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37-453: There are six dialects of Tzotzil with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility, named after the different regions of Chiapas where they are spoken: Chamula , Zinacantán , San Andrés Larráinzar , Huixtán , Chenalhó , and Venustiano Carranza . Centro de Lengua, Arte y Literatura Indígena (CELALI) suggested in 2002 that the name of the language (and the ethnicity) should be spelled Tsotsil, rather than Tzotzil. Native speakers and writers of

74-579: A nominative-accusative template. In Nhanda, absolutive case has a null suffix while ergative case is marked with some allomorph of the suffixes -nggu or -lu. See the common noun paradigm at play below: Intransitive Subject (ABS) pundu rain. ABS yatka-yu go- ABL . NFUT pundu yatka-yu rain.ABS go-ABL.NFUT Rain is coming. Transitive Subject-Object (ERG-ABS) nyarlu-nggu woman- ERG yawarda kangaroo. ABS nha-'i see- PAST nyarlu-nggu yawarda nha-'i woman-ERG kangaroo.ABS see-PAST The woman saw

111-588: A clay figure on top in the figure of Subcomandante Marcos or Comandante Tacho . Ergative-absolutive language In linguistic typology , ergative–absolutive alignment is a type of morphosyntactic alignment in which the single argument (" subject ") of an intransitive verb behaves like the object of a transitive verb , and differently from the agent (" subject ") of a transitive verb. Examples include Basque , Georgian , Mayan , Tibetan , and certain Indo-European languages (such as Pashto and

148-600: A clear-cut explanation as to why these verbs have evolved this way. One explanation is that verbs such as "sneeze" used to have a direct object (the object being "nose" in the case of "sneeze") and over time lost these objects, yet kept their transitive behavior. In rare cases, such as the Australian Aboriginal language Nhanda , different nominal elements may follow a different case-alignment template. In Nhanda, common nouns have ergative-absolutive alignment—like in most Australian languages—but most pronouns instead follow

185-466: A consonant, which may be a glottal stop. Consonant clusters are almost always at the beginning of a word, with a prefix and a root. Roots in Tzotzil occur in the forms CVC ( tʼul "rabbit"), CV ( to "still"), CVCVC ( bikʼit "small"), CV(C)VC ( xu(v)it "worm", the second consonant disappears in some dialects), CVC-CVC ( ʼajnil "wife"), CVCV ( ʼama "flute") or CVC-CV ( voʼne "long ago"). The most common root

222-449: A noun phrase must be closed by a determiner . The default determiner (commonly called the article , which is suffixed to common nouns and usually translatable by "the" in English) is -a in the singular and -ak in the plural, the plural being marked only on the determiner and never the noun. For common nouns, this default determiner is fused with the ergative case marker. Thus one obtains

259-425: A noun phrase or combine with possessive affixes. The composition of attributives occurs in three ways: For colors: The basic word order of Tzotzil is VOS (verb-object-subject). Subjects and direct objects are not marked for case. The predicate agrees in person, and sometimes in number, with its subject and direct object. Non-emphatic personal pronouns are always left out. Since the agreement system in Tzotzil

296-462: A prefix for nouns is x- , an indicator of a non-domesticated animal: x-tʼel "large lizard" The plural suffixes for a noun change based on whether or not the noun is possessed: Some nouns, such as words for body parts and kinship terms, must always be possessed. They cannot be used without a possessive prefix, or otherwise must be used with an absolute suffix to express an indefinite possessor. The possessive prefixes are: The prefix listed first

333-400: Is ergative-absolutive , the subject of an intransitive verb and the direct object of a transitive verb are marked by the same set of affixes, while the subject of a transitive is marked with a different set of affixes. For example, compare the affixes in the following sentences: In the first sentence, the intransitive verb tal ("come") is affixed by -i-...-otik to show that the subject is

