Chapter 6: Pointing Words: this, that, the, and "it was X that"

Starting point#

Ana is at the Tecpán market, at the stall where xta Ixchel sells vegetables.

Twelve short lines, and pointing everywhere: rere' "this" and lala' "those", the frames re ichaj re' and la taq ik la', the tracking frame ri kinäq' ri' "those beans (the ones we were just talking about)", wawe' "here" against chi la' "over there", the focus phrase ja ri kape "it's the coffee", xa xe "just", and k'a ri' "then" and ke ri' "like that". Apart from the pointing words, only manq'uq' "quetzal (the coin)" and qasan "cheap, low" are new.

How it works#

What "pointing words" are#

Words like "this", "that", "here" and "now" point rather than describe: they locate a thing relative to the speaker. Linguists call them deictics, from a Greek word for pointing. English points two ways, near "this" and far "that". Kaqchikel points with three particles: re' for near, la' for far, and ri' for something already known. The third has no English twin, and it matters most.

The frames re ... re' and la ... la'#

The first thing that surprises English speakers is that a Kaqchikel demonstrative comes in two pieces that wrap around the noun. "This book" is not re wuj but re wuj re'; "that house" is la jay la'. The opening particle announces that a pointed-at phrase is starting, and the closing particle, the one with the glottal stop, carries the actual pointing.

Here is the first frame taken apart:

re  po't   re'
DEM blouse this
"this blouse"

The full set:

The frames are used both for things you can touch and point at, and for things only "present" in the conversation:

Jeb'ël re po't re'.
This blouse is beautiful.

Jotöl rajil la kej la'.
That horse is expensive.

Xinlöq' re wuj re' pa B'oko'.
I bought this book in Chimaltenango.

Xukem re po't re' te Ixk'at.
Ixk'at wove this blouse.

Ninwajo' la taq xkoya' la'.
I want those tomatoes.

In Xukem re po't re' te Ixk'at the framed object follows the verb and the subject comes last, Kaqchikel's neutral verb-object-subject order (Chapter 11). The frame keeps the object phrase together as one unit.

A pitfall with la. The opening particle la looks exactly like the yes/no question particle la from Chapter 3. The question la stands at the very beginning of the sentence, in front of the predicate (¿La k'o ik? "Is there chile?"), while the demonstrative la stands in front of a noun and is answered by a closing la' (la ik la' "that chile"). A sentence can contain both: ¿La käq la ik la'? "Is that chile red?"

Number is not in the frame#

English changes "this" to "these" and "that" to "those". Kaqchikel does not: re ... re' means "this" or "these", la ... la' means "that" or "those". If plurality matters, it is shown inside the frame, on the noun itself (if the noun has a plural form, see Chapter 7), with the plural particle taq, or with a number:

That last line is real: re po't re' can be one blouse or several, and in the market nobody is confused, because the blouses are right there. Objects, plants and most animals are often left unmarked for plural (Chapter 7), and the frame does nothing to change that.

What else fits inside the frame#

The frame embraces the whole noun phrase: number first, then adjective, then taq if used, then the noun. Possessed nouns go inside too, which English cannot do ("this my blouse" is not English, but re nupo't re' is perfectly good Kaqchikel).

Order inside the frame: re + (number) + (adjective) + (taq) + noun + re'. Put the whole phrase inside: re ka'i' nutz'i' re', never ka'i' re nutz'i' re'.

Pointing without a noun: rere' and lala'#

When there is no noun to frame, the two halves fuse into a single word, a demonstrative pronoun: rere' "this, this one, these" and lala' "that, that one, those". These are very common, because pointing at something is easier than naming it.

Rere' nupo't.
This is my blouse.

Lala' rochoch ma Kawoq.
That is Kawoq's house.

¿Achike rere'?
What is this?

Rere' wichin; lala' awichin.
This one is mine; that one is yours.

Ninwajo' rere'.
I want this one (or: these).

Jotöl rajil lala'. That's expensive.

Since rere' and lala' are the frame with nothing inside, they show no number either: Ninwajo' rere' can be "I want this" or "I want these". And they are full pronouns, so they can be the subjects of the verbless sentences of Chapter 3: Rere' nupo't is literally "this (is) my blouse".

Kaqchikel has a second, shorter way to say "this is / that is", with ja: ja re' "this (one)", ja la' "that (one)". Ja re' nutz'i' "This is my dog". Ja la' rochoch "That's his house". You will see more of ja below.

The third frame: ri ... ri' for what is already known#

Now the part with no English twin. Besides near and far, Kaqchikel has a frame for "the one we already know about": ri ... ri'. It marks old information, someone or something already introduced into the conversation or the story and now picked up again. The closest literal gloss is "that aforementioned"; in practice you translate ri ... ri' as "the" or "that".

