Non-canonical gender in Mopan Maya

Abstract

Mopan (Mayan, Belize/Guatemala) has two noun classifiers that resemble gender markers. However, the gender markers (GMs) violate expectations about canonical gender (Corbett and Fedden 2016): only a minority of Mopan nouns are gendered; gender is marked only together with the noun, not in multiple syntactic domains; gender marking can be omitted in certain syntactic contexts; and gender marking can be introduced when a normally non-gendered noun co-occurs with an adjectival modifier. We address the grammatical and discourse functions of Mopan GMs in relation to their non-canonical properties. Two productive functions—use as honorific titles with proper names and derivation of agentive nominals—are extended to various functions involving agentivity and differentiation, e.g. derivation of descriptive terms for non-human implements and terms for varietal subcategories. GMs are also employed creatively in discourse, e.g. to suggest animacy of inanimates or to introduce sex differentiation where it would not otherwise be signalled.