The Noun Classifiers of Cuchumatán Mayan Languages: A Case of Diffusion From Otomanguean

Abstract

Several Mayan languages spoken in the Cuchumatán Mountains of northwestern Guatemala (Department of Huehuetenango) manifest systems of noun classifiers that specify the essential nature of the substance of things and beings named or referred to, e.g., ‘stone’, ‘earth’, ‘animal’, ‘male person’. These noun classifiers are not found in other Mayan languages, although they are widely attested in languages of the nearby Otomangean (Otomanguean) family. This paper describes the Mayan systems and comments on the historical attestation of the semantic categories in Classic-period Maya iconography and epigraphy; it argues that the grammaticalization of these categories in the Cuchumatán languages is a result of contact with Otomangean speakers who were culturally dominant in the region for several centuries before the Colonial period. Additional examples of diffusion between Otomangean and adjacent Mayan languages are suggested.