Chuj Mayan languages black salt San Mateo Ixtatán grammar
Contenido principal del artículo
Justin Royer
McGill University
Pedro Mateo Pedro
University of Toronto
Elizabeth Carolan
McGill University
Jessica Coon
McGill University
Matal Torres
McGill University
Resumen
This article and text provide a new take on the San Mateo Ixtatán saltwater sources from the perspective of Xuwan, a San Mateo resident who for her entire life has been working in the extraction, production, and merchandising of atz’am k’ik’ atz’am ‘the black salt’, a culturally-valued good which forms a quintessential aspect of Chuj life and culture. In addition to recounting her experiences with black salt, Xuwan comments on several other aspects of Chuj life, both in the past and in the present. The article is introduced with a short grammar sketch of Chuj, which highlights the prominent grammatical features found in the text.
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Royer, J. ., Mateo Pedro, P. ., Carolan, E. ., Coon, J. ., & Torres, M. . (2022). Atz’am k’ik’ atz’am: The Story of Xuwan and a Grammatical Sketch of Chuj. Tlalocan, 27(1), 215-286. https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.tlalocan.2022.1.8725x15
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1. Introduction
San Mateo Ixtatán, a Chuj community located in the highlands of the Cuchumatanes mountain range in Guatemala, boasts several saltwater sources that have long been utilized by its inhabitants and neighboring Mayan communities (Andrews, 1983; Navarrete Cáceres, 2008; Piedrasanta Herrera, 2009; Hopkins, 2021). The saltwater sources are sacred to the Chuj people, who use a series of traditional methods to extract and process the salt. The result is what is known as atz’am k’ik’ atz’am ‘the black salt’ and remains to this day a quintessential aspect of Chuj life and culture.2
This work provides a new perspective on the San Mateo Ixtatán saltwater sources through the lens of San Mateo resident Xuwan, who for her entire life has been involved -directly or indirectly- in the different steps involved in the production of black salt. In addition to recounting her experiences with black salt, Xuwan comments on several other aspects of Chuj life, both in the past and in the present.
The story was recorded, transcribed, and translated in 2015 by Avilio Diego and forms part of a larger research effort led by Pedro Mateo Pedro and Jessica Coon to record narratives with speakers across the different dialects of Chuj spoken in the municipalities of San Mateo Ixtatán, San Sebastián Coatán, and San Benito Nentón. Native Chuj-speaking research assistants were trained to record, transcribe, and translate (Chuj to Spanish) stories using ELAN, an annotation tool for audio and video recordings (ELAN, 2020). The results of this project, a collection of over forty narratives documenting various aspects of Chuj life, culture and history, were deposited in the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA) in 2017 (Pedro Mateo & Coon, 2017).
The current work provides a narrower transcription of a ten-minute segment of one of the narratives found in AILLA.3 The original recording lasted 49 minutes and 11 seconds, and the shorter segment presented here was selected to highlight the process of black salt extraction, production, and merchandising. The shorter segment was morphologically segmented, glossed, and translated to English by Elizabeth Carolan and Justin Royer, in consultation with Matal Torres (who is a native speaker of Chuj of San Mateo Ixtatán). Matal Torres also provided detailed commentary pertaining to black salt making and to Chuj culture more generally.
The rest of this work is divided as follows: Section 2 provides basic information on the Chuj language, including information about the orthographic convention used in this work, as well as a brief introduction to the grammatical properties of Chuj; Section 3 presents the text.
2. Chuj
Chuj belongs to the Western branch of Mayan languages and is generally subgrouped as a member of the Q’anjob’alan subfamily (Kaufman, 1974; Robertson, 1977, Law 2014). According to Piedrasanta Herrera (2009), as of 2009 Chuj was spoken by approximately 70,000 speakers in Guatemala. Chuj is spoken in three municipalities of the Department of Huehuetenango, where the vitality of the language remains relatively strong (Buenrostro, 2013a). The three municipalities are San Mateo Ixtatán (the variant under study in this work), San Benito Nentón, and San Sebastián Coatán.4 Chuj is also spoken by a smaller population in a few dozen communities in Mexico. As mentioned in Buenrostro (2013a), according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (2011), as of 2010 Mexico had 2,632 registered speakers of Chuj. The variants of Chuj spoken in Mexico are mixed, since speakers from different municalities of Huehuetenango were forced to migrate to bordering Mexican communities during the Guatemala Civil War (Quezada & O’Dogherty, 1986; Buenrostro, 2013a; Córdova Hernández, 2014).