370-420: Is CVC. Almost all Tzotzil words can be analyzed as a CVC root together with certain affixes. In normal speech, stress falls on the first syllable of the root in each word, and the last word in a phrase is heavily stressed. For words in isolation, primary stress falls on the final syllable except in affective verbs with -luh , first person plural exclusive suffixes, and reduplicated stems of two syllables. Then,

407-429: Is a language that has nominative-accusative marking on verbs and ergative–absolutive case marking on nouns. Georgian has an ergative alignment, but the agent is only marked with the ergative case in the perfective aspect (also known as the "aorist screeve "). Compare: K'ac- is the root of the word "man". In the first sentence (present continuous tense) the agent is in the nominative case ( k'aci  ). In

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444-551: Is carried by the CDI 's radio stations XEVFS , broadcasting from Las Margaritas, Chiapas , and XECOPA , based in Copainalá , Chiapas . Chamula San Juan Chamula is a municipality and township in the Mexican state of Chiapas . It is situated some 2.9 km (1.8 mi) from San Cristóbal de las Casas . As of 2010, the municipality had a total population of 76,941. Virtually

481-887: Is one of the Mayan languages . The town enjoys unique autonomous status within Mexico . No outside police or military are allowed in the village. Chamulas have their own police force. As of 2010, the town of Chamula had a population of 3,329. Other than the town of Chamula, the municipality had 149 localities, the largest of which (with 2010 populations in parentheses) were: Cruztón (1,756), Yaltem (1,664), Chicumtantic (1,599), Nichnamtic (1,496), Muquén (1,480), Majomut (1,450), Saclamantón (1,348), Catishtic (1,319), Romerillo (1,310), Cuchulumtic (1,275), Narváez (1,207), Bautista Chico (1,173), Las Ollas (1,165), Macvilho (1,142), Tentic (1,121), Arvenza Uno (1,107), Pugchén Mumuntic (1,046), and Tzontehuitz (1,004), classified as rural. The church of San Juan, in

518-464: Is the absolutive marker for 1st person plural inclusive and j-...-tik is the ergative marker for 1st person plural inclusive. Also from the sentence l- i- s- pet -otik "He carried us ( inclusive )" it is possible to see the 3rd person ergative marking s-, which contrasts with the 3rd person absolutive marking Ø in the sentence ʼi- tal "He/she/it/they came." With many nouns, numbers must be compounded to numeral classifiers that correspond to

555-720: Is the one used before a root starting with a vowel, the prefix listed second is the one used before a root starting with a consonant. For example, k+ok kok "my foot", j+ba jba "my face" The absolute suffix is usually il but can also have the form el , al , or ol : kʼob-ol "hand (of some unspecified person)" Verbs receive affixes of aspect, tense, pronominal subject and object and formatives of state, voice, mood and number. They can also form compounds in three ways: Attributives are words that can function as predicates, but are neither verbs nor nouns. Often they can be translated into English as adjectives. Unlike verbs, they do not inflect for aspect, and unlike nouns, they cannot head

592-460: Is usually the most unmarked form of a word (exceptions include Nias and Tlapanec ). The following examples from Basque demonstrate an ergative–absolutive case marking system: Here -Ø represents a zero morpheme , as the absolutive case is unmarked in Basque. The forms for the ergative are -k after a vowel, and -ek after a consonant. It is a further rule in Basque grammar that in most cases

629-580: The Kurdish languages and many Indo-Aryan languages like Hindi–Urdu ). It has also been attributed to the Semitic modern Aramaic (also called Neo-Aramaic) languages. Ergative languages are classified into two groups: those that are morphologically ergative but syntactically behave as accusative (for instance, Basque, Pashto and Urdu ) and those that, on top of being ergative morphologically, also show ergativity in syntax. No language has been recorded in which both

666-410: The 1st person plural inclusive "we," but in the second sentence, since the verb pet ("carry") is transitive, it is affixed by j-...-tik to mark the subject as the 1st person plural inclusive "we." From this sentence we can see that the 1st person plural inclusive object "us" is being marked the same as the 1st person plural inclusive intransitive subject "we" using -i-...-otik . Thus, -i-...-otik

