta spat te ts'i'e? -'a ch'ak ta spate. 'ay ch'ak ta sjol te ts'i'e. We already saw how in Tzeltal the grammatical possessor follows the possessed noun: ti' beh "roadside" jol nah "rooftop" In these examples, possession is only expressed through word order. However, the order remains the same when possession is expressed by means of the possessive prefix s-: te sjol te ts'i'e "the dog's head" te spat te jjwane "John's back" The difference between the construction with the prefix s- and the construction without it, is that in the latter the two words are tightly semantically linked and function as a compound. The possessive prefix s- can be considered to be dropped. The use of an article te in the compound does not have any effect on it: te ti' behe "the side of the road" te jol nahe "the roof of the house" However, when the article precedes the second element of the compound, the compound relationship is lost and the s- is not dropped. Of course, in this case the first element in the compound has been specified too (with the use of the particle): jol nah "roof" te jol nahe "the roof (of a house)" (emphasis on the roof and not the house) te sjol te nahe "the roof of the house" (emphasis on which house the roof belongs to) te sjol te 'anaje "the roof of your house" te sjol te jnike "Nicholas' head" There is a parallel in English that perhaps makes this construction easier to understand. The word pumphouse is a compound like jol nah (although the word order is changed). Speaking of the pumphouse, like speaking of te jol nahe, is not speaking of a house nor of a pump, but rather of a single compound entity, a pumphouse. When one wishes to specify a certain pump (or a certain house, as in the Tzeltal example) the construction is changed and one says the pump's house (or te sjol te nahe). In both cases, the compound disappears and a true possessive construction is used. The student will have to pay attention to which constructions lose the s-. It is quite difficult to determine sometimes. -banti 'ay te 'atate? -'ay ta ti' nah te jtate. (tat, "father") The root -tat ("father") is not used by itself. It occurs either with a possessive prefix (e.g., 'a-tat, "your father") or a nominal suffix (e.g., tat-il, "father"). A noun written with a nominal suffix (-il), loses the suffix when it is possessed. For example, one says k'abil ("hand"), absolute form, or 'ak'ab ("your hand"), possessed form, but one never hears k'ab in isolation. Of the nouns that we have seen, pat-il ("back, behind") and jol-ol ("head") are of the same sort. We have already explained that it also seems to occur with the simple root in jol nah, but with the possessive prefix s- disappearing in the compound. The case of ti'-il ("mouth, edge") is even more complicated, given that the simple root (ti') is used in compounds and means "mouth (of a person)", but the suffixed form (ti'il) is used as the absolute form and means "edge (of something"). So ti' beh means "roadside" and jti' means "my mouth". On the other hand, ti'il means "mouth or edge" and te sti'il te behe means "the side of the road". I cannot give neither an explanation nor a representation of why this is so. The use of the suffixed form is somewhat different from the Spanish use of a non-possessed noun. The beginner should try to avoid using these forms without having heard a previous example of their use. Some of the kinship terms are frequently used to denote a class of people. For example, mam-al properly means "grandparent, grandchild" and 'al-al means "son/daughter". However, these suffixed forms are also used to mean "elder" and "child" respectively. The root of some kinship terms can be used in isolation in order to distinguish the corresponding person. In this case, the particle -e that we saw in relation to te is usually used. One says tate ("dad"), nane ("mom"), and mam ("elder"). In general, it can be said that the Tzeltal use of grammatical possession is fairly different from Spanish [or English]. I do not mean the concept, given that we are not talking about learning the concept but only its use. A great number of Tzeltal nouns, above all the relational nouns like "father of" and body parts like "hand of" are always possessed, as I indicated with the preposition "of" in the English examples. There is an absolute (unpossessed) form, but it carries a suffix of the form -Vl, but is used only in special and rare cases. When one asks a Tzeltal-speaker for the translation of the unpossessed English word "hand", he or she usually replies with jk'abtik, which literally means "our hand". Don't let it confuse you. 3.2.4 Pronoun -tukel -banti 'ay te bahe? 'ay bal ta 'anahe? -ma'yuk bah ta jnahe. 'ay ta beh stukel. "He is in the road." (-tukel, "alone") The root -tukel serves as an emphatic pronoun. stukel means either "he alone" or "he". 'atukel almost always carries the meaning of "you alone". Comparison with Tzeltal's sister language Tzotzil, shows that the root is tuk, but this is not used in Tzeltal without the nominal suffix -el. -mach'a 'ay ta 'anahe? -te jtsyake, 'ay ta jnahe. -banti 'ay te 'atate? -'ay ta sk'al te jtate. 'ay ta 'a'tel ta sk'ale. (-k'al, "cornfield") -bayal bal te 'a'tele? "Is it much work?" (bayal, "much, many") -bayal stukel. 3.2.5 Adjectives and negation Tzeltal adjectives are used without the verb "to be". As the predicate, they come first in the clause. Many adjectives are formed by means of a suffix of the form -Vl. Often the vowel of the suffix is the same as the vowel of the root, as in bay-al. A few examples of adjectives follow: choyol "lazy" chopol "bad" nopol "near" namal "far away" jamal "open" -jam "to open" pakal "face downward" -pahkan " to face downward" kechel "hanging" -kechaj "to leave hanging" pamal "level, flat" -pahman "to level, to flatten" Note that adjectives are formed from the simple root without suffixes or the medial h. winik te jxape "Sebastian is a man." (winik, "man") Nouns in Tzeltal can be used like operator words, like adjectives. -winik bal te jjwane? -winik stukel -winik bal te jpetule? -ma' to. ma' to winik uk te jpetule. Remember -uk, the particle that accompanies the negative particle ma'? -winik bal te xxape? -ma'uk. ma' winik uk. 'ants stukel. ('ants, "woman") -winik bal te xmale? -ma'uk. ma' ba winik. 'ach'ix stukel. ('ach'ix, "girl") ma' to ba 'ants. 'ach'ix to. To negate a phrase, one can use ma' or ma' ba. It could be that this is more emphatic, but the difference is obscure. ma' is used with the particle uk. ba (in ma' ba) seems to be another form of the root bay ("where"). The particle ma' is also heard without the final glottal stop ['], but a rule cannot be given that determines its disappearance. Almost any phrase can be negated by any of these means, but one doesn't say ma' ba 'ay, but rather only ma'yuk. The reduced form of a phrase like ma' winik uk ("He is not a man") is ma'uk ("He isn't"). The phrase ma' ba winik does not have a reduced form. One must distinguish between ma'yuk ("there is no") and ma'uk ("it is not"). 3.2.6 Kinship terms -winik bal te jxape? -ma' to. kerem to te jxape. (kerem, "boy") kerem is one of the few original words that have a r. It is likely that it is related to kelem ("macho"). It is worth noting here that 'ants ("woman") is the only native word that ends with a consonant cluster. 'ach'ix te xmale. te jjwane, stat te xmale. "Juan is the father of Maria." -bin sbihil stat te xmale? (bihil-il, "name") -jjwan sbihil. -bin sbihil snan te xmale? (nan-il, "mother") -ma'yuk snan. ma'yuk stukel. According to the dialect, the word that means "mother (of someone)" is nan-il or me'-el. The latter means "female" in all dialects. Use the sketch in the following conversation: jtsyak = xmal xkatal jtom xpax -kerem to te jtome. -'ay bal state? "Does he have a father?" Tzeltal does not have a word equivalent to "to have". Everything is said with the word 'ay. Instead of saying "He has a father", one says "His father exists". -'ay bal state je jtome? -'ay. 'ay stat te jtome. jtsyak sbihil te stat te jtome. -bin sbihil te snane? -xmal sbihil. -bin sbihil snich'an te jsyake. (nich'an-il, "child (of man)") -jtom sbihil. -bin sbihil yal te xmale? ('al-al, "child (of woman)") -jtom. te jtome, yal te xmale, snich'an te jtsyake. The possessive prefixes have another form before a root that begins with '. The glottal stop disappears after these prefixes, which I will therefore call "vocalic" roots. The forms are: k-al "my child" (woman speaking) 'aw-al "your child" (said to a woman) y-al "her child" (of a woman) One can see that the preconsonantal j- and 'a- are weak forms of the prevocalic prefixes (k- and 'aw-). There is no phonetic relationship between s- and y-. -'ay bal yihts'in te jtome? ('ihts'in-al, "younger brother/sister") -'ay. xkatal sbihil. -jtom sbihil sbankil te xkatale. (bankil-al, "older brother") -'ay bal swix te jtome? (wix-il, "older sister") -'ay. xpax sbihil swix te jtome. -mach'a sbankil te xkatale? -jtom sbankil te xkatale. -mach'a swix te xkatale? -xpax swix te skatale. -mach'a sbankil te xpaxe? -ma'yuk sbankil. wixil stukel. Here it is appropriate to use the absolute form wixil because Pascal is the older sister. You are xkatal. Answer the following questions: -mach'a 'abankil? -jtom sbihil te jbankile. -mach'a 'awix? -xpax te jwixe. -bin sbihil te 'atate? -jtsyak sbihil te jtate. -mach'a snich'an te 'atate? -jbankil jtom, snich'an te jtate. -'ay bal 'awihts'in? -ma'yuk kihts'in. -mach'a ta xpaxe? -yantsil 'al te jnan te xpaxe. yantsil nich'an te jtat stukel. When a noun modifies another noun it precedes it and receives the suffix -il. So it that in order to obtain the feminine equivalent of -'al ("child"), 'ants plus -il is put before 'al. -antsil 'al is a "female child" (or "daughter"). One places the possessive prefix before the entire compound. Enough of kinship terminology. The remaining ones are even more difficult. 3.2.7 Grammatical possession -'ay bal 'anah? -'ay. 'ay jnah. -'ay bal tak'in 'awu'un? "Do you have money?" ('u'un-il, "to, for") We already saw the simplest way of expressing possession: 'ay jnah "There is my house"/"I have a house." Another way is to use the noun -'u'un ("to, for"), whose usage is like that of a Spanish preposition. 'ay tak'in ku'un "There is money for me"/"I have money." This construction is often used with nouns that do not have to be possessed. The two processes are sometimes found in the same sentence: 'ay jtak'in ku'un "I have money." The same root is used as a conjunction, meaning "because": 'ay jnah yu'un 'ay jtak'in "I have a house because I have money." One can consider the second sentence to be the grammatical possessor. It is important to recognize that both uses of -'u'un, have the same basic meaning. -'ay bal 'oxom 'awu'un? -ma'yuk ix. ma'yuk ix ku'un. -'awu'un bal te k'ibe? -ma ku'un uk. ma'yuk ku'un. "It isn't mine. I don't have it". -bin 'ay 'awu'un? -ma'yuk bin 'ay ku'un. -bin yu'un ma'yuk 'anah? "Why don't you have a house?" -ma'yuk jnahe yu'un ma'yuk jtak'in. -ma'yuk 'atak'in. -ma'yuk tak'in ku'un. -'ay bal 'awechej? -'ay. 'ay 'echej ku'un. -'ay bal yeh te 'awecheje? ('eh-al, "teeth, edge") -ma'yuk. ma'yuk ix yeh. ma'yuk stuhul te kecheje. (-tuhul, "use") ma'yuk stuhul yu'un ma'yuk yeh. -mach'a 'ay smachit? (machit, "machete") 3.2.8 Particles -'ay ku'yun. 'ay jmachit. -'ay bal yeh? -'ay. 'ay yeh te jmachite. -la' le to. "Come here." (la', "come!") 'ay ah le' to. 'ay ta beh te bahe. le' ay to. "Here" is said by means of a phrase. The word le' from the basis and the word to specifies it. The best translation of to that I have found is "as far as, until, even", which I give only so that the student does not think that to is meaningless. The uses of to that I am familiar with are the following: kerem to. "He is still young." le' to "as far as here" -banti 'ay te bahe? -la' le' to. le' 'ay to. -le' 'ay te bahe. le' 'ay ta ti' nahe. The particle to of the phrase le' to is often lost. I cannot give a precise rule, but one important factor is the presence of another word defined with te or ta. One hears: le' 'ay to with to le' 'ay te bahe without to le' 'ay ta beh te bahe without to -banti 'ay te bahe? -ma' ba le'. lum to 'ay. lum 'ay ta ti' beh. (lum, "earth") Note that the phrase lum to ("there") is indivisible. The words le' to and lum to serve to call attention to a physically present place. On the other hand, ley serves to indicate a place already mentioned, but not physically present. -banti 'ay te 'alale? -le' 'ay to. le' 'ay te 'alale. -banti 'ay stat te 'alale? -ma' ba le'. 