In the rest of the introduction we provide information about the orthographical conventions we adopt in this article, as well as some basic information about grammatical properties of Chuj, with a special focus on the grammatical properties that stand out in the text.
2.1. Orthography and basic phonological properties
The examples presented in this article and throughout the narrative are written using the Chuj practical orthography, which is based on the alphabet created by the ALMG in 1987 (Acuerdo Gobernativo 1046-87). Material taken from older works (e.g., Hopkins, 1967) has been updated to reflect this established orthography. Table 1 shows the Chuj consonant system in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), with practical orthography indicated with angled brackets “< >”.
Table 1:
Chuj consonant inventory in IPA and orthographic correspondence
Labial
Alveolar
Postalveolar
Velar/uvular
Glottal
Stops / affricates
p
<p>
t
<t>
ts
<tz>
tʃ
<ch>
k
<k>
ʔ
<’>
Glottalized or implosive stops and affricates
ɓ
<b’>
t’
<t’>
ts’
<tz’>
tʃ’
<ch’>
k’
<k’>
Fricatives
v
<w>
s
<s>
ʃ
<x>
χ
<j>
h
<h>
Nasal
m
<m>
n
<n>
ŋ
<nh>
Approximant
w
<w>
l, r
<l, r>
j
<y>
A few notes about the orthography are in order. First, it is important to mention that Chuj features a phonemic contrast between plain and ejective stops (Buenrostro, 2009) -ejective stops can be identified with the diacritic <’>. This is a common phonological property found across different Mayan languages (Bennett, 2016). Chuj also features an implosive bilabial stop, which is always represented with an apostrophe as <b’>.
Second, the phoneme represented as <w> varies in phonetic realization between the bilabial approximant [w], the labiodental fricative [v], and the voiced bilabial stop [b] (distinct from the implosive stop <b’>). Generally, the distribution of [w], [v], and [b] seems to largely overlap (even alternating in the same words and sentences by the same speakers). Since Chuj does not show a clear pattern with respect to the realization of the sound written as <w>, we assume for now that it exhibits free variation, and represent all instances of [v], [w] and [b] as <w>.5
A third important note concerns the orthographic letter <h>. In addition to marking glottal fricatives, it can also be used to indicate the absence of word-initial glottalization (Lesure, 2016). This is the case below in (2) where, compared to (1), the presence of <h> on the word ich ‘chili’ in the orthography signals the absence of the word-initial glottal stop which is otherwise present in words written with an initial vowel (see e.g., Bennett, 2016).
1.
anh ich
→
[ ʔaŋ ʔitʃ ]
the chili
2.
anh hich
→
[ ʔaŋ itʃ ]
your chili
Finally, the glottal symbol <’> is used to indicate the presence of a glottal stop in non-word-initial environments.6 For instance, consider the contrast between (3), without a word-final glottal stop, and (4), with a word-final glottal stop. An example in (5) is also provided illustrating a glottal stop between two vowels:
3.
ixinb’ati
→
[ ʔiʃinɓati ]
I went.
4.
hati’
→
[ atiʔ ]
your mouth
5.
lu’um
→
[ luʔum ]
land
Table 2 shows the Chuj vowel system-the practical orthography in this case is identical to the corresponding IPA symbols.