703-620: The agent of a transitive verb differently. Such languages are said to operate with S/O syntactic pivot . This contrasts with nominative–accusative languages such as English , where the single argument of an intransitive verb and the agent of a transitive verb (both called the subject ) are treated alike and kept distinct from the object of a transitive verb. Such languages are said to operate with S/A (syntactic) pivot. (reference for figure: ) These different arguments are usually symbolized as follows: The relationship between ergative and accusative systems can be schematically represented as

740-441: The anointing of the sick ... Bishop Arizmendi said Oct. 6 that the texts, which took approximately eight years to translate, would be used in his diocese and the neighboring Archdiocese of Tuxtla Gutiérrez . Mass has been celebrated in the diocese in recent years with the assistance of translators — except during homilies — Bishop Arizmendi said in an article in the newspaper La Jornada . Tzotzil-language programming

777-419: The case marking of nouns), but nominative-accusative alignment in other parts (e.g., in the case marking of pronouns, or in person agreement ). This is known as split ergativity . An ergative language maintains a syntactic or morphological equivalence (such as the same word order or grammatical case ) for the object of a transitive verb and the single core argument of an intransitive verb, while treating

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814-407: The church, and the floor area is completely covered in a carpet of green pine boughs. Curanderos (medicine men) diagnose medical, psychological or ‘evil-eye’ afflictions and prescribe remedies such as candles of specific colors and sizes, specific flower petals or feathers, or - in a dire situation - a live chicken. The specified remedies are brought to a healing ceremony. Chamula families kneel on

851-490: The entire population of the municipality is indigenous and speaks an indigenous language. In 2010, the census reported that 99.5% of the population age 3 years or older speaks an indigenous language. The Tzotzil people and language dominate the municipality. Chamula is located in the Chiapas highlands , at an altitude of 2,200 meters (7,200 feet). It is inhabited by the indigenous Tzotzil Maya people , whose Tzotzil language

888-632: The floor of the church with sacrificial items, stick candles to the floor with melted wax, drink ceremonial cups of Posh , artisanal sugar-cane-based liquor, and chant prayers in an archaic dialect of Tzotzil. Photography within the church is strictly prohibited as is photographing the Christmas procession to the church. Visitors can be thrown out of town for violating this rule. The main agricultural products are corn , beans , and squashes . Women often make traditional clothing, blankets, and souvenirs that include Zapatista -related items, such as pens with

925-419: The following forms for gizon ("man"): gizon-a (man-the.sing.abs), gizon-ak (man-the.pl.abs), gizon-ak (man-the.sing.erg), gizon-ek (man-the.pl.erg). When fused with the article, the absolutive plural is homophonous with the ergative singular. See Basque grammar for details. In contrast, Japanese is a nominative–accusative language: In this language, the argument of the intransitive and agent of

962-572: The following: See morphosyntactic alignment for a more technical explanation and a comparison with nominative–accusative languages . The word subject , as it is typically defined in grammars of nominative-accusative languages, has a different application when referring to ergative–absolutive languages, or when discussing morphosyntactic alignment in general. Ergative languages tend to be either verb-final or verb-initial; there are few, if any, ergative SVO -languages. Ergativity can be found in both morphological and syntactic behavior. If

999-656: The language are picking up the habit of using s instead of z . Tzotzil has five vowels. Before a glottalized consonant, a vowel appears to lengthen and tense, such as a in takʼin "money". / b / is frequently implosive [ ɓ ] , especially in intervocalic or in initial position. It is also weakly glottalized in initial position. /kʰ pʰ tʰ/ are more strongly aspirated in final position. /w d f ɡ/ occur but only in loanwords. Aspirated and ejective consonants form phonemic contrasts: kok, kokʼ and kʼokʼ all have different meanings: ('my leg', 'my tongue' and 'fire', respectively). All words in Tzotzil begin with

