Tz'utujil (Tz'utujiil)
Spoken in	Guatemala
Region	Western Highlands
Total speakers	approx. 83,800[1]
Language family	Mayan Quichean-Mamean Greater Quichean Quichean Tz'utujil (Tz'utujiil)
Official status
Official language in	None
Recognised minority language in	Guatemala[2]
Regulated by	Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala (ALMG)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	None
ISO 639-2	myn
ISO 639-3	either: tzj – Eastern Tz'utujil tzt – Western Tz'utujil
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Tz'utujil (or Tz'utujiil) is a Mayan language spoken by the Tz'utujil people in the region to the south of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala. Tz'utujil is closely related to its larger neighbors, Kaqchikel and K'iche'. Today approximately 84,000 speak Tz'utujil as their mother tongue.^[1][3]. The two Tz'utijil dialects are Eastern Tz'utijil (50,000 speakers in 1998) and Western Tz'utijil (33,800 speakers in 1990).^[1]

The majority of the Tz'utujil people have Spanish as their second language, although many of the older people, or those in more remote locations do not. Many children also do not learn Spanish until they go to school around the age of five although more importance is now being placed upon it due to the influx of tourism into the region. Spanish is used in written communication.

Contents 1 Phonology 1.1 Vowels 1.2 Consonants 2 Sample words and phrases 3 Notes 4 References

[edit] Phonology

In the charts below each of the Tz'utujil phonemes is represented by the character or set of characters that denote it in the standard orthography developed by the Guatemalan Academy of Mayan Languages (ALMG) and sanctioned by the Guatemalan government. Where different, the corresponding symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet appears in brackets.

[edit] Vowels

Tz'utujil has five short and five long vowels.

Short	Long
i	ii	close front unrounded vowel
e	ee	mid front unrounded vowel
a	aa	open central unrounded vowel
u	uu	close back rounded vowel
o	oo	mid back rounded vowel

[edit] Consonants

Like other Mayan languages, Tz'utujil does not distinguish voiced and voiceless stops and affricates but instead distinguishes plain and glottalized stops and affricates. The plain stops and affricates (technically "pulmonic egressive") are usually voiceless and are aspirated at the ends of words and unaspirated elsewhere. The glottalized stops and affricates are usually ejective in the case of k' , ch' , and tz' and implosive in the case of b' , t' , and q' .

	Bilabial		Alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Glottal
	plain	glottalized	plain	glottalized	plain	glottalized	plain	glottalized	plain	glottalized	plain
Stops	p	b'  [ɓ]	t	t'  [ɗ]			k	k'	q	q'  [ʠ]	'   [ʔ]
Affricates			tz  [ts]	tz'  [tsʼ]	ch  [tʃ]	ch'  [tʃʼ]
Fricatives			s		x  [ʃ]				j  [X]
Nasals	m		n
Liquids			l   r
Glides					y  [j]		w

[edit] Sample words and phrases

• maltyoox - 'thank-you'
• saqari - 'good morning'
• xqa'j q'iij - good afternoon
• xok aaq'a' - 'good night'
• na'an - 'good-bye'
• jo' - 'let's go!'
• utz aawach - 'how are you?'
• jee' - 'yes'
• mani' - 'no'

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

Dayley, Jon P. (1985). Tzutujil Grammar. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-09962-1. 

García Ixmatá, Pablo (1997). Rukeemiik ja Tz'utujiil Chii': Gramática tz'utujiil. Guatemala City, Guatemala: Cholsamaj. ISBN 99922-53-13-4. 

Gordon, Raymond G., Jr., ed (2005) (online version). Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Barbara F. Grimes (contributing ed.) (Fifteenth ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X. OCLC 60338097. 

Pérez Mendoza, Francisco; Miguel Hernández Mendoza (1996). Diccionario Tz'utujil. Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala: Proyecto Lingüístico Francisco Marroquín/Cholsamaj. 

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