Table 2:
Chuj vowel inventory
Front
Central
Back
High
i
u
Mid
e
o
Low
a
Like in other Mayan languages, the plain vowels in Table 2 are contrastive with so-called “rearticulated vowels” (see Bennett, 2016, section 2.3, and references therein). The characteristic trait of rearticulated vowels in Chuj is the presence of a glottal stop between two vowels of the same quality. An example with the rearticulated vowel <u’u> was already shown in (5) for lu’um ‘land’, but compare (6) with (7) for a minimal pair:
6.
chanh
→
[ tʃaŋ ]
four
7.
cha’anh
→
[ tʃaʔaŋ ]
tall
2.2. Basic morphosyntactic properties
We now turn to the basic morphosyntactic properties of Chuj. A summary of important Chuj grammatical properties relevant to the narrative are provided in (8), and a more detailed description of some of the morphosyntactic properties of the language follows.
8.
Summary of major grammatical properties of San Mateo Ixtatán Chuj
a.
San Mateo Chuj is an ergative-absolutive, head-marking language with an aspectual split in the progressive aspect (Buenrostro, 2013; Coon & Carolan, 2017);
b.
Basic word order is Verb Object Subject (VOS), but subjects and objects frequently appear preverbally for topic and focus (Bielig, 2015);
c.
There are at least three environments in which the suffix -an appears in Chuj verbal predicates (Buenrostro, 2004): Agent Focus morphology (glossed “FA”); morphology indicating dependent transitive clauses (glossed “DEP”); and a discursive use that seems to pattern like a sentence connective (which we also gloss “DEP”) (see Francisco Pascual, 2007 for a similar pattern in Q’anjob’al);
d.
A class of intransitive verb roots can be used as directionals to form complex serialized verb constructions (see Elias, 2019);
e.
Oblique phrases are introduced with the preposition t’a or with one of the relational nouns (often derived from body part terms);
f.
The suffix -Vl (with a partially harmonic vowel) has several functions in Chuj. It can suffix directly to nouns for at least two reasons: (i) to indicate inalienability or (ii) to mark a nominal expression as non-specific. In both of these cases, we have decided to use the general gloss “NML”.7 The suffix -Vl can also be used to derive nominals from roots of other categories (glossed as “NMLZ” below).
g.
As in other Q’anjob’alan languages (see e.g., Craig, 1977, 1986; Zavala, 2000), a set of noun classifiers are used before nominals to establish referential distinctions. Noun classifiers are used with definites, specific indefinites, and kind-denoting nominals (see e.g., Buenrostro et al., 1989; Royer, 2019, to appear). Noun classifiers can also be used without an overt noun, and in the latter case they function as third person pronouns (Buenrostro et al., 1989).
The description of grammatical properties discussed below has the following structure. We discuss verbal predicates in section 2.2.1; non-verbal predicates in section 2.2.2; word order, including topic and focus configurations in section 2.2.3; complex predicates with directional verbs in section 2.2.4; and noun classifiers in section 2.2.5.
2.2.1. Verbal predicates
Verbal predicates are those predicates which typically denote events and appear with tense, aspect, mood (TAM) marking. They are cross-referenced with preverbal “Set B” and “Set A” morphemes on the verb stem, and are suffixed with so-called “status suffixes”, which in Chuj provide information about transitivity and aspect. Underived templates for transitive and intransitive verbal predicates are provided in (9) and (10). Following the tradition in the Mayanist literature (see e.g., Coon, 2016b; Aissen et al., 2017 for overviews), we refer to the two series of person and number-marking morphemes as “Set A” and “Set B”.
9.
Transitive verbal predicate template
TAM - Set B (ABS) - Set A (ERG) - Root - status suffix
10.
Intransitive verbal predicate template
TAM - Set B (ABS) - Root - status suffix
Examples of transitive and intransitive verb stems are provided below for illustration.
11.
Transitive verb
12.
Intransitive verb
Ixachwila’.
Ixachwayi.
ix-ach-w-il-a’
ix-ach-way-i
PFV-B2S-A1S-see-TV
PFV-B2S-sleep-IV
I saw you.
You slept.
We now discuss each part of the verb stem in order of appearance. There are four main distinctions in TAM marking, provided in Table 3. The perfective aspect has a phonetically null exponent, discussed in Carolan 2015 (see also Mateo Pedro, 2000; Mateo Toledo, 2013 for a similar proposal for closely related Q’anjob’al).8Carolan (2015) argues that the null form is used with distant past, whereas the overt form is either hodernial or at least marks recent past.
