- Origin
- Linguistic family
- Language characteristics
- Syntactic characteristics
- Where was speak
- Examples of words
- References
The Chol language is one of the dialects that is spoken in certain territories of southern Mexico. It is a nationally recognized language because it has its own alphabet and pronunciation. In addition, it has a writing system that differentiates it from other languages.
This language is also known as ch ¢ ol or lakty ¢ añ, whose translation is “our language”. A language that is fundamental in the history of Central America because it was relevant when deciphering the writing of the Mayans and contributed to the construction of the city of Palenque.
The Chol language was fundamental in the history of Central America. Source: pixabay.com
It is worth noting that Chol has two dialect variants: one that covers the regions of Tila and Sabanilla, while the other includes the areas of Tumbalá and Salto de Agua. According to oral literature, the former is identified as Western speech and the latter as Eastern.
However, between both dialects there is a high degree of intelligibility, distinguishing only by the use of verb tenses and the use of certain local words. Likewise, it is worth mentioning that the Chol language has been changing over time.
At the beginning of the classical period (300-900 AD), this language distanced itself from its immediate ancestors and began to acquire linguistic terms and features from other languages, such as Olmec, Nahuatl, and Spanish.
The borrowed phonemes and words are evidenced in the religious concepts, the military organization and the socio-political structure of the indigenous Choles.
Origin
There is no precise date that indicates the birth of Chol as a particular language of some villages. Linguists and ethnohistoric researchers state that this language may be as old as the Mayan people.
However, in the archives of colonial times it is possible to appreciate that the dialect was already used by the men who lived near the Motagua and Grijalva rivers, as well as by those individuals who were located in certain places in the Yucatan peninsula.
In this sense, Chol was spoken in the southern, eastern and western areas of Mexico; but in the middle of the 16th century the geographical distribution of the language decreased, since it was only used by the ethnic groups that lived on the banks of the Usamacinta and Lacantún rivers.
Based on these data, the specialists expressed that the chol has a cultured origin, since its variants are made up of numerous erudite words. Therefore, it was a literary dialect that was part of bilingual society, being used by the indigenous elite.
Years later, this classical language rebuilt its morphology due to the cultural interaction it experienced. Thus arose the modern or popular chol that predominates today and is spoken by 202,806 native people.
Linguistic family
The Ch ¢ ol language belongs to the Mayan language family and comes from the western branch, which is divided into two: Tzeltalano and Cholán. In turn, these derivations are subdivided, since Tzeltalano is made up of the Tzeltal and Tzotzil dialects.
On the other hand, the languages that Cholán includes are Chol and Chontal. Thus, it is observed that Chol emanates from Choltí, an extinct language that appeared during the rule of the Mayan civilization.
Language characteristics
One of the main characteristics of chol is that its alphabet consists of 29 characters, among them the following stand out: ch ¢, k ¢, p ¢, ts ¢ and ty ¢. Frequent sounds in Mexican Spanish, but difficult to pronounce for Spanish speakers from other countries.
In this language the vowel alternation is carried out. That is, the roots that are considered independent usually have specific vowels, although these are altered when an affix is attached to the word.
In addition, it is a dialect that does not have many verbs and the few that it does have act as auxiliaries to affirmative sentences or phrases. The only verb that is used freely is "an", which depending on the context means "have" or "be".
Verbonominal roots are elements that identify this language and fulfill different functions: they can be nouns if they are in the company of possessive pronouns and both transitive and intransitive verbs if the affixes that compose them indicate action.
The units that modify the subject and predicate are adverbs and adjectives. Both generally share the role of replacing the direct or indirect object. However, adjectives do not change verb clauses and adverbs do not appear before nouns.
Syntactic characteristics
The order that transitive sentences follow is that where the subject is placed first, then the predicate, and lastly the object; but the subject and the object are optional in the intransitive clauses, since the predicate can exercise the function of both together with a verb.
Like the other Mayan languages, the Chol number system is vigesimal. In addition, the numbers are not congruent by themselves, but they deserve a suffix that qualifies them.
Where was speak
The villages where Chol is spoken as a mother tongue are located in Mexico, specifically in the states of Chiapas, Campache and Tabasco. However, most of the people who use the language are in the municipalities of Tila and Tumbalá.
There are still small Mexican communities that speak the Chol language. Source: pixabay.com
However, it should be noted that after the war against the Spanish, many of the indigenous Choles decided to emigrate. For this reason, there are natives in Belize, Guatemala and the United States who dominate the dialect.
Examples of words
Despite time, Chol is one of the few indigenous languages that continues to be in force and is used by men both in its graphic and oral expression. However, it no longer retains broad traits of the cult language that it once was.
Even so, it remains a structured and autonomous dialect. Here is a short list with some significant words:
- Axuniul: brother.
- I ¢ k: dark.
- Ixik: woman.
- Kajk: light.
- Kin: celebration.
- Kuñul: know.
- Kuxkubiñel: love.
- Lejmel: home.
- Majch-il: family.
- Machulal: animal.
- Ña: mother.
- Ñupujel: marriage.
- Paniumil: world.
- Tiat: father.
- Tsa-tian: laugh.
- Tiejip: tool.
- Welil: food.
- Winik: man.
- Wokol-abú: thank you.
- Wutié: fruit.
References
- Heinrich, B. (2008). Indigenous vocabulary. Retrieved on October 12, 2019 from Brussels School of International Studies: kent.ac.uk
- Josserand, K. (2006). Chol ritual language. Retrieved on October 13, 2019 from Florida University: ufl.edu
- Ríos, Z. (2016). Linguistic history of indigenous peoples. Retrieved on October 12, 2019 from the Mexican Academy of History: acadmexhistoria.org.mx
- Sapper, K. (2004). Choles and Chortis. Retrieved on October 12, 2019 from Centro de Estudios Superiores de México y Centroamérica: cesmeca.mx
- Sotomayor, P. (2015). Mayan dialects? Retrieved on October 12, 2019 from the National Library of Guatemala: mcd.gob.gt
- Tozzer, M. (2012). Comparative study of the mayan languages. Retrieved on October 13, 2019 from Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics: ling-phil.ox.ac.uk