Last Updated: 2019-08-07
SLIGHTLY COMPROMISED: orthographic ambiguity between ejective stops and stop-glottal stop sequences
Background
Language Family: Mayan / Quichean-Mamean / Greater Quichean / Kekchi
- The language has several different names, including Kekchi, K’ekchi’, and Q’eqchi’.
- Qeqchi is spoken in Guatemala and Brazil.
Phonology
Consonants
- Stewart (2015) describes the dorsal fricative as both velar (p. 16) and uvular (p. 12) at different points in the document. I have followed the lead of Pinkerton (1976) in preferring to describe it as velar (p. 10).
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Place of Articulation
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Manner of Articulation
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Labial
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Alveolar
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Postalveolar
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Palatal
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Velar
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Uvular
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Glottal
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Stops
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p ɓ
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t tʼ
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k kʼ
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q qʼ
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ʔ
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Affricates
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ts tsʼ
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tʃ tʃʼ
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Fricatives
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s
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ʃ
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x
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h
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Nasals
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m
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n
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Trills
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r
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Approximants
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w
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l
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j
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Note: Phonemes that share a cell match in voicing, but those on the right are ejectives. The exception is the labial stops, which contrast in voicing (/ɓ/ is an implosive).
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Vowels
- Vowel length is contrastive in Qeqchi (Stewart 2015, 12). Long vowels are written by doubling the vowel character.
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Front
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Central
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Back
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High
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i
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u
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Mid
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e
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ɔ
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Low
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a
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Alphabet
- /ʔ/ can follow plain stops, which creates possible ambiguity. For example, ⟨t’⟩ might represent an ejective consonant or a sequence of a plain stop and a glottal stop. In such cases, I have opted to prefer ejective consonants, as they are significantly more common in Qeqchi than stop/glottal sequences (DeChicchis 2011, 3).
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Grapheme
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Phoneme
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Comment
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a
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/a/
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b’
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/ɓ/
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e
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/e/
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h
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/h/
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i
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/i/
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j
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/x/
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k
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/k/
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k’
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/kʼ/
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l
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/l/
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m
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/m/
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n
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/n/
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o
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/ɔ/
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p
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/p/
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q
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/q/
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q’
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/qʼ/
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r
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/r/
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s
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/s/
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t
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/t/
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t’
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/tʼ/
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u
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/u/
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w
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/w/
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x
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/ʃ/
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y
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/j/
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’
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/ʔ/
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⟨-⟩ is also used on occasion
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Digraph
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ch
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/tʃ/
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ch’
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/tʃʼ/
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tz
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/ts/
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tz’
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/tsʼ/
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Lenition Rules
- /h/ voices to [ɦ] intervocalically, and sometimes deletes entirely in non-final postconsonantal positions (Stewart 2015, 16).
Misc. Rules
- Preconsonantal and word-final plain stops (besides /ʔ/) are realized with aspiration (Stewart 2015, 13).
- Non-pulmonic consonants are realized as preglottalized when in postvocalic position (e.g. /kʼ/ → [ʔkʼ], /ɓ/ - [ʔbʼ]) (@KekStewart2015, pp. 14-15; Pinkerton 1976, 12).
- /n/ assimilates to [ŋ] before dorsal consonants (Stewart 2015, 17).
- Pinkerton (1976) argues that /r/ is typically realized as [ʂ], with voicing and trilling occurring intermittently for some speakers (p. 16).
- Glides “obstruentize” word-initially and in postconsonantal syllable-initial positions; this results in what Pinkerton (1976) describes as [ẘ] and [j̊], but what some other sources describe as [kʷ] and [tʲ] (pp. 17, 26).
References
DeChicchis, Joseph. 2011. “Revisiting an Imperfection in Mayan Orthography.” Journal of Policy Studies 37: 1–7.
Pinkerton, Sandra. 1976. Studies in K’ekchi. Austin: Dept. of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin.
Stewart, Stephen O. 2015. Q’eqchi’ Grammar. SOS Publishing.