'ay ta sk'al. bayal ya'tel. "It is a lot of work/He has a lot of work." -banti 'ay te sk'ale? -lum to 'ay ta jehch beh. (jehch, "other side") lum 'ay te state. 3.2.9 Relational nouns -banti 'ay te k'ibe? 'ay bal ta ti' ha'? -ma' ba ley. le' 'ay to. le' 'ay te k'ibe. la' le' to. le' 'ay te yut nahe. -lum bal 'ay ta yutile? ('ut-il, "inside") -le' 'ay to. The relational nouns that begin with a vowel are different from those that have a consonant in that the former always carry a possessive prefix. The root 'ut-il, in composition, carries y-: yut nah ("inside of a house"). Consonantal roots do not carry s- in the corresponding construction: ti' nah ("door of a house"). The construction does not carry the s- that corresponds to the y-. -'ay bal ha' ta yut k'ib? -ma'yuk. -binti 'ay ta yut k'ib? -ma'yuk bin 'ay ley a. -bin 'ay lum ta 'ajol? -ma'yuk bin 'ay le' ta jjole. -'alot. lum to 'ay. 'ay ch'ak. (lot-il, "lie") -ma' jlot uk. ma'yuk ch'ak le' to. 3.3 Verbs tal te 'awihts'ine. "Your younger brother came by." (tal-, "to come") The third person past tense form of intransitive verbs is the plain root. I will write it with a hyphen at the end to indicate that it is intransitive. 3.3.1 Intransitive verbs -tal bal te kihts'ine? -tal stukel. le' 'ay te 'awihts'ine. -bin 'orah tal? (bin orah, "at what time, when") -tal ta sahb. (sahb, "mist, morning (when there is typically mist)") -le' bal te jnane? -le' 'ay to. tal ix. -le' bal te jtate? -ma' ba le'. tal ta sahb. suht ix ta snah. (suht-, "to return") -moh ta te' te ts'i'e. (moh-, "to rise") -bin yu'un moh ta te'? (te', "tree, stick") -'ay mut ta te'. (mut, "bird") -ley to bal te mute? -ma'yuk ix ley a. suht ix ta snah. -ley to bal te ts'i'e? -ley to 'ay a. hil ta te'. (hil-, "to stay") -le' bal te jmachite? -ma' ba le'. ma'yuk machit le' to. -banti 'ay stukel? -hil bal ta 'anah? -ley hil a. 'och ta nah te bahe. ('och-, "to enter") 'ay 'ixim ley a. -banti 'ay te bahe? ma' ba chikan. (chikan, "to be visible or apparent") 'och ix ta 'oxom. ma'yuk 'ixim ta yut 'oxom. 'ay ha' ta yut 'oxom. laj te bahe. laj ta ha. (laj-, "to run out, to terminate, or to die") With the verb laj- the preposition ta explains how the subject was finished or died. laj ta ha' He drowned. (ha', "water") laj ta he' He was beaten. (he', "tree, stick") laj ta ts'i' Dogs ate it/him. (ts'i', "dog") laj ta 'a'tel He worked too hard. ('a'tel, "work") Given that ta is the only Tzeltal preposition, there is a great deal of variation in its meaning, as the translations show. It is clear, though, that there is even more variation when it is used with different verbs. To learn the language one must recognize that there is a single meaning in all of its uses. jun yo'tan "He is happy." (Literally: "His heart is one.") (jun, "one") ('o'tan-il, "heart") laj yo'tan ta 'a'tel. "He finished work." (Literally: "His heart finished in the work.") There are many expressions that make a reference to the heart. -'ay to bal 'a'tel? -ma'yuk ix. laj ix te 'a'tel. laj ix ko'tan ta 'a'tel. -bin 'orah laj 'awo'tan ta 'a'tel. -laj ta sahb. -chikan bal te bahe? -ma' ba chikan. 'och ta snah ta ti' beh. ley hil a. lay to 'ay a. 'ay mach'a tal ta lum. (lum(al), "village") namal te slumale. (namal, "far away") 3.3.2 Possessed noun The word lum(al) is another type of noun whose possessed form adds a suffix of the form -Vl to the root. The absolute form (lum) means "village" and it is used in expressions like "I'm going to the village". Every indigenous center is usually called lum. To say "my village/my native soil" one must use the form -lumal. We represent this situation by means of parentheses. -namal bal 'alumal? -namal. -'ay bal lo'bal ta 'alumal? (lo'bal, "banana") 3.3.3 Adverbial construction -'ay. 'ay bayal lo'bal ta jlumal. -banti 'ay te 'alumal? -'ay ta namal te jlumale. namal 'ay. Note that there are two possible adverbial constructions for words like namal and sahb. In one, it is used with the preposition ta and follows the verb. In the other, it precedes the verb and does not carry a preposition. -banti tal te mamale? (mam-al, "grandparent, grandchild, elder") -tal ta namal. namal slumal. namal ta stukel. -bin 'orah hul? -hul ta sahb. sahb hul. 3.3.4 Negative past tense of intransitive verbs -tal bal 'abankil? -ma' ba tal. hil ta snah. The negative of the past tense of intransitive verbs is formed in the same way that negatives of nouns are formed without any indication of time. The forms are: ma' ba kerem "He isn't a child." ma' ba tal "He didn't come." ma' kerem uk. "He isn't a child." ma' tal uk "He didn't come." ma'uk "He isn't." ma'uk "He didn't." However, the form with ma' is used very little as a free form. It is more commonly used as in the construction teb ma' lajuk ("He almost died"), which literally means "Little he didn't die". -hul bal te mamale? -ma'uk. ma' ba hul. -hil bal ta beh? -hil stukel. -tal bal te smam te jpetule me hil ta snahe? -tal ix. teb ma' laj uk ta beh. (teb, "little") -tal bal te 'awixe? -tal stukel. wojey tal. suht ix ta snah. (wojey, "yesterday") -ma'yuk mach'a le' 'ay to? -ma'yuk. 3.3.5 Transitive verbs and the difference with intransitive verbs -'ay bal lo'bal le' to? -'ay. la' lo'a 'alo'bal. "Come eat your banana? (-lo', "to eat (fruit)") The imperative of transitive verbs is formed with the suffix -a. The command lo'a! ("Eat!") is composed of the transitive root -lo' ("to eat") plus the suffix -a. A transitive verb is related to a direct object as well as its subject: You eat bananas. However, an intransitive verb only has a subject: He is sleeping. The difference between these two types of verbs is of paramount importance in Tzeltal grammar. For this reason I distinguish between the two classes of roots with hyphens: transitive verb stems are written with a word-initial hyphen, as in -lo', and intransitive verbs with a word-final hyphen, as in tal-. Dictionaries that fail to make this distinction are a serious annoyance. tal je jjwane. -'ay bal lo'bal le' to? -'ay. la' 'ila 'alo'bal. ich'a 'alo'bal. (-il, "to see, to take") (-'ich', "to take, to grab") -'ay bal slo'bal te jwixe? -'ay. "la' ila 'alo'bal," 'uta te 'awixe. (-'ut, "to say to") -'ay bal slo'bal te kihts'ine? -laj ix. ma'yuk ix lo'bal yu'un te 'awihts'ine. "ma'yuk ix lo'bal," 'uta te 'awihts'ine. -'ay bal ti'bal le' to? (ti'bal, "meat") -'ay. la', 'ila 'ati'bal. ti'a 'ati'bal. (-ti', "to bite") -'ay bal waj le' to? (waj, "tortilla") -'ay. ich'a 'awot. (-'ot, "tortilla") "'ila 'awot, tat. we'a 'awot," (-we', "to eat (tortilla)") 'uta te 'atate. In Tzeltal there is no word that simply means "to eat"; rather, there are various words for eating depending on the type of food in question. Some of these are: -we' waj "to eat tortillas" -ti' ti'bal "to eat meat" -lo' lo'bal "to eat bananas (or fruit or vegetables)" One can see that the names of "meat" and "banana" are derived from their respective verbs. 'ila waj 'awe' Literally this phrase means "Have tortillas you eat"-in other words, "Have some tortillas to eat." Tzeltal does not have an infinitive for constructions like "for eating". 'awe' ("you eat") is an example of the simplest form of a transitive verb. It does not have any indication of present or future tense, but it does have a subject. It is not a free form, given that it is only used in subordinate construction. It is derived from the possessive prefix plus the transitive root. The paradigms of a consonantal root and a vocalic root are: j-we' "I eat." k-il "I see." 'a-we' "You eat." 'aw-il "You see." s-we' "She/he/it eats." y-il "He/she/it sees." 3.3.6 Verbal noun Tzeltal has a verbal noun, whose form in -el we already saw, but it is not an infinitive. One must get accustomed to speaking without infinitives. Using transitive verbs in this simple form is a quasi-subjunctive construction. The verb qualifies as a noun and it specifies for what it is used: waj jwe' ("tortillas for eating/ so that I will eat them".). The Tzeltal construction does not have a word to express "for" but the meaning must be present in order to use the construction. -la', 'ila 'ati'bal. 'ila ti'bal 'ati'. 'ay ti'bal 'ati'. -'ay bal ti'bal jti'? -'ay. 'ila ti'bal 'ati'. -'ay bal lo'bal le' to? -'ay. la', lo'a 'alo'bal. 'ay lo'bal 'alo'. 3.3.6.1 Directional noun moh ta te' te mute. ley 'ay ta jol te'. -tama tel te' "Bring a stick!" (-tam, "to pick up, to gather") The word tel is a shortened form of talel, the verbal noun of tal- ("come"). Verbal nouns of many intransitives can follow a transitive or intransitive verb in order to modify its meaning. tama by itself means "pick up, gather"; tama tel means "gather and come" or "come gathering". This construction will be called a "directional noun". -'ay to bal mut ta jol te'? -'ay to. lum to 'ay. -tama tel te'. mila to mute. (-mil, "to kill") -banti 'ay te'? ma'yuk le' to. -'ay ta ba 'ay te jnahe. tama tel te' ta ba 'ay te jnahe. moh bahel ta 'ik' te mute. "It went rising." (bah-, "to go") ('ik', "air, wind") suht tel te jjwane. tal te'. -'ila 'ate'. 'ich'a mila te mute. -moh ix bahel te mute. ma'yuk ix mut ta te'. tal yan mut. koh tel ta jol te'. (yan, "other") (koh-, "to descend, to lower") -hul ix yan mut. banti 'ay to te'? -lum 'ay ta jehch beh. tama tel te te'e. tena mohel te te'e. mila kohel te mute. (-ten, "to throw, to shoot") 'ich'a bahel mohel ta te' te te'e. maha te mute. (-maj, "to stick, to hit") moh bahel ta te' te 'alale. laj te mute. laj ta majel ta te'. koh tel ta lum te mute. yahl kohel stukel. (lum, "earth") (yahl-, "to fall") ma'ba koh te 'alale. hil ta jol te 'te 'alale. bayal 'ok' stukel. ('ok'-, "to cry") 3.3.6.2 Perfect -tal mamal ta jlumal. -bin 'orah tal stukel? -tal wojey. -ban talem stukel? Intransitive verbs form a so-called perfect by means of the suffix -em. It does not refer to an action, but rather the result from an action. The sentence ban talem? asks not "Where did he come from?" but rather "Where is he from?/Where does he come from?" Note that verbs use the same pattern as 'ay does. A definite subject is the final part of the sentence: 'ay ta beh te bahe. "The corncob/fieldmouse is in the road." tal ta jnah te kereme. "The boy came to my house." An indefinite subject follows the verb but is not the last constituent: tal kerem ta jnah "A boy came to my house." 'ay bah ta beh "There is a corncob/fieldmouse in the road." -hul tel kerem ta jnahe -ley to bal 'ay stukel? -ma' uk. suhtem ix ta snah. lok' bahel wojey. (lok'-, "to leave") 3.3.6.3 Relational words -'ay bal snan stat te kereme? -ma'yuk. lok' 'ok'el yu'un ma'yuk snan stat. "He left crying because his parents aren't here." Tzeltal does not have the word "and". In order to say "parents", one says "mother and father" or, literally, snan stat ("mother father"). 'ay mamal. talem ta ti' lum te mamale. 'ay mamal talem. "There is an old person who has come/ An old person has come." Tzeltal has very few relational words. Where Spanish has "that, which, who" and other words in order to relate two phrases, Tzeltal simply slaps them together: The modifying phrase always follows the word that it modifies, as the following examples show: 'ay mamal talem. "There's an older person who has come by." 'ay mach'a 'ay snah. "Someone who owns a house. 'ila waj 'awe'. "Have some tortillas to eat." It is fairly common to use 'ay with the perfect. It is often used in expressions where Spanish uses an indefinite article. -'ay mamal talem ta ti' lum. -'ay bal mach'a yan talem? -ma'yuk. stukel tal. -namal bal talem te mamale? -namal talem. talem ta 'alumal. -'ay bal smulah te mamale? (mulah, "mule") -ma'yuk. lajem ix stukel. -'ay mulah lajem ta beh ta ti' lum. laj ta majel. yahl ta lum. ley 'ay lajem ta ti' beh. -hulem bal ix te xmale? -ma' to ba hulem. hil ta beh. -yahl bal ta beh? -hahch tel ta smulah. (hahch-, "to begin, to start") bilil to beh. 