1036-413: The language has morphological case , then the verb arguments are marked thus: If there is no case marking, ergativity can be marked through other means, such as in verbal morphology. For instance, Abkhaz and most Mayan languages have no morphological ergative case, but they have a verbal agreement structure that is ergative. In languages with ergative–absolutive agreement systems, the absolutive form

1073-492: The morphological and syntactical ergative are present. Languages that belong to the former group are more numerous than those to the latter. Dyirbal is said to be the only representative of syntactic ergativity, yet it displays accusative alignment with certain pronouns. The ergative-absolutive alignment is in contrast to nominative–accusative alignment , which is observed in English and most other Indo-European languages, where

1110-521: The most comprehensive resource on Tzotzil vocabulary to that date. Tzotzil word-lists and grammars date back to the late 19th century, most notably in Otto Stoll 's Zur Ethnographie der Republik Guatemala (1884). In 2013, Pope Francis approved translations of the prayers for Mass and the celebration of sacraments into Tzotzil and Tzeltal . The translations include "the prayers used for Mass, marriage, baptisms, confirmations, confessions, ordinations and

1147-517: The municipal cabecera (seat of government), is filled with colorful candles, and smoke from burning copal resin incense , commonly used throughout southern Mexico. Along the walls of the church are Catholic saints resting on tables posted in the church, but they represent Mayan gods. Candles are lit and the people sit on the floor and pray below the saints. The local form of Catholicism is a blend of pre-conquest Maya customs, Spanish Catholic traditions, and subsequent innovations. There are no pews in

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1184-450: The object of a transitive verb is the absolutive , and the case used for the agent of a transitive verb is the ergative . In nominative-accusative languages, the case for the single argument of an intransitive verb and the agent of a transitive verb is the nominative , while the case for the direct object of a transitive verb is the accusative . Many languages have ergative–absolutive alignment only in some parts of their grammar (e.g., in

1221-569: The physical nature of the object being counted. This precedes the noun being counted. For example, in vak-pʼej na "six houses" the classifier -pʼej "round things, houses, flowers, etc." is compounded to the number vak "six" and precedes the noun na "house(s)." There are also many Spanish loanwords in Tzotzil, such as: In 1975, the Smithsonian Institution produced a dictionary of Tzotzil, containing some 30,000 Tzotzil-English entries, and half that number of English-Tzotzil entries,

1258-481: The second sentence, which shows ergative alignment, the root is marked with the ergative suffix -ma . However, there are some intransitive verbs in Georgian that behave like transitive verbs, and therefore employ the ergative case in the past tense. Consider: Although the verb "sneeze" is clearly intransitive, it is conjugated like a transitive verb. In Georgian there are a few verbs like these, and there has not been

1295-412: The single argument of an intransitive verb ("She" in the sentence "She walks") behaves grammatically like the agent ( subject ) of a transitive verb ("She" in the sentence "She finds it") but different from the object of a transitive verb ("her" in the sentence "He likes her"). When ergative–absolutive alignment is coded by grammatical case , the case used for the single argument of an intransitive verb and

1332-687: The stress is unpredictable and so is indicated with an acute accent. The Tzotzil variant of San Bartolomé de Los Llanos, in the Venustiano Carranza region, was analyzed as having two phonemic tones by Sarles 1966. Research by Heriberto Avelino in 2009 was not able to confirm more than an unstable and incipient tone contrast. In Tzotzil, only nouns, verbs, and attributives can be inflected. Nouns can take affixes of possession, reflexive relation, independent state (absolutive suffix), number, and exclusion, as well as agentives and nominalizing formatives. Compounds can be formed in three ways: An example of

1369-472: The transitive sentence are marked with the same nominative case particle ga , while the object of the transitive sentence is marked with the accusative case o . If one sets: A = agent of a transitive verb; S = argument of an intransitive verb; O = object of a transitive verb, then we can contrast normal nominative–accusative English with a hypothetical ergative English: A number of languages have both ergative and accusative morphology. A typical example

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