Here is a short original tale that shows how a storyteller introduces characters and then tracks them:

The pattern is the backbone of Kaqchikel storytelling:

1. A new character enters with jun "a, one": k'o jun ala' "there is a young man".
2. As long as he stays in focus he can carry the frame ri ala' ri' "the (aforementioned) young man".
3. Once he is thoroughly established, the frame is usually trimmed to the single particle ri: ri tijoxel "the student".

You will see this rhythm (jun to introduce, ri ... ri' or ri to track) in every traditional tale in Chapter 25.

ri and jun: "the" and "a"#

In ordinary speech the full frame is usually trimmed to its opening particle, and bare ri works much like English "the":

Xutz'ët ri tz'i'.
He saw the dog.

Nim ri jay.
The house is big.

Bare ri is the everyday choice; the full ri ... ri' is for deliberately pointing back ("that same man"), above all in stories.

Two things differ from English "the". Ri happily stands before a possessed noun: ri nupo't "my blouse" (literally "the my-blouse"), ri rochoch "his house". English forbids "the my blouse", but ri is really the remains of a pointing frame, and a possessed noun is a perfectly pointable thing. And ri is common before names, ri a Tz'ikin, ri xta Ixchel, except in direct address, where the name stands bare, as in the dialogue's Xta Ixchel, ¿achike rere'?

Xb'e ri a Tz'ikin pa Chiq'a'l.
Tz'ikin went to Comalapa.

K'o ri nupwaq pa jay.
My money is at home.

The number jun "one" does the opposite job: it serves as "a, an", the word that brings something new into a conversation, as in the tale's k'o jun ala'. With chik it makes "another, the other one", and ri jun picks out one item already under discussion:

Ninwajo' jun chik.
I want another one.

Jeb'ël ri jun, itzel ri jun chik.
The one is pretty, the other is ugly.

riri': "this" for ideas and situations#

Like the other frames, ri ... ri' fuses into a pronoun, riri', but with a division of labor. For people Kaqchikel uses rija' "he, she" (Chapter 3); riri' is for things, and especially for ideas, statements and situations:

Riri' man ütz ta.
This (what you describe) isn't good.

Xinwetamaj riri' pa tijob'äl.
I learned this at school.

K'ayew riri'.
This is difficult.

So rere' is "this one" that you can point at; riri' is "this (matter)" that you have just been talking about.

ja ri: "it is X that ...", the focus construction#

The particle ja (sometimes written ja'; do not confuse it with ja' "yes") combines with ri to push one element of the sentence into the spotlight. The nearest English is the cleft sentence "it is/was X who/that ...", but Kaqchikel uses it far more often than English uses clefts, often just to say "as for X" or "X is the one". The shape is ja ri + focused phrase + (ri) + rest of the sentence.

It is easiest to see against the plain sentence it is built from. Xpe a Tojil iwir simply reports that Tojil came yesterday; Ja ri a Tojil xpe iwir answers the question of which person came.

Ja ri a Tojil xpe iwir. It was Tojil who came yesterday.

Ja ri wuj ri xinsäch, man ri pwäq ta. It was the book that I lost, not the money.

Ja ri wakami xtipe te Ixk'at. It's today that Ixk'at will come.

Ja ri pa Iximche' xaläx wi ma Kawoq. It was in Tecpán that Kawoq was born.

Ja ri käq ninwajo'.
It's the red one I want.

The wi in the Tecpán sentence is the trace particle wi (Chapter 5), which follows the verb whenever a place phrase is fronted.

The focused element can be a subject, an object, a time, a place, or an adjective standing in for a noun (ja ri käq). One restriction: when it is the subject of a transitive verb ("it was Ixk'at who wove it"), the verb changes to a special form, the antipassive, which Chapter 17 (Voice) explains. Until then, use ja ri with intransitive verbs, objects, times and places.

The ri' family: ke ri', k'a ri', roma ri', chi ri'#

The closing particle ri' also attaches to four other small words, and the resulting phrases are among the most frequent in the language. Each stands for something other than a thing: a manner, a moment, a cause, a place.

ke ri' "like that, thus, so" (ke = "like"). It stands for a way of doing something.

Ke ri' nqab'än röj pa Iximche'.
That's how we do it in Tecpán.

Man ke ri' ta. Not like that.

Ja', ke ri'.
Yes, that's right (it is so).

Man tab'ij ke ri'.
You're welcome. (literally: Don't say it like that.)

The reply man tab'ij ke ri' is the standard answer to matyöx "thank you"; it politely waves the thanks away. Some speakers say ke re' with the near particle; the meaning is the same.

k'a ri' "then, after that" (k'a = "until, up to"). It strings events in order, and it is the everyday way to say "and then".

