WHAT ARE THE MAYAN PRONOUNS? (WITH EXAMPLES) - LITERATURE - 2024

The pronouns in Maya do not always have a specific meaning as independent words, as it does with the Spanish language. Some of these pronouns must precede a word to have meaning.

The Mayan language is said to derive from the Protomaya language. This language is estimated to have existed more than 5000 years ago; Yucatec Maya is an evolution of it.

This language is widely documented. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), it is estimated that more than 766,000 people speak it in Mexico.

This language is officially spoken in three Mexican states. However, Mexico is not the only country where this language is spoken.

Records indicate that the language also exists in the northern part of Guatemala and in Belize.

The grammar of Yucatec Maya uses monosyllabic morphemes as base elements. In the texts written in this language you can find different types of Mayan pronouns that are used to substitute names or nouns.

The 3 types of pronouns in Mayan

1- Personal pronouns

These refer to grammatical morphemes that generally express the reference made to a person, animal or object.

Examples:

2- Dependent pronouns

These have no meaning when they are alone. To have any meaning they must precede a verb.

When the verb begins in a consonant, the pronoun is preceded by the letter "k". If the verb begins in a vowel it is preceded by "w" for the first and second person; while the letter "y" is used to precede the third person.

Examples:

Examples with verbs

How to conjugate the Mayan verb “ajal”, which in Spanish means “awaken”.

How to conjugate and write the Mayan verb "janal", which in Spanish means "eat".

3- Possessive pronouns

These are the same as dependent pronouns, only they are placed before nouns. This combination ends up turning it into a possessive adjective.

Examples:

- To indicate possession of an object. The Mayan word “o'och” will be used, which in Spanish means “food”.

- To indicate possession of an animal. The verb “peek” will be used, which in Spanish means “dog”.

References

1. Álvarez, C. (1997). Ethnolinguistic Dictionary of the Colonial Yucatec Mayan Language, Volume 3. México: UNAM.
2. Avelino, H. (2001). New Perspectives in Mayan Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
3. Judith Aissen, NC (2017). The Mayan Languages. London and New York: Taylor & Francis.
4. Maria, PB (1859). Mayan language art reduced to succinct rules, and Yucatecan semi-lexicon. Mérida de Yucatán: Espinosa.
5. Pye, C. (2017). The Comparative Method of Language Acquisition Research. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.