'alal to te smulahe. (bilil, "slippery") yahl te smulah. leh hil a. tal ta yok te xmale. ma' to ba hulem. (-'ok, "foot") -'ich'a tel 'amulah. -ma'yuk jmulah. -majana tel 'amulah. (-majan, "to borrow") hil ta beh te mulah. -tija te mulah. maja ta te' te mulah. (-tij, "to touch") hahch bal tel te mulah? -ma' ba hahch. ley hil a. -'ay to bal 'ajan? ('ajan, "sweet corn") -'ay to hilem. -mulana 'ajan. (-mulan, "to like") buhts'an bal te 'ajane? (buhts'an, "tasty") -buhts'an. ma' ba tulan stukel. (tulan, "hard") -mulana te 'ajane. -'ay to bal 'ajan hilem? -ma'yuk ix. lajem ix te 'ajane. -'ay bal waj? 'ay to wi'nal. (wi'nal, "hunger") -'ay waj. 'ila 'awot. we'a 'awot. -buhts'an te waje. -'ay bal wi'nal? -'ay. -'ay ti'bal 'ati'. 'ila ti'bal 'ati'. mulana 'ati'bal. -buhts'an stukel. -'ay to bal wi'nal? -ma'yuk ix wi'nal. tik' a. (tik', "basta") 3.3.7 Past tense -la bal 'aman 'ats'i'? "Did you buy your dog? (-man, "to buy") -laj. laj jman jts'i'. "I bought my dog." The past tense of transitive verbs is formed by means of the verb laj- ("to finish"). The final j is lost in the majority of cases. The forms are: laj j-man "I bought it." laj k-il "I saw it." la 'a-man "You bought it." la 'aw-il "You saw it." la s-man "He bought it." la y-il "He saw it." Note that in order to respond in the affirmative, the initial word in the phrase is repeated: laj. 3.3.7.1 Possessive prefixes The student of Tzeltal has by now taken note of the enthusiastic use that Tzeltal makes of possessive prefixes: 'ay jtak'in ku'un. "I have my money" laj jman jts'i'. "I bought my dog." There is not a rule for the use of possessive prefixes. It is not a question of determining the ownership of a thing, but it is rather a predilection for the replication of prefixes. In other words, if there is a dog, it is not important to specify whether it is yours or mine; however, if I buy it, then it is mine. The two words ("buy" and "dog") go together and must both carry prefixes. -la bal 'aman 'ati'bal? -laj. laj jman jti'bal. 'ila 'awil. le' 'ay to. le' 'ay jti'bal jti'. 'ay bal 'awu'un? -ma'yuk ku'un. ma' laj jman yu'un ma'yuk jtak'in. laj kil mut mohem ta te'. "buhts'an te mute," laj kut. laj jtam tel te' jmil mut a. laj jmaj te te' te mute. bayal 'ok'. laj. laj ta majel ta te' te mute. -la bal 'ati' te mute? -laj. laj jmil jti' te mute. laj jmulan. Note the difference between: laj jmil mut jti'. "I killed a bird in order to eat it." laj jmil jti' te mute. "I killed the bird in order to eat it." 3.3.7.2 Word order in transitive sentences Again we see that definite nouns are the last word in the phrase, in contrast to indefinite nouns which directly follow the verb. 'ay mut lajem ta ti' beh. -mach'a la smil te mute? -la smil te mut te jjwane. The most common order of elements in a transitive sentence is (1) verb, (2) object, (3) subject: "John killed the bird." Like in an intransitive sentence, the subject is placed before the verb for emphasis in a transitive sentence: te jjwane, la smil te mute. "As for Juan, he killed the bird." -'ay bal 'alo'bal? -ma'yuk. laj jlo' ix jlo'bal. ma'yuk ix lo'bal jlo'. -mach'a laj yich' tel te lo'bale? -te jpetule, laj yich' tel ta snahe. -'ay bal lo'bal hilem ta snahe? -ma'yuk ix bin hilem ley a. laj yut yal te xmale. (-'ut, "to say, to scold") 3.3.7.3 Negation -bin yu'un laj yut? -ma' la sman tel k'ib ta ch'iwich. (ch'iwich, "market") The past tense of a transitive verb can be negated with ma' or with ma' ba: ma' la sman/ ma' ba la sman. "He didn't buy it." We have seen sentences that were negated with ma' ba or ma'(uk). ma' ba negates any phrase while ma' uk is used to negate phrases that do not carry any indication of tense, for example, ma' lek uk ("It's not good") or ma' tal uk ("He hasn't come"). ma' is used without uk in order to negate sentences that carry an indication of tense: ma la sman ("He didn't buy it"). Note that ma' loses the glottal stop before tense markers. -la bal 'awe' waj? -ma' uk. ma' laj jwe' waj. laj jti' ti'bal. buhts'an te ti'bale. ma' ba buhts'an te waje. -'alot. buhts'an te waje. 3.3.7.4 Suffixes -hil te jnahe. lok'on bahel ta ch'iwich. (ch'iwich, "market") -namal bal k'ohat? Did you come from far? (k'oh-, "to arrive") -namal k'ohon. We already saw that the past tense of an intransitive verb in the third person is the bare verb root. Other person categories carry suffixes, but always have an indication of tense. The forms are: lok'-on I left. lok'-at You left. lok' He left. -winikat bal? -winikon. The same suffixes work for nouns and adjectives: winik-on "I am a man." winik-at "You are a man." winik "He is a man." tek'el-on "I am standing." tek'el-at "You are standing." tek'el "He is standing." -keremat to. -ma' hich uk. mamalon ix. (hich, "thus, this way") -banti 'ayat? -le' 'ayon to. -ley bal 'ayat ta 'anah? -ma' hich uk. le' 'ayon ta ti' beh. -lek bal 'ayat? (lek, "good, well") -lek 'ayon. 3.3.7.5 Combinations with 'ay The word 'ay combines with a few adjectives to mean "to be (present)". Note the contrasts: lek 'awo'tan. "Your heart is good/ you are a good man." lek 'ayat. "You are well." namal te jlumale. "My country is far away." namal 'ayon "I am far away." laj jman jmulah. mohon ta mulah. hahchon ta beh. lok'on bahel ta snah te jpetule. bilil te behe. yahl te jmulahe. yahlon kohel ta lum. ley hilon a. bayal 'ok'on. -talon ta namal. -namal talat. ban hachat tel? -hahchon tel ta jlumal. -namal talemat. -yahlat bal ta beh? -yahlon ta beh. ma' ba hulon ta lum. -ma' ba hulat. suhtat bal ta 'anah? -ma' ba suhton. 'ochon ta snah te jbankile. 'ay snah ta ti' beh. ley hilon a. -talat bal ix? -talon ix. -ban talemat? -talemon ta namal. -'ay kihts'in. xxap sbihil te kihts'ine. bankilalon. "I am older." sbankilon te xxape. "I am Sebastian's older brother." mach'a sbankilon? -sbankilat te xxape. mach'a snich'anat? -snich'anan te jpetule. yalon te xmale. -yalat te xmale. hich bal? -hich 'abi. ('abi, intensive particle) -mach'a sbankil te jxune? -sbankil te jxun te jpetule. "Peter is John's older brother." hil te jnahe. namal bohon. "I went far away." ma' ba laj jmulan. laj jna' jlumal. (-na', "to know, to remember") laj jna' jnah. laj jna' jnan jtat. talon ta 'orah. (ta 'orah, "fast") 3.3.8 Irregular verbs -ban bahat? -bohon ta namal. -ban baht te jxape? -ma'yuk ba bahem. hilem ta snahe. The verb bah- ("to go") is somewhat irregular. The vowel assimilates to the o of the suffix (and also to the e of the suffix -el). There is a suffix -t in the third person. boh-on I went. bah-at You went. bah-t He went. In many dialects the intervocalic h has been dropped, making it seem more irregular than it really is. There is only one other verb that also receives -t in the third person: k'oh-on I arrived. k'oh-at You arrived. k'oh-t He arrived. 3.3.9 Perfect tense of transitive verbs 'ay mamal talem ta lum. yich'oj tel te smachite. We already saw that the perfect tense of intransitives: talemat ("you have come"). The perfect tense of transitive verbs is formed by means of the suffix -oj (-ej after y). It takes the possessive prefixes, but does not carry a temporal prefix. It signals a state that results from a previous action. The paradigm is: j-man-oj "I have bought." 'a-man-oj "You have bought." s-man-oj "He/she/it has bought." k-il-oj "I have seen." 'aw-il-oj "You have seen." y-il-oj "He/she/it has seen." -'awiloj bal te mamale? -kiloj. lum 'ay ta ti' lum. -bin 'orah la 'awil? -laj kil ta sahb. -'ana'oj bal ban talem stukel? -jna'oj. talem ta slumal. -sna'oj bal ban talemat? -sna'oj. "talemat ta 'alumal," laj yut. sna'oj banti talemon. tal ch'oh ta ba 'ayon. "'ila 'awil. 'ay ch'oh," laj yut te kihts'ine. "tama tel te' 'amil a te ch'ohe." laj jtah te' ta spat te jnahe. laj jtam tel te te'e. "jtamoj tel te'," laj kut. "banti 'ay te ch'ohe?" "suhtem ix behel ta snahe," laj yut te kihts'ine. ma laj jmil te ch'ohe. laj jmaj te kihts'ine. bayal 'ok' stukel. 3.3.10 Negation in present tense ma xtal te jmulahe. "My mule isn't coming." ma jna' banti 'ay "I don't know where it is." In order to form the negative in the present tense, the prefix x- is added to the root of the verb and is negated with ma('). The x- assimilates to the fricative consonants of the prefixes j- and s-. The paradigm is: ma j-j-na' "I don't know." ma x-a-na' "You don't know." ma s-s-na' "He doesn't know." ma x-kil "I don't see." ma x-aw-il "You don't see." ma x-y-il "He doesn't see." ma x-tal-an "I am not coming." ma x-tal-at "You are not coming." ma x-tal "He is not coming." Often the y in ma xyil is lost and one hears ma xil. This is not the only form of the negative, but it is the most simple. ma jna' ban 'ay te jmulahe. laj jleh ta ti' lum. (-leh, "to look for") laj jleh ta ti' ti' ha'. laj jleh ta ha'mal. (ha'mal, "mountain") ma' ba laj jtah ta lehel. "I didn't find it after looking." (-tah, "to find") tojol 'ay jmulah. (tojol, "useless/for nothing") ma' ba tuhun te jmulah. (tuhun-, "to serve, to be useful") behenon behel ta jobel. (behen-, "to walk") (jobel, "San Cristóbal") In the phrase ti' ti' ha' ("edge of the water (river)") the root ti' ("edge") is reduplicated to indicate that the edge of the river is extensive. Tzeltal uses reduplication to indicate extension or plurality, but I cannot give a rule for its use. 3.3.11 Derived verbs The verbs tuhun- ("to serve") and behen- ("to walk") are derived verbs. They come from the roots tuh ("service") and beh ("road"). We already came across the root tuh in the derived noun -tuhul ("use"). The verbs are formed with the suffix -in, whose vowel has assimilated to the root due to the soft, quiet sound of h. The suffix -in serves in deriving both intransitive and transitive verbs: -ma jna' ban 'ay te jmulahe. -la bal 'aleh ta ti' lum? -laj. ma'yuk ley a. tojol bohon ta ti' lum. ma' ba laj jtah. -la bal 'aleh ta jobel? -namal te jobele. ma xk'oht ley te jmulahe. ma laj jleh ley a. -bin stuhul te -amulah? -ma'yuk stuhul. ma xtuhun. ma'yuk bin 'orah le' 'ay to. 'ay ta ha'mal. -la bal 'atah te 'amulahe? -ma' ba laj jtah ta lehel. -'ay bal mach'a laj yil te 'amulahe? -laj yil jmulah te jxape. laj yil ta ha'mal. ma' ba ley a. laj leh ix. ma xtuhun ku'un te jmulah. -ma' ba xtuhun 'awu'un. "It's useless." -ma xkil banti 'ay te jmulahe. -ma xawil. -ma xkil. laj leh ta ha'mal. ma jtah ta lehel. -ma xatah. ch'ay smulah te jxape. (ch'ay-, "to get lost") ma xyil banti 'ay. la sleh ta ha'mal. ma' ba ley a. ma stah smulah te jxape. 3.3.12 Present tense using yak and -'o'tan -bin yak apas? -ma'yuk bi ya jpas. -ban ya xbahat? -ma'yuk ba ya xbohon. The present tense is formed with the word yak, which we already came across in the construction yak ta 'a'tel ("He is working"). It is added to the plain root of the verb. The k is lost before a consonant, unless the glottal stop of the prefix 'a is lost after k. As in English, this form has a present/future meaning. The paradigm is as follows: ya j-pas "I do" ya k-il "I see" ya x-tal-on "I come" yak a-pas "you do" yak aw-il "you see" ya x-tal-at "you come" ya s-pas "he/she/it does" ya y-il "he/she/it sees" ya x-tal "he/she/it comes Note that the k of yak is retained only in the second person. This has produced a few changes. In the dialects of the highlands, it has also been lost, and the form used is ya aman. In other cases, the k has been reanalyzed as part of the prefix a and not ya, with the result that the word yak is split up with a verb particle: ya to kaman ("You're shopping (literally: buying) still"). However, in all dialects they use a reduced form of the word yak. -ya bal xbahat ta lum? -yak. pajel ya xbohon ley a. (pajel, "tomorrow") ko'tan ya xbohon ta lum ta ch'iwich The noun -'o'tan signals that someone wants to do something: ko'tan ya xbohon. "I want to go." yo'tan ya sti' ti'bal. "He wants to eat meat." I do not understand this construction. ya bal xtuhun 'awu'un te 'amachite? "Does your machete work well for you?" -ma xtuhun ku'yun. ma'yuk yeh. ma'yuk stuhul yu'un ma'yuk yeh. -ya bal 'ana' ban 'ay te jbankile? -laj kil. ma jna' ix ba la kil. -ma xana' ix. -la bal 'aleh ta snah te 'awixe? -ma to ba laj jleh ley a. 3.3.13 Greetings 'ay yula te jtsyake. ('ula, "visit, visitor") "la' me mam," xhich te jtsyako. (chih- ,"to say") ban 'ayat mam?" xchich te jjwane. "'How are you?' said John." "lek bal 'ayat?" "lek 'ayon." The conversation that is given here is an approximation of how greetings are expressed. There are no exact equivalents of "Good morning, hello, etc." In the phrase la' me ("Come please!") the particle me seems to be used as a courtesy marker. 