Nab'ey yiwa', k'a ri' yib'e pa samaj.
First I eat, then I go to work.

Xojapon pa k'ayb'äl, k'a ri' xqalöq' ri ichaj.
We arrived at the market, then we bought the greens.

Matyöx k'a ri' from Chapter 2 is literally "thanks, then", a slightly warmer thank-you.

roma ri' "because of that, therefore, so" (roma is the relational noun -oma "because of" with the third person prefix r-; many speakers say ruma ri').

K'o jöb' wakami. Roma ri' man yib'e ta pa juyu'.
It's raining today. That's why I'm not going to the mountain.

Qasan rajil ri ichaj wakami. Roma ri' k'iy xinlöq'.
The greens are cheap today. So I bought a lot.

chi ri' "there" (chi = "at, in"). This is the "there" of a place already mentioned (Chapter 5); it points back, just like ri ... ri'.

Xojb'e pa k'ayb'äl. Chi ri' xqatz'ët xta Ixchel.
We went to the market. There we saw Ixchel.

Its relatives work the same way: chi la' "over there", which Ixchel used for the tortillas across the stall, and the regional chi re' "here".

wakami: "now"#

Beside wawe' "here" (Chapter 5) stands its partner in time, wakami "now, today", a single word rather than a frame.

Wakami yisamäj pa jay.
Today I'm working at home.

You will also hear wakamïn, the usual spelling in the authors' newer book, and kami; around Lake Atitlán, kamik (and waral for "here").

xa, xe and xa xe: "just, only"#

Two tiny adverbs limit or minimize: xa "just, merely" and xe "only". Together, xa xe (also written xaxe) means "only, just, nothing but", and this combination is what you will hear most.

Xa xe ka'i' manq'uq' rajil.
It costs only two quetzals.

Xa xe jun nutz'i' k'o.
I have just one dog.

Xe rin xib'e pa k'ayb'äl.
Only I went to the market.

Xa jun wuj ninwajo'.
I just want one book.

Xa by itself has a softer, slightly dismissive flavor ("it's just ..."), and it also turns up as a connector meaning "but, rather" (Chapter 22). Xe on its own is the sharper "only" that excludes everything else.

Reading: a basket at the market#

Read this once for the story, then again watching the pointing words: jun introduces the man, ri ... ri' and then ri track him, and chi ri', k'a ri' and roma ri' move the story along.

Patterns at a glance#

The three frames

Inside the frame: re + (number) + (adjective) + (taq) + noun + re'. Possessed nouns allowed: re nupo't re'.

Number: not shown by the frame. Use a plural suffix (ixoqi'), taq (taq wuj), or a number.

The ri' family

Single-word deictics: wawe' "here" (waral in Lake towns); wakami "now, today" (wakamïn, kami, kamik).

Minimizers: xa "just, merely"; xe "only"; xa xe / xaxe "only, just".

Indefinite and "the other": jun "a, one"; jun chik "another, the other"; ri jun "the one".

Vocabulary#

Reference: the verbs in this chapter's texts#

These verbs appear in the dialogue and the examples. Read them as whole words for now; they enter the deck in the chapters that teach their forms (Chapters 11 and 12).

Usage and dialect notes#

Frame or no frame? In careful speech and in writing, re and la come with their closing partner. You will hear a bare re or la before a noun in fast conversation, but close the frame yourself: a frame with only one half sounds unfinished, and a whole one is never wrong. With ri it is the other way round: bare ri is the default, and the full ri ... ri' is the marked, pointing-back version.

Keep the glottal stop. Ri opens a phrase; ri' closes one or builds ke ri', k'a ri', roma ri' and chi ri'. Say the final glottal stop clearly: it is the difference between ri po't "the blouse" and ... ri po't ri' "that blouse we mentioned". The same goes for re' and la'.

Don't translate "the" mechanically. Possessed nouns and names take ri freely, but many generic statements need none at all: Jotöl rajil ixim wakami "Corn is expensive these days". Where a specific, known thing is meant, keep the ri.

People versus things. Pointing at a person with rere' ("this one here") is possible but blunt, much as in English; for "he, she" say rija'.

roma / ruma. The relational noun "because of" is -oma in Tecpán and Comalapa and -uma in other towns, so "therefore" is roma ri' or ruma ri'. Both are standard.

Looking back and ahead#

The frames point at nouns; the ri' words point at manners, moments, causes and places. Chapter 7 explains the plurals and the taq you saw inside the frames, Chapter 8 fills the adjective slot, and Chapter 17 shows what ja ri does to a transitive verb.