Appendix C: Glossary of grammatical terms

Absolutive (Set B). The pronoun set that marks the subject of an intransitive verb, the object of a transitive verb, and the subject of a non-verbal predicate. Forms: i-/in-, a-/at-, Ø, oj-, ix-, e-/e'- on verbs; in, at, Ø, öj, ïx, e as free words.

Agent. The participant that performs an action. In a transitive verb the agent is marked by Set A; in a passive it is optionally expressed with roma; in an antipassive it is the Set B subject.

Agentive suffix. -el (plural -ela') making "one who does": tijonel "teacher", samajel "worker", k'ayinel "vendor".

Animacy hierarchy. The ranking (people > animals > plants and things) that governs whether a noun takes a plural suffix: high-animacy nouns take -a'/-i', low-animacy nouns stay unmarked or take taq.

Antipassive. A voice that makes a transitive verb intransitive by demoting the object; the agent becomes the Set B subject. Root transitives add -on, derived transitives replace -Vj with -Vn. Required when the agent is questioned or relativized.

Aspect. The grammatical category that says how an event relates to time: ongoing (incompletive), finished (completive), expected or possible (potential). Kaqchikel marks aspect rather than tense; the English past, present and future are approximations.

Causative. A transitive verb meaning "cause to X", derived from an intransitive with -isaj: -wär "sleep" > -wartisaj "put to sleep".

Chiasmus. A rhetorical figure in which a second phrase reverses the order of elements of the first (A B, B A); common in formal Kaqchikel.

Completive. The aspect of completed events, marked by x-. Usually translated by the English past.

Couplet. Two parallel words or phrases that together name one idea: qate' qatata' "our ancestors", ruwäch ulew "the world".

Deictic. A pointing word: re...re' "this", la...la' "that", ri...ri' "that (known)", wawe' "here", chi ri' "there".

Derived transitive. A transitive verb stem ending in -Vj (-kanoj, -k'utuj, -tz'ib'aj). Takes no suffix in the imperative; passive in -Vx, antipassive in -Vn.

Directional. An uninflected particle after the verb that adds direction or permanence: pe "toward here", el "away", apo "toward there", kan "remaining", qa "down", aqanäj "up".

Epenthetic vowel. A vowel inserted to ease pronunciation, like the i in niwär or xtib'e; often written, sometimes not.

Ergative (Set A). The pronoun set that marks the subject of a transitive verb and the possessor of a noun. Forms on verbs: in-/inw-, a-/aw-, ru-/r-, qa-/q-, i-/iw-, ki-/k-; on nouns the first person singular is nu-/w- (nupo't, wochoch), the rest are the same.

Focus. Putting a phrase first in the sentence (often with ja) to single it out: ja ri umül xb'anon "it was the rabbit who did it".

Glottal stop. The catch in the throat written with the apostrophe ('); a full consonant in Kaqchikel, not written at the start of a word.

Glottalized consonant. A consonant made with a closed glottis: b', ch', k', q', t', tz'.

Hortative. The mood of commands, wishes and "let's": prefix t- before zero 3sB, k- elsewhere. Used for first and third person as well as second.

Imperative. The second person command form, a subtype of the hortative: kab'e "go!", tab'ana' "do it!".

Incompletive. The aspect of ongoing, habitual or scheduled events, marked by n- before zero 3sB and y- elsewhere. Usually translated by the English present.

Intransitive verb. A verb with one participant (its subject), marked by Set B: yib'e "I go".

Irrealis. The particle ta marking something not real: the second half of negation (man ... ta), wishes (ninwajo' ta), conditions (manta ... ta).

Lax vowel. One of the short, centralized vowels ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, found only in the last syllable of a word; they become tense when a suffix is added.

Morpheme. The smallest meaningful piece of a word: in xutij, the morphemes are x-, Ø, u-, -tij.

Non-verbal predicate. A predicate that is not a verb (a noun, adjective, positional stative or k'o); its subject is a free Set B word: in tijonel, at ütz, e tz'uyül, öj k'o.

Passive. A voice that makes a transitive verb intransitive by promoting the object to subject; root transitives tense the vowel (xub'än > xb'an), derived transitives take -Vx (xuk'utuj > xk'utüx).

Patient. The participant that undergoes the action; the object of a transitive verb, the subject of a passive, an oblique richin-phrase in an antipassive.

Perfect. The form Set A + stem + -on (root) or -Vn (derived) with no aspect prefix, meaning "has done": rub'anon "he has done it", wetaman "I know". Intransitive perfects end in -inäq/-näq: b'enäq "gone".

Positional. A CVC root naming a position or state (tz'uy- "seated") that derives a stative (tz'uyül), an intransitive (-tz'uye'), a transitive (-tz'uyub'a') and adjectives (tz'uyutz'ik).

Possessive prefix. Set A on a noun: nutz'i' "my dog", wochoch "my house".

Potential. The aspect of future or possible events, marked by xt- before zero 3sB and xk- elsewhere.

Predicate. The part of the sentence that says something about the subject; in Kaqchikel it comes first.

Prefix / suffix. A morpheme attached before / after a stem.

Reduplication. Repeating a word or part of it for intensity or distribution: ütz ütz "very good", q'ij q'ij "every day", ojer ojer kan.

Relational noun. A possessed noun that does the work of an English preposition or conjunction: wichin "mine", roma "because of him", chuwäch "in front of it".

Root transitive. A one-syllable CVC transitive verb with a lax vowel (-b'än, -tz'ët, -löq'); takes -V' in the imperative, tenses its vowel in the passive.

Set A / Set B. See ergative / absolutive.

Stative. A positional form in -Vl or -an (tz'uyül, pa'äl, xulan) describing a position already reached; takes free Set B subjects.

Stem. The part of the verb to which aspect and pronoun prefixes attach; may be a bare root or a derived form.

Tense vowel. One of the full vowels a, e, i, o, u, as opposed to the lax ä, ë, ï, ö, ü.

Transitive verb. A verb with two participants, the subject (Set A) and the object (Set B): nintz'ët "I see it", yatintz'ët "I see you".

Versive. An intransitive verb of becoming in -är/-ir: -nimär "get big", -tewär "get cold".

Vowel harmony. The imperative suffix of root transitives copying the root vowel: taloq'o', tak'utu', tab'ana'.

VOS. The basic order verb, object, subject: xutij ri kinäq' ri umül "the rabbit ate the beans"; SVO is now also common.