3.3.14 chih- The word chih- is an intransitive verb that introduces what someone has said. The subject of chih- is the person who is speaking. The present tense xchih ("He/she says") is heard as xih or xi' in many dialects. The past tense is not used. Note the following usage: bi xchihat? "What are you saying?" bi xchih 'awo'tan? "What does your heart say?"/"What is your opinion?"/"How are you?" Mini Dialogue: -bi xchih te jpetule? ya bal xtal ta k'in? (k'in, "party") -ya la xtal. "They say he is coming." "ya xtalon ta k'in," xchih. "I am coming from the party," he says. Here we see the two ways of saying what someone has said to someone else in Tzeltal. If on repeats what someone has said verbatim (direct speech), xchih is used. If one only gives a paraphrase of what someone said (indirect speech), the word la is used. -la kil ta beh te jpetule. -la 'awil te jpetule. -"la' me, mam," la kut. "ban 'ayat mam," chih. "bi xchih 'awo'tan," la kut. "ma'yuk bi xchih," xchih. "lek bal 'ayat?" la kut. "lek 'ayon," xchih. "ba ya xbahat?" la kut. "bohon ta paxial. (paxial, "walk, go around") ya xuhton ta jnah," xchih. "lek 'ay cheh, ma' me xyahlat behel," la kut. (cheh, "well, then, so") "bohon me cheh," xchih. "bahan ch'ah," xchih. (ch'ah, "well, then, so") baht ta snah. lek yo'tan te jpetule. -lek yo'tan stukel. 3.3.15 Imperative of intransitive verbs The imperative of an intransitive verb is formed with the suffix -an. bah-an "go!" moh-an "rise!" The root tal- ("come") has the imperative la' which we have already come across. Another irregular imperative is konik ("Let's go!"). The negative imperatives are the same as negative declaratives. ma xyalat. "Don't fall!" ma xaman. "Don't buy it!" Mini Dialogue: -ya bal 'aman 'amulah? -yak. 'ay ix ku'un. ma xtuhun ku'un stukel. ma xbehen. ya to jman yan. "Buy another one." 3.3.16 Future tense using ya to Other authors have named the form with ya to, the future tense. Such phrases have future meaning, but it is in the present tense with the particle to ("still, until"). The present tense is used with a future meaning without any formal change: ya xbohon pahel "I am going tomorrow." Mini Dialogue: -ya bal 'ak'an 'ajan. (-k'an, "to want") -yak. ya jk'an. ya jk'an 'ajan jk'ux. (-k'ux, "to eat (something hard)") -'ila 'ajan 'ak'ux. 'ich'a 'ajan 'amulan. ya bal 'amulan 'ajan? -yak. ya jmulan. -ya bal 'ak'an 'ak'ib? -yak. -'ay mach'a ya schon k'ib ta ti' lum. (-chon, "to sell") Fricatives and affricates (i.e., s, ts, x, ch) often assimilate to homo organic sounds that follow them within the same word. Therefore, schon ("he sells") is pronounced as xchon and xpas ("it is made") as spas. I write these letters according to their grammatical function and not their pronunciation. -ya jk'an jman k'ib. ya jk'an xbohon ta ba 'ay mach'a ya schon k'ib. -'ay bal 'atak'in? -ma'yuk. ya to jmajan jtak'in jman k'ib a. "He still borrows money in order to buy a jug for himself." -ya bal 'ak'an xtalon? -yak. la' me. 3.3.17 Subordination We have already seen the plain form of transitive verbs for subordinate constructions: ya jk'an 'ajan jk'ux. "I want elote to eat." ya jk'an jman 'ajan. "I want to buy elote." In the case of the intransitive verb, the plain root is also used in these construction: ya jk'an xbohon. "I want you to go." In other words, the present tense form is used without yak. Subordinate forms with yak are also found, but they are infrequent. The reader will have to get accustomed to the shorter forms. The process of subordination consists of the loss of various elements: (-wentah, "for") The object of the subordinated verb is deleted due to its coreference with the noun that the phrase modifies. If the noun that is deleted is not the object, the particle a is used with the verb: Other examples of this construction are: laj jmil mut jti' a ti'bal. "I killed a bird in order to eat meat." ya jchon 'echej 'apas a 'anah. "He sells axes in order to make houses." 3.3.18 Object of transitive verbs -ay mach'a la smajon. "Someone hit me." -mach'a la smajat? "Who hit you?" -la smajon te jnike. The object of the transitive verb is formed with the pronominal suffixes: laj smaj-on "He hit me." laj smaj-at "He hit you." laj smaj "He hit him." la 'amaj-on "You hit me." la 'amaj "You hit him." laj jmaj-at "I hit you." laj jmaj "I hit him." We have already used verbs with a third person object. Like the intransitive verb, this argument does not take any marker: ya xtal-on "I am coming." ya xtal-Ø "He is coming." ya smaj-on "He hit me." ya smaj-Ø "He hit him." Every series of affixes has two functions from the point of view of English. The prefixes serve as possessors and subjects of transitive verbs. The suffixes serve as subjects of intransitive verbs and as objects of transitive verbs. These are not four distinct functions, but rather two, as the affixes show. It is another means of carving up the grammatical world, differently but not estranged from English. Languages that carve up these functions in this way are called "ergative". Learn the proper forms and do not worry about the philosophy behind it. "bahan mulah!" xchih te jtome. "ya jtijat behel ta te'". ma xbaht te mulahe. mamal lah ix. "They say that it is old". "ma xbohon. mamalan ix,", xchich. "ma' mamal uk at. ch'ajat," xchih te jtome. (ch'aj, "thin, lazy") "bahan ta 'orah me jtijat behel." "ma me xatijon!"xchih te mamal mulahe. "ya jtijat. ya jmajat ta te'," xchich. "ma xtuhunat ix." la sleh ste'te jtume. ma la stah. hahch behel te mulahe. la sleh 'ak swe'. ('ak, grass, hay) suht te jtume. yichoj tel te'. muk' stukel. (muk, "big, large") ma'yuk mulah la yil. "mulah!" 'ok'. "banti 'ayat? la' jmajat!" ma'yuk bi xchih te mulahe. jun yo'tan yu'un stahoj ix yake. -bin la' awalben? "What did say (to me)?" (-'al, to say) -ma'yuk bin laj kalbat. "I did not say anything (to you)." If a Tzeltal verb takes a third person direct object (which has no phonetic realization), one can indicate the indirect object with the suffix -be- plus the same pronominal suffixes. The vowel -e is dropped before the vowels a and e of the suffixes. It is this so-called bitransitive verb-a term that I do not particularly like-that is used with indirect objects. Consider the following examples: laj jman jmachit. "I bought my machete." laj jman. "I bought it." laj jmanbat 'amachit. "I bought your machete for you." laj jmanbat. "I bought it for you." laj jmanat. "I bought you." The -b- that comes after the root signals that the following suffix is an indirect object, rather than a direct object. This construction is common in Tzeltal. -'ay bin ya kalbat. -bin yak awalbon? -la 'ati'bon jti'bal. la 'awe'bon kot. ma'yuk ix bin 'ay ku'un. ya jmajbat 'ajel jmilat. -ma' ba laj jti'bat 'ati'bal. te jjwane, la sti'bat 'ati'bal. -lek 'ay cheh. ya jmajbe sjol jmil te jjwane. -'ay bal ti'bal jti'? -'ay. la' le' to, kak'bat 'ati'bal. (-'ak', "to give") -'ak'ben chah. -le' 'ay to. ya me kak'bat bayal 'ati'bal. mulana. 'ay bal beluuk xan yak ak'an kak'bat? -ma'yuk ix bi ya jk'an jun ko'tan. The imperative suffix -a is lost before prenominal suffixes. So, one says 'ak'beya ("give it to him") with the suffix (and the euphonic -y-) but 'ak'bon ("give it to me") without the suffix. Sometimes the k' of the root -'ak' reduces to ' before the suffix 'be. Thus one hears 'a'bon instead of 'ak'bon. 3.3.19 Using two verbs -tal kula'. laj kak'be ha yuch'. (-'uch', "to drink") -la bal 'awak'be yot swe'? -ma'yuk kot. ma' ba la kak'be. laj kalbe ya'iy. (-'a'iy, "to understand, to hear") ma'yuk ix kot," laj kalbe. It is quite common for Tzeltal to use two verbs where English would have only one. Some examples are: laj kalbe ya'iy. "I explained to him." ("I told him so that he would understand.") laj kak'be yil. "I showed him." ("I allowed him to see.") In these constructions the verb -'ak' means "to cause, to permit". 3.3.20 Imperative form -bin ya sk'an te mamale? -'ay lah wi'nal. -'ak'beya swe' waj. -ma' to 'ay uk waj. -'ak'a spasbe yot te xmale. "Let Mary make her tortilla." The imperative form 'ak'a is used for phrases that in English corresponds to the somewhat archaic (jussive) construction, "Would that..." or "Let him/her/them...". 'och ta jnah smulah te jpetule. bohon ta snah. -'och te 'amulah ta jnahe. ya sti'bon jti'bal. -ma' uk. ma' ba smulan ti'bal te jmulahe. ya smulan 'ak. -ya to bal swe'bon sjol te jnahe? -ma xkil. "I don't see it./I don't know." ya x'ok' te xmale. -bin 'ay 'awu'un, xmal? bin yu'un ya x'ok'at? -la yuten te jnane. (-'ut, "to scold") -bin yu'un la yutat? -laj jmajbah ta te'. "I hit myself with a stick." -la 'amaj 'abah? -laj. k'as te te'e. (k'as- "to break") sbaston te jtate te te'e. 3.3.21 Reflexive The reflexive is formed with the root bah-il ("himself/herself"): laj jmaj jbah. I hit myself. la 'amaj 'abah. You hit yourself. la smaj sbah. He/she hit himself/herself. The same root is seen in expressions like sbah witz ("on top of the mountain"). Comparison with Tzotzil shows that bah once meant "face". Thus, sbah wits meant literally "face of the mountain" and laj jmaj jbah meant "I hit my face." The construction greatly resembles the reflexive in English: laj jmaj j-bah. I hit my-self. There are some idiomatic expressions with bah-il: ya jtam jbaj. "I got up." -tam, "to pick up" ya stoy sbah. "He is proud." -toy, "to lift, to raise" ya stij sbah. "He moves." -tij, "to touch" ya smul sbah. "submerge" -mul, "to submerge" There are not as many reflexive expressions as in, say, Spanish. In many cases, a reflexive verb in Spanish has an intransitive verb as its equivalent in Tzeltal. yahl "se cayó"/ "it fell itself". mahl "se puso (el sol)"/ "the sun came out itself". The Tzeltal reflexive differs from Spanish in not having an indirect or dative meaning. Thus one says: la 'amanbon jmulah. "You bought me a mule." with the indirect marker -b- but la 'aman 'amulah "You bought a mule." with neither the indirect marker nor the object. The possessive prefix ('a) in 'amulah has the same function (in Tzeltal) that the reflexive pronoun has in Spanish. The plural of the reflexive has either a reflexive ("themselves") or a reciprocal ("each other") reading. The plural of the third person is formed with the suffix -ik. -te jjwane, te jpetule, la stah sbahik ta beh. "John and Peter ran into each other in the road." -banti la stah sbahik? -la stah sbahik ta beh. -la bal yut sbahik? -ma la yut sbahik. ma la smaj sbahik. ma la smil sbahik. 3.4 Pronouns and nouns bohon ta jobel ho'on. "I went to San Cristóbal." hilat ta nah ha'at. "You remained at home." 3.4.1 Pronouns Pronouns in Tzeltal are formed with the root ha'. They are the following: ho'-on "I" ha'-at "you" ha' "he/she/it" However, the root ha' is not strictly-speaking a pronoun and the forms ho'on, etc. are only one of many uses. We have already seen that the form stukel ("him/himself") is the most common pronoun for the third person. In general, all of these forms are only used for emphasis or contrast. In the following example, the pronouns contrast what you did with what I did. They occur in the usual position for subjects of intransitive verbs-that is, in final position. -la sman smachit te jpetule. bin la 'apas ha'at? -ho'on, ma'yuk bin laj jpas. Here the contrast is between you and Peter. To give greater emphasis to the answer, the pronoun occurs before the verb: bohon ta jobel ho'on. hilat ta nah ha'at. tal ha'al lajon ta ha'al ta beh. (ha'al, "rain") 3.4.2 Derived nouns from other nouns Note that ha'al ("rain") comes from ha' ("water"). The suffix (-al) serves to derive nouns from other nouns. Other examples are the following: k'inal "region" k'in "day, party" k'ahk'al "day" k'ahk' "fire" 'ahch'al "mud" 'ahch'- "to get wet" tokal "cloud" tok (the root is found in Tzotzil) In the examples above, the suffix is permanent and connected to the meaning of the word. For other words, this is not the case: mamal(al) "husband" mam-al "grandfather, old man" bak-al "corncob" bak "bone" lum(al) "town" lum "land, ground" Note the difference between smam te Xmale ("Maria's grandfather") and smalalal te Xmale ("Maria's husband"). Although they are related, the words are distinct from one another, as can be seen in the possessed forms. -ma' ba lajat ta ha'al ha'at. hilat ta nah. ma' ba lok'emat. ho'on, lajon ta ha'al. talon ta 'ahnimal. ('ahnimal, "running") 'ay bi laj jman tel. -bin la 'aman tel ha'at? -laj jmanbat jun melinoh. 'ila bin laj jmanbat tel. lek bal? -lek nix. jun nix ko'tan yu'un. "I'm happy because of it." (nix, "only, alone") -mach'a k'ax ta snah te xkatale? (k'ax-, "to pass by") -ho'on, k'axon ta snahe. -na'at, yalat bal te xkatale? -ma' ho' uk on. "It's not me (Catherine's son)." -'ay 'am ta 'on. 'ay 'am ta jnah. ('am, "spider") ('on, "avocado") 'ay bal 'am ta 'anah ha'at? -ma'yuk. ha' nix 'ay ch'oh ta jnahe. "There aren't rats in my house any more." As a particle, nix cannot be the first word of the phrase. Under these circumstances, ha' goes to the initial position in the clause. In fact, ha' is used with various particles. -ha' bal winik te jjwane? -winik stukel. -bin 'orah ya xtalat xan? -ha' to pajel ya xtalon. "I am coming tomorrow." -te jpetule, la sman smulah. -ha' xan te jtume? "And what about Domingo?" -ho'on 'ay chenek' ku'un. (chenek', "bean") ha' xanat? -ho'on, ma'yuk. -ha' bal winik te jxape? -ha'. The word ha' is the reduced form of a nominal phrase. It appears in emphatic phrases. -winik bal te jxape? -ha'. ha' winik stukel. -ha' xan te xmale? -ma' ha' uk. ma' winik uk. ha' 'ants stukel. It seems to me that ha' is a basic element of the nominal phrase. The basic form seems to be ha' winik te jjwane. "John is a man". From this, the reduced phrase ha' and the negative ma' ha' uk can be derived. If there is no emphasis, ha' is dropped and the noun phrase appears as we saw it earlier: winik te jjwane. 3.4.3 Loan-words -rejirol te jtume. (rejirol, "constable") -ha' bal rejirol stukel? -ha' nix. -ha' xan te pesirente? (pesirente, "president") -te pesirent, ha' te jmanwele. -ha' pesirente te jmanwele. -hich 'abi. -ha' te jmanwele te pesirente. If a noun phrase has a definite noun, it then has emphasis and the ha' is not dropped. Thus, from ha' pesirente te jmanwele. "Manuel is president." one derives the following (by dropping ha'): pesirente te jmanwele. "Manuel is president." given that pesirente is not a definite noun. On the other hand, ha' te jmanwele te pesirente. "The president is Manuel." The word ha' is not dropped since te jmanwele is a definite noun. Note the difference between: "The president is Manual" and "Manual is president". The words rejirol/pesirente show some of the changes that loan-words have undergone. Tzeltal does not have word-initial consonant clusters like pr, so the r is dropped, producing pesidente. Nor does Tzeltal have the sound d, so it is replaced with r, and comes out as pesirente. The sound r is rare in Tzeltal. In word-final position l is much more common and one often finds this change. There is rejirol for "regidor" and jrawil for "David". Often the final vowel of Spanish words is lost, which results in the preferred pattern of stress on the final syllable. Thus, there is kayúk for "cayuco" ("canoe") and machít for "machete" ("machete"). Many loans correspond to the plural form of the Spanish source. wakáx ("cow") corresponds phonetically to "vacas". lawúx ("nail") also corresponds to the plural. From the standpoint of the Tzeltal plural, it is easy to understand the change. Another treatment given to the sounds d and g is to substitute them with their voiceless counterparts t and k. Thus, "gas" gives rise to kas and "Pedro" to jpetul (plus a change of the last two letters to achieve the Tzeltal pattern of accent). The vowels e and o sometimes are substituted with i and u. Compare the vowel change in machit and jpetul. Sometimes Tzeltal retains a phonetic form that has been lost in Spanish. The Spanish j in the loans retains the pronunciation that it had in the time of the conquest. Thus, "ajos" ("garlic") changes into 'axúx and "tijeras" ("scissors") to texeléx. The sound ll appears as l in loans like xilah (from "silla" ("chair")). I do not understand very well the substitution of s for x that is seen in many of these words. The word kaxlan (from "castellana" ("Spanish")) and narxax (from "naranjas" ("oranges") ) show the customary loss of the medial vowel in addition to a few other changes. It is understood that not all of these changes are found in every loan-word. The older loans show more changes. The more recent ones often are almost identical to their Spanish source. The same Spanish word may have different forms in different dialects. 3.4.4 Particles -ha' bal 'atat te jpetule? -ha'. ha' te jtat te jpetule. -macha 'anan? -ha' te xxape te jnane. te jnane, ha' te xxape. -la kil kerem ta beh. -mach'a te kereme? -ha' te jjwan te kereme. te kereme, ha' te jjwane. -ha' te 'antse, lek yo'tan. -ma' ha' uk. ya sna' lot. 3.4.4.1 ha' When a noun is fronted it can carry ha' as a marker of emphasis. lek yo'tan te 'antse. ha' te 'antse, lek yo'tan. te 'antse, lek yo'tan. ha' pesirente te jmanwele. pesirente te jmanwele. ha' te jmanwele, ha' pesirente. te jmanwele, ha' pesirente. Note that when there is a fronted noun, the following ha' is not lost. For example, the ha' in the last sentence given above is not lost. -mach'a yu'un te machite? -ha' yu'un te jmanwele te machite. -ma' ha' uk. ho'on ku'un te machite. "The machete is mine." It seems that ha' attracts a suffix from elsewhere. For example, in the third person, one says: ha' yu'un te jmanwele te machite. "The machete is Manual's." Thus, in the first person, one might expect: *ha' ku'un te ho'one te machite. "The machete is mine." However, the expected form is not found. Instead, one finds the following: ho'on ku'un te machite. "The machete is mine." Likewise, one says: ha' pesirent te jmanwele. "Manual is president." But instead of: *ha' pesirentehon te ho'one. "I am president." one says: ho'on pesirentehon "I am president." This analysis will always be very tentative. 3.4.4.2 le'to and lum to -banti 'ay sbankil te xmale? -lum to 'ay. -ma xkil. -ha' me winik lum to, ha' sbankil te xmale. "That man yonder is the Maria's older brother." In Oxchuc, the distinction that is seen between le' to ("here") and lum to ("there") extends to other demonstratives: 'in to "this" 'in winik to "this man" 'a (me) to "that" me winik to "that man" 'a (me) lum to "yonder" me winik lum to "yonder man" Like le' to and lum to these phrases indicate things that have not yet been signaled. If it does signal something, the definite article te is used: ha' me ts'i' to, muk' yeh. bayal ya x'ok' te ts'i'e. "That dog has a big mouth. The dog barks a lot." One can see that the demonstrative forms are formed with various particles. to is the particle for specifying, which we already came across in other sentences. lum signals more remote things, while 'in points to things nearby. 3.4.4.3 me The function of me is hard to define. El Tzeltal Hablado suggests that it functions as an indefinite article. It is used this way in the following sentence: k'oht me ts'i' ta ti' ha'. "A dog arrived on the riverbank." However, in another phrase with me, 'a me to ("that") it is more defined. I do not understand the difference between forms with and without me. Note that me never is the first word in a sentence. In order to put me winik to in initial position, ha' is used, as in a phrase like te winike. ha' me winik to, muk' snah "That man has a large house." 3.4.4.4 'a The particle 'a that is seen in 'a to and 'a me to is a reduction of ha' that occurs in medial position. In initial position, these phrases are formed with ha', which can be seen in the following sentences: a. beluk 'a to? "What is that?" b. ha' me to, ha' ch'ak. "That's a flea." c. ha' ch'ak 'a me to. "A flea, it is." a. mach'a me winik to? "Who is that man?" b. ha' me winik to, ha' te pesirente. "That man, he is the president". c. ha' te pesirente me winik to. "That man is president." A very useful phrase is ha' me to ("that is"). I have not studied the demonstrative system, and the published descriptions are terribly inadequate. Therefore, I give these forms only so that the student of Tzeltal will be able to recognize the correct ones. A few more examples: -bin 'orah ya xhahch in karoh to? -ma'yuk bin 'orah ya xhahch. lajem ix. ya xhahch me karoh lum to. -banti ya xbaht me karoh lum to? -ya xbaht ta jobel. -ha' xan me lum to? -ha' nix ya xbaht ta 'oxchuhk. -ya bal 'ak'an ts'i'? -yak. ya jk'an 'a me lum to. In Bachajón some of the same particles (ha', me, in, to) are used but in a different way. We already saw that the Bachajón word for "there", tey, is different from the Oxchuc word. They also say li'i instead of le' to. The forms that the Bachajón use are: 'ini "this" 'i winik 'ini/'ini winik "this man" 'ine "that" 'i winik 'ine/'ine winik "that man" ha' me to 'ants, ha' jwix. ja' me 'ine kerem, ha' te kihts'ine. -banti 'ay te snah te jpetule? -ha' snah 'i nah me 'ine. It is likely that there are other forms that are used in these dialects or others. I am ashamed not to have better knowledge of them. 3.4.4.5 te 'ay hun talem la yalbon te xxape te ho'on jhun. "Sebastian told me that it is my letter." (hun, "paper") "'ila 'ahun," xchih. ho'on jbihil te 'ay te hun. "It's my name that is on the letter." tojol ta he hun. tojol te 'ay hun talem. "It is useless that my letter came./The letter came for nothing." (tojol, "useless, for nothing") ma' to jna' hun ho'on. In many cases, te is equivalent to "that" in English. It serves to introduce relative and subordinate clauses. This is why it occurs after verbs and *?operating words: kiloj te 'ay hun talem "I saw that a letter arrived." lek te la 'achon 'amulah "It's good that you sold your mule." and after nouns: te winik te 'ay ta snah. "the man who is in his house" jbihil te laj kil. "my name that I saw" It is clear that it is the same definite article that functions this way. In this respect, Tzeltal te resembles that in English. te winik "that man" kiloj te talemat. "I've noticed that you are here." te winik te baht ta jobel "the man who went to San Cristóbal" 3.5 Verbs and verbal nouns laj jmulan behel ta mulah. "I like to ride mules." The word behel is another verbal noun with the suffix -el. Although beh ("road") which comes from this noun, is a noun root, the form with -el acts as if it were from the verb behen-, which does not have a proper derived noun. behel ta mulah means "mule-riding". Here it is the object of the verb. laj jmulan jmulah. bohon ta jlumal. ma' ba 'pijuben te jmulahe. (p'ijub-, "to learn (literally: to gain expertise)") The word p'ijub- ("to gain expertise") comes from the root p'ij ("learned, expert"). The suffix -ub is used with many adjectives and noun with the meaning of "become". A few examples are: muk'ub- "to grow" muk' "big" lekub- "to get better" lek "good" ha'ub- "to get wet" ha' "water" 'ulub- "*?to get rich" 'ul "maize drink, atole" The suffix of the perfect -em becomes -en after b or m due to phonetic dissimulation. Also one finds the change from n to m due to the influence of an following n. For example, the word 'ahnimal ("running") is a verbal noun from 'ahnimaj-. The root is 'ahn- ("to flee") with the intransitive suffixes -in and -aj. The n of -in changes to m in order to avoid the difficult form 'ahninal. I want to note that there are also sporadic alternations between n and l. For example, in Oxchuc instead of 'ahnimal one says 'alimal. From the dissimilated m and comparison with other dialects, it seems that it originally had n. -ch'aj nix te mulah. ma' ba behen ta beh. la smulan behel ta ha'mal. tojol te laj jman jmulah. -'ay bal 'amulah ha'at? -'ay. hilem ta jnah te jmulahe. ma jna' mohel a. "I don't know how to ride." -tojol la 'aman 'amulah ha'at. Note that a substitutes for the phrase ta mulah. laj jmulan mohel ta mulah. bohon ta jlumal. laj jtah ta ban 'ay jet beh. (jet, "junction, branch") ma' ba behen ta toj beh te mjulahe. (toj, "straight") behen behel ta ha'mal. 'ilinon. laj jmaj te jmulahe. ('ilin-, "to get mad, to get annoyed") 'ilin te jmulah. 'ahnimaj behel. ('ahnimaj-, "to run") hilon ta jot beh. laj jtam jbah ta lum. ma jmulan behel ta mulah. 3.5.1 Definite and indefinite references 'ay moh ta mulah te jmanwele. "Once Manual rode a mule./It happened that Manual rode a mule." 3.5.1.1 'ay Due to its meaning of existence, 'ay changes a phrase from definite reference ("on that day") to indefinite reference ("during those days"). The sentence: moh ta mulah te jpetule tells us that Peter rode a mule on such and such a day and time. However, 'ay moh te mulah te jpetule tells us that he has ridden a mule but leaves time and place undefined. Due to its meaning, 'ay is often used in the perfect: 'ay moh ta mulah te jmanwele ("Someday Manual rode a mule"). In this sense 'ay states a historical fact occurred, but 'ay mohem ta mulah te jmanwele is the clearest way of declaring that "Manual has ridden a mule". The difference between the two sentences is that the perfect mohem includes a reference to the present, whereas moh refers exclusively to the past. Note teh difference between: mohem ta mulah te jmanwele. Manual is riding a mule. 'ay mohem ta mulah te jmanwele. Manual has ridden a mule. All of these constructions are found with the transitive verb. la yil te kihts'in te jmanwele "Manual saw my little brother." 'ay la yil te kihts'in te jmanwele. "Manual once saw my little brother." 'ay yiloj te kihts'in te jmanwele. "Manual has seen my little brother." The word 'ay is also used in the present tense: 'ay ya xbohon ta lum. "Occasionally I go to the village." 'ay ya jman ti'bal "Occasionally I buy meat." -'ay bal mohemat ta mulah ha'at? -'ay. mohon ta mulah ta sk'in santiago. (k'in, "party") 3.5.1.2 Negation -yak ana' mohel ta mulah? -ma jna' ta lek. yahlon kohel ta lum. teb ma' lajukon. -'ay bal mohat xan? -ma'yuk. ma'yuk ix ba ya xmohon ta mulah. All of the phrases with 'ay are negated by ma'yuk, as expected. In fact, ma'yuk is used in many more negative phrases than one would expect from Spanish translations. In general, the negatives with ma'yuk correspond to the meaning of the affirmatives. Here I will overview everything that I know about verbal negation. We already learned the negative of the past tense: ma' ba mohon. "I didn't ride (that day at that time)." This last sentence applies only to a specific occasion. If one wishes to negate that the subject has ridden during a specific time, it is necessary to use ma'yuk: ma'yuk ba mohon. "I didn't ride then (but rather at a different time)."/ "I never rode then." Literally this phrase means "There never was not an occasion in which I rode." It is clear that this is the negative of 'ay mohon ("One day at one point I rode"). If the specified time includes the present, the perfect tense of the verb is used: ma'yuk ba mohemon. "I have not ridden (in all this time)." / "I've never ridden." Instead of ma'yuk ba one also hears ma'yuk bin 'orah, but that seems to be a Spanish-based expression. 3.5.1.3 Negation of phrases with a non-defined tense In non-past tense, using negatives is more confusing. We already came across the general form of the negative: ma xmohon. "I don't ride." This form does not have a temporal reference. Thus, it is appropriate for stative verbs like -na' ("to know") and -il ("to see"). In order to refer to a specific occasion in the future, one must use ma' ba in the present tense: ma' ba ya xmohon. "I am not going to ride then (at that point in the future)." However, if one does not wish to refer to a specific occasion but rather to the future in general, one says: ma'yuk ba ya xmohon "I am not going to ride (in all of the future)." The particle ba can fall before the tense particles yak and laj, if there no emphasis. So, one hears: ma'yuk ya xmohon. "I don't ride." ma'yuk laj jman. "I will not eat then (at that time)." -ya bal xbahat ta jobel pajel? -ma'ba ya xbohon. ya xhilon ta jnah. -'ay bal ya xk'ohat behel ta tuxtah? (tuxta, "Tuxtla") -ma'yuk ya xk'ohon. namal te tuxtahe. ma'yuk ba ya xk'ohon. -bohon ta jobel ho'on. laj jk'an jman jtuhk'. (tuhk', "shotgun") -la bal 'aman ha'at? -ma' laj jman. toyol stojol. (toyol, "tall") (- tojol, "cost") -t'ujbil te jwixe. 'ay bal 'awiloj? (t'ujbil, "beautiful") -ma'yuk. ma'yuk ba kiloj. namal te jnahe. ma'yuk ba ka'axemon ta 'anahe. -laj jkuy te 'ay ba k'axemat. (-kuy, "to think (mistakenly)") -ma'yuk. -'ay la k'ax ta 'anah te jpetule. -'alot. ma'yuk ba k'axem stukel. te stat te jmanwele, la spas snah. nahil la sleh ban pamal. (nahil, "first") (pamal, "level, flat") patil la sleh te' ta ha'mal. (patil, "after") hu'spisil te snahe. (hu'-, "to stop, to finish") (-pisil, "everything") 3.5.2 Indirect object -hu'bal te 'a'tele? -ma' ba hu'. 'ay to hilem. ma xhu' ku'un. "I couldn't finish it." The expression hu'- -u'un means "to be able to". The paradigm is as follows: ya xhu' ku'un "I can" ya xhu' 'awu'un "you can" ya xhu' yu'un "he can" hu' ku'un "I could" hu' 'awu'un "you could" hu' yu'un "he could" The word -'u'un is more or less equivalent to an indirect object in Spanish. One hears hu' ku'un ("I could/I finished to do it") and tal ku'un "It came to me". It is clear that with transitive verbs the suffix -be is used instead of -'u'un. However, if the verb has a direct object in the first or second person, that is to say, if it has a suffix, one cannot use -be- and the construction with -'u'un is used: la smilon 'awu'un. "He killed me for you." This construction is rare but it does exist. tut te k'ibe. (tut, "small") 'ay bayal ha' jkuchoj tal. (-kuch, "to load, to weigh down") -ya bal x'och ta k'ib te ha'e? -ma x'och a. 'ohlil ya x'och a. ('ohlil, "half") ma xhu' ya x'och a spisil te ha'e. Note that one says "all of the water": spisil te ha'e. ma sna' bahel ta smulah te jmanwele. 'ay moh ta mulah te jmanwele. ma' ba behen te smulahe. la stij te smulahe. tojol. ma' ba behen ta tijel. ma' ba behen a. la smaj te smalahe. tojol. ma' ba la stij sbah te mulahe. ya la schon smulah te jmanwele. "jtome, tena behel te mise," xchih te jnane. (-ten, "to put in") (mis, "cat") la sten behel te mis te jtome. "xxap, tesa 'ajol," xchih te jnane. (-tes, "to comb") la stes sjol te xxape. "jpax, nojesa te baltihe," xchih te jnane. (-nojes, "to fill") (baltih, "bucket") la snojes te baltih te jpaxe. "xwel, mesa te puse," xchih te jnane. (-mes, "to sweep") (pus, "bathroom") bah smes pus te xwele. 3.5.3 Transitive verbs derived from intransitive verbs The transitive verb -nojes ("to fill") comes from the intransitive verb noj- ("to fill oneself") plus the causative suffix -es. This suffix (or its equivalent -tes) is used with many intransitive verbs in order to make them transitive: -kohtes "to lower" koh- "to descend, go down oneself" -mohtes "to raise" moh- "to rise, to go up" -p'ijubtes "to teach" p'ijub- "to learn" -'ok'tes "to make one cry" 'ok'- "to cry" -k'ases "to move, to relocate" k'ax- "to pass" -'otses "to put in" 'och- "to enter" Note the assimilation of x and ch to s and ts due to the s that follows. 3.5.4 Constructions using two verbs The form bah smes ("He went to sweep") is formed from the past tense of the verb bah- without any suffix except the simple form of -mes. The other forms are: bah jmes "I went to sweep." ya xbah jmes "I am going to sweep" bah 'ames "You went to sweep." ya xbah 'ames "you are going to sweep" bah smes "He went to sweep." ya xbah smes "he is going to sweep" This construction is similar to the one that we saw in which the first verb is transitive: laj jk'an jmes I wanted to sweep. ya jk'an jmes "I want to sweep." The main difference between the constructions is that in the intransitive the verb loses its suffixes. However, sometimes one finds forms like bohon kil "I went to see." ya xbohon kil "I am going to see." In these forms the nominal suffixes have not been lost. This construction is quite frequent with the verb bah- but is also used with many other intransitive verbs. This construction also is used with two intransitive verbs. The second verb appears in its simple form with x-. bah xmohon "I went to rise" ya xbah xmohon "I am going to rise" bah xmohat "You went to rise" ya xbah xmohat "You are going to rise" bah xmoh "He went to rise" ya xbah xmoh "He is going to rise" These forms are fairly rare. -la bal stes sjol te xxape? -ma to la stes. bah sleh te jach'ubile. (jach'ubil, "comb") -la stah ix tel. tal ix yalbon te la stah. -ha' xan te jpaxe? la bal snojes te baltihe? -slot te la snojes te baltihe. ma'yuk ba la snojes. bah sleh tel te smulah. te jtate, bah sjep si'. (-jep, "to split") (si', "firewood") la stah 'itaj ta ha'mal. te jnane, bah ssap te 'itaje. (-sap, "to wash") ('itaj, "vegetables") la ssap spisil te 'itaj te stahoj tel te jtate. ma' sna' slo'el 'itaj te kihts'ine. "My little brother doesn't know how to eat vegetables." 3.5.5 Verbal nouns We already saw the use of verbal nouns derived from intransitive verbs: ma jna' mohel ta mulah "I don't know how to ride a mule." 3.5.5.1 Verbal nouns from transitive verbs The verbal noun derived from transitive verbs is used in the same situations, but the construction is different, given that the verb's direct object enters into the construction. The order of the words remains the same, but the object is the grammatical possessor of the verbal noun: s-lo'el 'itaj "eating vegetables" s-milel mut "killing birds" s-kuchel ha' "carrying water" y-ilel hun "reading" (literally: "the seeing of paper") The similarity between the transitive and intransitive constructions can be seen in the following examples: ya jna' mohel ta mulah "I know how to ride mules." ya jna' yilel hun "I know how to read." yakon ta 'ochel "I am entering." yakon ta spasel waj "I am making tortillas." When yak does not take a suffix-that is, in the third person-it seems that ta is lost before the possessive prefixes. The forms yakon ta 'ochel. "I am entering." yak ta 'ochel "He is entering." are regular but the transitive construction in the third person is as follows (without the particle ta): "He is making tortillas" Another construction with a transitive verb that I have seen but do not understand is the following: yak slehbel "He is looking." yak slek'bel "He is licking." (-lek', "to lick") It is clear that they are the same possessed verbal nouns, but they take the suffix -b-. I am not sure whether the -b- is there in order to avoid having to include the object, as in the examples above, or if the -b- is a signal of repeated action. -ya bal 'ana' 'alo' 'itaj? -ma jna' slo'el 'itaj. ma jna' jlo' 'itaj. ma jmulan slo'el 'itaj ho'on. -ho'on, ya jmulan slo'el stukel. wojey bah jleh 'itaj. ma laj jtah ta lehel te 'itaje. hip laj jtah tel sip. (hip, "only") (sip, "tick") p'ij te state te jmanwele. la smulan snopel hun. jun habil la snop te hune. (-nop, "to learn") (habil(al), "year") k'alal lok'ix habil, la sna' yilel hun. (k'alal, "when") -jayeb habil 'awabilal "How old are you you?" (Literally: "How many years are your years?") (jayeb, "how many") -tab habil kabilal. (tab, "20") 3.5.5.2 Possessive prefix The initial h sometimes is lost after possessive prefixes: -bin 'orah 'ayinat? ('ayin-, "to be born") -namey 'ayinon. (namey, "long ago") -bin 'orah la 'atah 'awihnam? ('ihnam-il, "wife") -jun habey. -bin 'orah hu' te 'anahe? -ch'ajey hu'. (cha'jey, "the day before yesterday") -bin la 'apas wojey? (wojey, "yesterday") -wojey laj jkux ko'tan (-kux -'o'tan, "to rest") 'ak'ubey wayon ta tibiltay ('ak'ubey, "last night") (way-, "to sleep") (tibiltay, "dusk, nightfall") The suffix -(j)ey indicates past tense. Its use is limited to a few useful words: namey "long ago" namal "far" cha'jey "the day before yesterday" cha'-, "two" habey "a year ago" habil(al), "year" 'ak'ubey "last night" 'ak'ubal "night" Note that the bare roots are used with this suffix. The root habil(al) also is used in the expression hun hab to ("until next year"). la stah lo'layel te jmanwele. (-lo'lay, "to deceive") yu'un ma sna' yilel bin stojol ya yal ta hun. (-tojol, "value") bayal stojol la stoj spisil bin la sman ta lum. (-toj, "to pay") 'obol sbah yu'un te 'ay ta lo'layel. ('obol -bah, "to be poor") la snop yilel bin stojol ya yal ta hun. yu'un ma la smulan te jmanwele te 'ay ta lo'layel. 3.5.5.3 Passive transitive verbal nouns When the transitive verbal noun is used without a prefix, the meaning can be passive from the Spanish point of view: la stah lo'layel te jmanwele. "Manual was tricked." (Literally: "Manual found deception.") 'ay ta lo'layel te jmanwele. "Manual is being deceived." (Literally: "There is the deception of Manual.") In this construction there is no change in the meaning of the verb, as is seen in the following pair: la sna' slo'layel te jmanwele te jjwane. "Juan knew how to deceive Manual." la stah lo'layel te jmanwele. "Manual was deceived." What happens is that the object of the verb -lo'lay is lost due to its identical to the subject of the main clause. Given that the object has been lost, there is nothing that the verbal object lo'layel possesses and the possessive prefix is not used. It is clear that this construction is only possible when the meaning of the main verb permits it. Three fairly common construction with this meaning are: 3.5.5.4 Nominalized verbs la yich' pasel te nahe. "The house was made." (-pas, "to make") 'ay ta manel te nahe. "The house is about to be sold." yak ta lehel te xxape. "They are looking for Sebastian." Note that the agent of the nominalized verb can be expressed with ta (if it is indefinite) or -'u'un (if it is definite). laj ta ti'el ta ts'i' te mute. "The bird died from being eaten by dogs." la stah lo'layel ta max te jxape. "Sebastian was deceived by the monkeys." la stah lo'layel yu'un te yihnam te jxape. "Sebastian was deceived by his wife." bah jtam puy ta ha'. (puy, "snail") ley bah jtam ta bay snah te jbankil. jjwan sbihil te jbankile. bayal la jtah te puye. ma' to ya spay te puy te jnane. (-pay, "to boil") yu'un la jtah pahay ta beh. (pahay, "zorillo, skunk") te jnane, la spay te pahaye. ha' nahil ya jti' te pahaye. patil ya jti' te puye. 3.5.5.5 Passive counterpart of transitive verbs laj jti' pahay. paybil te pahaye. "The zorillo was boiled." payot ta sahb. "It was boiled in the morning." Transitive verbs have their passive counterpart. They are formed with the suffix -ot (for the past and present) and -bil (for the perfect): ya xyil te jjwan te jmanwele. "Manual sees Juan." ya x'ilot te jjwane. "Juan is seen." la smaj te jjwan te jmanwele. "Manual hit Juan." majot te jjwane. "Juan was hit." smiloj te jjwan te jmanwele. "Manual had Juan killed." milbil te jjwane. "Juan is killed." The passive is intransitive and its conjugation is accomplished by means of pronominal suffixes. In general, the passive is only used when one doesn't wish to express the agent. However, the agent can be expressed by means of yu'un if the passive must be used for stylistic reasons: talon ta k'in 'iloton yu'un te jmanwele. "I came to the party. I was seen by Manual." 3.5.5.6 Perfect passive The perfect passive looks more like the intransitive perfect in that it refers to the state of something, and it resembles the passive participle in English: talem te jjwane. "Juan is arriving." makbil te ti' nahe "The door is closed." The form of the verb with be has a passive in the present, but I do not know of one in the perfect. 'alboton "I was told." albebilon "I am told." ya jmaliy te jjoy ta bay yanil te' (-maliy, "to wait") (-'anil, "below") (joy, "companion") ya xbah jtuy te' sjok. (-tuy, "to saw") (-jok, "with") tojol la jmaily te jjoye. ma' ba tal. bah yula'tay te sbale, ha' te jtome. He went to visit his brother-in-law, Tomas. (-bal, "brother-in-law") (-'ul'atay, "to visit") 'ay yan yula' talem ta snah te jtome. namal talem te yula'e. te jjoye, bah ya'iy bi ya yal te yula'e. (-'a'iy, "to hear, to understand") The word -jok means "with". Tzeltal does not have the equivalent of "and", since sjok (or the reduced form sok) is often used in that sense. The root also is seen in -jokin ("to accompany"). The verb -'ula'tay ("to visit") is composed of the root ula ("visit") plus the transitive suffix -tay. The majority of verbs that end with the suffix -Vy are transitive. The t of this suffix also is seen in the transitive suffix -tes. Some examples follow: -koltay "to help, to undo" kol- "to be saved" -k'altay "to rub (on)" -k'al "cornfield" -k'ayojtay "to sing to" k'ayoj "song" -k'uxultay "to love, favour" k'uxul "pain" -ch'ahtay "to smoke, to perfume" ch'ah "bitter" -lo'lay "to deceive" lo'il "joke" -jawuy "to measure (with extended arms)" jahw "measurement (with extended arms)" -lotiy "to lie, falsify" -lot "lie, be false" 3.5.5.7 -a'i'y The verb -a'i'y ("to hear, understand") is a very useful verb. Aside from its use in the phrase ma xka'iy ("I don't understand") (quite useful for newcomers to the language), it is used in various idiomatic expressions: la ya'iy lotiwanej "I falsify it." -lotiy "to falsify" la ya'iy luchojel "I embroider it." -luch "to embroider" la ya'iy milaw "I kill someone." -mil "to kill" la ya'iy 'ak'en "I clean his cornfield." 'ak'en "clean" Note that these expression are like intransitives of transitive verbs. They do not take objects. The nouns found in these expressions are often verbal nouns like those that we have seen previously (e.g. luchojel). Others are more isolated and their main use is in these quasi-verbal expressions, like the nouns ending in -aw: milaw "murder" -mil "to kill" bojaw "cut, slash" -boj "to cut (with a machete)" komaw "prohibition, ban" -kom "to prohibid, to forbid" 3.6 Plurals jnoptik hun. "Let's learn to read!" I hope that I have not given the undue impression that Tzeltal lacks a plural. It does, but for didactic purposes I thought it was best left until now. As I said earlier, Tzeltal does not use the plural as much as English. There are various pluralising suffixes that seem the same. We begin with the verbal suffixes. We already saw the suffix of the third person -ik. It can also modify the second person prefix: 'anah-ik "your(plural) house(s)" snah-ik "their house(s)" ya 'aman-ik "You (plural) buy." ya sman-ik "They buy." Tzeltal does not usually repeat the plural marker. If there are two instances of a prefix, Tzeltal often only pluralizes the second: la 'amaj 'abah-ik. "You (pl.) fought." la smaj-sbah-ik. "They fought." la 'aman 'anah-ik. "You bought your houses." la sman snah-ik. "They bought their houses." The suffix -ik serves equally well for the transitive and intransitive of the third person. However, for the plural form of the second person prefix, -ex is used. In some dialects, one says -at-ik instead of -ex: -ha'-ex "you (plural)" -ha'-ik "they" (rare) ya xtal-ex "You (pl.) are coming." ya xtal-ik "They are coming." 3.7 Inclusive pronouns versus exclusive pronouns Unlike the first person in English, the majority of Tzeltal dialects (with the exception of Oxchuc) distinguish between two varieties: the inclusive and the exclusive. The first person inclusive is everyone, potentially the whole world. It is called "inclusive" because it includes the person who is being spoken to. The possessive of this form is usually used to speak in general of a noun that must be possessed. The forms are common to all dialects (as well as Tzotzil). They are possessive: j- -tik, pronominal: -otik. j-nah-tik "our house/our houses" j-jol-tik "our heads/the head" ya j-na'-tik "we know/everyone knows" ho'-otik "we" ya xboh-otik "We are leaving." ya smaj-otik "They hit us all." One must distinguish between -otik from the first person inclusive and -ot-ik of the passive of the third person plural: la smaj-otik "He hit us." maj-ot-ik "They were hit." 3.7.1 Imperatives The transitive imperative of the first person inclusive is formed without any temporal prefix: j-mil-tik "Let's kill." j-kux k-o'tan-tik "Let's rest." The root bah- ("to go") has the imperative inclusive konik/kunik (kurik in Tenejapa) ("Let's go"). The use of -ik as a pluraliser of the first person is very exceptional (but we will see it again in the form bat-ik ("Let's go") in the Tzotzil of Zinacantán). Also pay attention to the following forms: bah k-il-tik "We went to see." kon k-il-tik "We're going to see!" The first person exclusive is "us but not you". It excludes the person who is being spoken to. There is considerable dialectal variation in the marking of this category. In the following discussion, I will give the forms that I know. The student will have to choose the form that corresponds to the dialect that he or she is learning. It looks to me as if the primitive forms are: ya xtal-otik ho'-otik "We are going (but not you)." ya j-man-tik ho'-otik "We buy it (but not you)." There is no morphological distinction; nothing more than the presence of the pronoun emphasizes that it could mark the exclusion of the person being spoken to. In fact, these forms are found in some dialects, in the direction of Yajalon. They are more common with the loss of the medial vowel of the pronoun: ya xtalotik ho'tik ya jmantik ho'tik In the Tzotzil spoken in Zinacantán the following forms are heard: ta xital-otik otik ta jman-tik otik where they have also lost the weak consonants h and [']. In all of the other dialects I know of, another vowel has been lost. In the possessive this has caused the loss of a t, as well: ya xtal-otk otik San Jeronimo, Bachajón ya jman-k otik (from ya jman-tk otik) Bachajón ta jman-k otik (from ta jman-tk otik) Tzotzil from Chamula and Huistán So the possessive forms in all of the different dialects are explainable. However, the pronominal forms of some dialects remain to be explained. 3.7.2 Exclusive form of intransitive verbs It was already explained that Tzeltal does not like to duplicate the possessive suffix and that it only leaves the second word pluralized. Applying this rule to the exclusive form of an intransitive verb, the result is ya xtal-on ho'otik I believe I have also heard elsewhere (perhaps in Guaquitepec?) the form ya xtal-on ho'otik In a dialect that has reduced ya jmantik ho'tik to ya jmantik otik it is possible that this form can be analyzed as ya jmantik kotik, given the reduction of the double consonants in Tzeltal. According to this analysis, the k would become the pronominal form ya xtalon hotik in order to produce ya xtal-on kotik San Sebastian, Bachajón ta xital-on kotik Tzotzil of Chamula and Huistán In another dialect spoken in Ocosingo, the following form is used: ya xtal-otik-on which presupposes the anterior form ya xtal-otik ho'on, where the second word has lost its pluralization. It is clear that the dialects that reduced the pronouns used to signal the exclusive had to form others based on the root ha' , no longer evident in the reduced forms. Summarizing this discussion, I will give the possessive exclusive forms and the pronouns of all of the Tzeltal dialects that I am familiar with: jnah-kotik ho'-otkotik San Jerónimo, Bachajón jnah-kotik ho'-onkotik San Sebastián, Bachajón jnah-kotik ho'-otikon Ocosingo jnah-tik ho'tik ho'-otik ho'tik Yajalon jnah-tik ho'tik ho'-on ho'tik Guaquitepec (?) One has to point out that the use of the exclusive is not as common as one might think from the definition. As we have seen, it is a special form of the inclusive, and when there is no contrast, usually the inclusive form is used. 3.8 Plurals Practice with the following question and answer: QUESTION ANSWER 'ay bal 'anahik? ma'yuk jnahkotik. 'ay bal jnahtik? ma'yuk jnahtik. 'ay bal snahik? ma'yuk snahik. ya bal xbahex? yak, ya xbohonkotik. ya bal jna'kotik? ma xana'ik. ya bal xbohotik? yak. ya xbohotik. ya bal jna'tik? ma jna'tik. ya bal xbahtik? yak. ya xbahtik. ya bal 'ak'anik? yak. ya jk'ankotik. ya bal xbohonkotik? ma xbahex. ya bal sna'ik? ya sna'ik. ya bal 'amajonkotik? ma'ba ya jmajex. ya bal smajikat? ma'ba ya smajikon. ya bal jmajattik? ma'ba yak amajikon. ya bal smajikotik? ma'ba ya smajikotik. ya bal smajex? ma'ba ya smajonkotik. ya bal jmajtikex? ma'ba yak amajikonkotik. ya bal smajonkotik? ma'ba ya smajex. ya bal smajikex? ma'ba ya smajikonkotik. ya bal smajikon? ma'ba ya smajikat. ya bal 'amajikon? ma'ba ya jmajattik. ya bal smajikonkotik? yak. ya smajikex. 'ila 'awil! 3.8.1 Pronouns Some of these forms are extremely rare and do not exist in some dialects. I provide them only so that the reader knows them and practices the general rules of affix combinations. Note that if the object is in the second person, the affixes of the first person inclusive is used, given that there is no need to give emphasis to the exclusive. (In other words, if we hit you, it is not necessary to explain that "us" does not include you.) Note also that the pluralising suffix -ik can be related either to the subject or to the object, depending on the situation, but there is no means of signaling plurality of the second person and of the third person at once. -ik prefers to be related with the second person, so that la 'amanik means "You (pl.) bought it/them" and not "You (sg.) bought them." If the subject and the object are in the third person, -ik is related to the subject, so that la smanik means "They bought it/them" and not "He bought them." These are distinction that are infrequently made, given that Tzeltal is not fussy with respect to plurality. In some dialects (including Tenejapa) the marker -ik signals another distinction-viz., between plurality and a great number. It seems that it is possible to add another -ik to any plural form I order to give emphasis to the great number of people. For example: konik "Let's go!" konikik "Let's all of us go!" ya jmantik "We will buy it!" ya jmantikik "All of us will buy it!" I do not know how far this generalization extends to other regions. Wasn't it a good idea to leave the plural forms till now? 3.8.2 Nouns I will now give you some ideas about the plural forms of nouns. I hope that having put off discussion of the plural for this long you are accustomed to not using it. However, the plural does exist and it would be a great injustice to overlook it entirely. The form that is most similar to the English plural is the suffix -etik. It serves to form the plural of unpossessed things: winiketik ("men"), mutetik ("birds"), ts'i'etik ("dogs"), 'ek'etik ("stars"). If the things being pluralised are not as individuated and mobile as birds, one uses -tik instead of -etik. The meaning of this suffix is not one of plurality so much as extension. It is used without another suffix in the word k'altik ("cornfield") and with reduplication in nahnahtik ("houses, ranch"). It is used with the suffix -Vl in two types of words: With -Vl-tik tajaltik "*? big fire" taj "torch" te'eltik "jungle" te' "tree" 'akiltik "pasture" 'ak "grass, hay" With -Vl-tik te'tikil "forest" te' "tree" tontikil "rocky ground" ton "rock" witstikil "mountainrange" wits "hill" The suffix -Vl that is found in these words resembles the one that is used to signal cultivated sites: ch'umil "growing pumpkins" ch'um "lowlands pumpkin" chenk'ul "growing beans" chenek' "beans" mayil "sowing tobacco" may "tobacco" However, the vowel of these forms is dissimulated from the vowel of the root (and gives rise to i after u, o, a and to u after e, i) while the vowel of the suffix that is used with -tik (as in witstikil) assimilates to what it precedes. A noun like ch'umil ("growing pumpkins") by referring to a cultivated site does not have the indefinite extension of a noun like witstikil ("mountainrange") and perhaps for this reason does not take the extensional suffix -tik. The suffix -tik is also found in reverential forms: mamtik "Sir" mam-al "grandfather, elder" tatik "Sir" tat-il "father" I prefer to think of these forms as possessed forms of the first person. In other words, I consider mamtik to be an abbreviation of jmamtik ("our grandfather/everyone's grandfather"). The plurals of these forms are derived with -etik: mem-tik-etik ("gentlemen"). 3.8.3 Adjectives -aj-tik is used to form the plural from adjectives ending in -Vl: tek'ajtik "standing (plural)" tek'el "standing" pamajtik "extended plane" pamal "leveled" -tik-lan is used with verbs to give an idea of frequency and repetition: la spastiklan waj "He was (repeatedly) making tortillas." I give these forms so that the student may recognize them. The plural suffixes and reduplication deserve much more study than is provided here. 3.8.4 Possessed nouns For possessed nouns there are two suffixes: -tak es the most common j-bankil-tak "my older brothers" k-ihts'in-tak "my young brothers" j-ts'i'i-tak "my dogs" 3.8.5 Kinship terms -ab is used with a few kinship terms k-ichan-ab "my nephews" j-nich'n-ab "my children (male speaking)" There is no way of distinguishing between "our parents" and "our father". 3.9 Stories from "The second reader of Tzeltal" Here the stories from "The Second Reader of Tzeltal" (from the National Indigenous Institution, Mexico City, 1954) begin. These stories come from the dialect of Oxchuc. The orthography is normalized. The student should pay close attention to the way the story switches between past and present. In spontaneous language, the definite article te is used very little. 3.9.1 Text 1 bayal laj kixim ta joj mut. (joj mut, "to be healed") jjwan, la spas xutax. (xutax, "scarecrow") "ya sxi' xutax joj mut," chih. (-xi', "to fear") tal joj mut; ma' ba la sxi' xutax. la sti' yil te me kuxul. (te me, "if") (kuxul, "alive") "ma' ba kuxul," xchih joj mut. spisil laj ta joj mut 'ixim. In the first and last phrase, the quantifier (bayal, spisil) has been fronted. 'ay me' mut, ya sna' lot. (me' mut, "hen") yak ta paxeal ta ha'mal sjok yalaltak tojol kaj ta k'op: (kaj-, "to begin") (k'op, "word") "tok tok keh," xhih. "He said 'toc toc'", he said. laj ya'iy stojol yajwal. ('ajwal-il, "owner") 'ahnimal bah yil. "laj ta ti'el ta wax kalak'," xchih bahel. ('alak'-il, "domesticated animal, hen") (wax, "mountain lion") ma'yuk wax k'oh stah. ta yan weltah laj ya'iy stojol: (weltah, "turn, one time") "tok tok keh," xchih me' mut. ma' ba bah yil. "slot," xchih. ha' uk me to, ma' slot uk. (ha' uk me to, "but, however") melel te talem wax. (melel, "true") spisil laj ta ti'el ta wax a'ala mutetik. ('ala mut, "chick") 'awa'iy. ma' lek uk lot. 3.9.2 Explanatory comments 1 The word yalaltak is the possessed plural. It seems that the root 'al is reduplicated to emphasize the plurality. The phrase "___" keh means "I say '___'". It is an idiom with the root 'eh-al ("mouth"). In the phrase melel te talem wax, the article te is used to introduce the subordinate phrase: "It is true that the mountain cat has arrived." The word 'ala ("small") in the phrase lala mutetik ("little birds") seems to be a form of 'al-al ("child") that has lost its final l. Pay attention to the expression ya sna' lot, ("He knows how to lie/ he lies"). -na' is used in many expressions referring to habits: ya sna' 'elek' "He knows how to steal/He is a thief." ya sna' yuch' mats' "He knows how to drink pozol/He drinks pozol." The word lot is used in a possessed form to say that something is not true: slot means "it is a lie." The form 'alot is equivalent to "You lie". The absolute form is not used in this sense. The phrase ha' uk me to ("although it is so, however") uses the particle uk freely. Here it gives a dubitative meaning to the phrase ha' me to ("that is"). We already learned the use of uk with ma in forms like ma' lek uk. "It isn't good." teb ma cham uk. "He almost died." A similar construction but with an unclear meaning is manchuk ("no/no way/although/you don't do that"). It seems to come from ma' nix uk (from nix ("no more")) by means of manxuk, but this is mere conjecture. Another use of uk in constructing phrases is to follow intransitive verbs following ma' or a verb without the prefix x-. For example, in addition to the constructions ya jk'an jpas "I want to do it." ya jk'an xchamon. "I want to die." one finds ya jk'an cham-uk-on "I want to die." This use of uk is seen commonly with the verb -'ak'( "to give, to allow, to permit"). 'ak'a yil. "Let him see." 'ak'a xtal. "Let him come." 'ak'a taluk. '"Let him come." and when an intransitive is used with another intransitive: bah kil. "I went to see." bah xwayon. "I went to sleep." bah wayukon. "I went to sleep." I do not understand the difference between the forms with x- and those with -uk. There are a few more constructions where the use of uk is more independent and deserves the name of subjunctive marker. Present tense conditional phrases are formed with te me. In this construction the same definite article used to introduce subordinate phrases is used. te me ya xtalon, ya smajon. "If I come, he hits me." te ma ya smajon, ya xchamon. "If he hits me, I will die." In the past tense, one must use the subjunctive element uk. te me talukon, la smajon. "If I had come, he would have killed me." te me yakuk talon, la smajon. "If I had come, he would have killed me." te me yakuk smajon, chamon. "If he had hit me, I would have died." One can see in the phrases that yakuk smajon comes from ya(k) smajon plus uk but the explanation of yakuk talon remains difficult. When a subordinate phrase is uncertain in Tzeltal one usually uses uk. ma jna' wan xtaluk. "I don't know if he's coming." 'alboton xtaluk. "They told me that he was coming." uk is also used in a few expressions as something equivalent to the English -ever, as in: bay-uk "wherever" mach'ay-uk "whoever" bil-uk "whatever" biluk 'ut'il "however" The word biluk looks like it is derived from bin ("what") with a change of n to l. It is possible that beluk ("that, what") has a similar derivation. It is difficult to understand why uk is used with many phrases like tebuk ("a little bit") and chebuk ("only two") but it is a fact nonetheless. 3.9.3 Text 2 'ay mamal t'ul, ya sna' 'elek'. Once there was an old rabbit who was a thief. (t'ul, "rabbit") la yil 'aw sk'al spat xuhk. ('aw, "sowing (time)") (xuhk, "corner") muken k'oh sk'uxbe sk'al ta 'ahk'ubal. (muk-, "to hide oneself") ('ahk'ubal, "night") bayal 'ahk'ubal xk'oht uk mamal t'ul. jun 'ahk'ubal bah yil te ma 'ay to hilem. 'ay to tebuk la stah mamal t'ul. jun yo'tan yak sk'uxel 'ixim. ma la yil 'ay winik nak'al ta ti' k'inal. (-nak', "to hide") (k'inal, "land, terrain") ha' bi ha', te spat xuhk. (ha' bi ha', "that is to say, in other words") lihkem sjol yu'un bayal lajem ta t'ul sk'al. (lihk-, "to rise oneself, to get up") (lihk- -jol, "to get angry") sk'aal 'uh la smuktay mamal t'ul. (k'aal, "day") (-muktay, "to spy on, to observe") t'om tuhk'. laj mamal t'ul. (t'om-, "to explode, to burst") 'awa'iy bit'il ma' lek uk 'elek'. (bit'il/bin 'ut'il, "how") 3.9.4 Explanatory comments 2 Note that, as in English, attributive adjectives precede the words that they modify: mamal t'ul means "old rabbit". Given that the phrase mamal t'ul is not definite and does not carry te, the article te is not used to introduce the modifying phrase that follows. te is only used to introduce a relative clause when the noun it modifies is definite. See the following examples: 'ay t'ul ya sna' 'elek' "There is a rabbit that knows how to steal." la kil te t'ul te ya sna' 'elek' "I saw the rabbit that knows how to steal." la kil mach'a la slo'layat "I saw who deceived you." la kil te mach'a te la slo'layat "I saw the person who deceived you." 'aw sk'al means "He is sowing his cornfield". sk'al spat xuhk is "the cornfield behind the corner". Note the dissimulation of m to n in muken (from muk-em) ("hidden"). The uk in xk'oht uk means "also, more". In order to say "me too" one says ho'on-uk. In some dialects one says eh-uk with the particle -el or ek (a reduced form) instead of uk. sk'aal 'uh ("days of the month/all month") The words k'aal and bit'il are the Oxchuc equivalents of k'ahk'al and bin 'util. jaykoht t'ul 'och ta sk'al te mamale? "How many rabbits entered the cornfield?" jkoht nix. "Only one." 3.9.4.1 Numbers The Tzeltal numbers have various forms according to what is being counted. Here I give the numbers used to count people (jtuhl), animals (jkoht), and things (jun). things animals persons 1 jun j koht jtuhl 2 cheb cha' koht cha' tuhl 3 'oxeb 'ox koht 'ox tuhl 4 chaneb chan koht chan tuhl 5 ho'eb ho' koht ho' tuhl 6 wakeb wak koht wak tuhl 7 hukeb huk koht huk tuhl 8 waxakeb waxak koht waxak tuhl 9 baluneb balun koht balun tuhl 10 lajuneb lajun koht lajun tuhl 11 bulucheb bulucheb ta koht bulucheb ta tuhl 12 lajchayeb lajchayeb ta koht bulucheb ta tuhl 13 'ox lajuneb 'ox lajuneb ta koht 'ox lajuneb ta tuhl 14 chan lajuneb chan lajuneb ta koht chan lajuneb ta tuhl ... ... ... ... 20 jtahb jtahb ta koht htahb ta tuhl 21 jun scha' winik ... ... 22 cheb scha' winik ... ... 40 cha' winik 60 'ox winik 80 chan winik ... ... 200 lajun winik 300 ho' lajun winik 400 bahk' One can see that the numbers are compounds of a number