Table 3:
Chuj TAM marking
tz-
imperfective
ix- / Ø
perfective
ol-
prospective
lan
progressive
Set B (absolutive) morphemes cross-reference transitive objects and intransitive subjects, while Set A (ergative) marking cross-references transitive subjects. Set A marking is also used to cross-reference possessors on possessed nominals, and the Set B paradigm is also used to form freestanding first and second person pronouns. Set A and Set B paradigms are provided below-note that Set A forms exhibit allomorphic variation conditioned by whether the segment they precede is a vowel or consonant. Set B morphemes behave as phonological clitics. The initial <h> in the paradigms below appear when the morphemes are in word-initial position, and are absent otherwise.
Table 4:
Set A and Set B agreement marking in Chuj
Set B (absolutive)
Set A (ergative/possessive)
_C
_V
1S
(h)in
(h)in-
w-
2S
(h)ach
(h)a-
(h)-
3S
Ø
s-
y-
1P
(h)onh
ko-
k-
2P
(h)ex
(h)e-
(h)ey-
3P
Ø
s-
y-
As shown above, there is no overt reflex of third person Set B marking, and so third person absolutive arguments are never explicitly cross-referenced on the verb stem in this article. While some authors signal the absence of Set B arguments with a null morpheme (see e.g., Buenrostro, 2013), we do not represent null Set B marking in our examples. For instance, the focused object lum chen in (13) is not cross-referenced on the transitive verb stem (note that examples taken from the narrative below are marked with “txt” plus #, which indicates the line from which the example was extracted in the text):
13.
Ha lum chen tzkok’ana’.
ha
lum
chen
tz-ko-k’an-a’
ENF
CLF
pot
IPFV-A1P-use-VT
It was pots of clay that we used.
(txt, 11)
There are five distinguisheable classes of roots in Chuj: transitive, intransitive, positional, nominal, and a small class of adjectival roots. The roots may be classified based on the morphology they must take in order to form different types of surface stems (see e.g., Haviland, 1994 on Mayan languages more generally, and Hopkins, 1967 and Coon, 2019 on Chuj). Derivational suffixes can suffix to roots and stems to alter the valence of the predicate. For instance, the transitive root tz’ey ‘to scrape’ in (14) can be passivized with the addition of the suffix -chaj. Similarly, (15) shows that the nominal root k’u’ ‘blanket’ can appear in a transitive verb stem with the addition of derivational morphology (see Buenrostro, 2013 on voice and valence alternations).
14.
Stz’eychaj lu’um.
tz-tz’ey-chaj
lu’um
IPFV-scrape-PASS
CLF.PRON
It is scraped.
(txt, 78)
15.
[…] tzkok’u’ej.
tz-ko-k’u’-e-j
IPFV-A1P-blanket-DERIV-VTD
[…] we would use as a blanket.
(txt, 31)
Finally, there are four kinds of status suffixes in Chuj, provided in Table 5. Intransitive status suffixes are divided into two classes depending on aspect: intransitive verb stems in the prospective aspect appear with -ok, whereas all other intransitive verbal predicate stems appear with -i. Transitive verb stems, on the other hand, vary according to the category of the root: while transitive stems built from transitive roots appear with a partially harmonic vowel (-a’, -o’, -u’ depending on the vowel of the root), all transitive stems derived from other roots (intransitive, positional, nominal, adjectival) appear with the so-called “derived transitive status suffix” -j (usually following a suffix glossed here as a derivational suffix -e, sometimes considered together a single suffix -ej).
Table 5:
Chuj status suffixes
Aspect
Status suffix
Intransitive stems
IPFV, PFV, PROG
-i
PROSP
-ok
Root transitive stems
-V’
Derived transitive stems
-j
Importantly, three of the status suffixes (-i, -ok, and -V’) are subject to prosodic conditions and get deleted when immediately followed by DP arguments or some modifiers (see Royer, 2020a, 2022) for a detailed account of prosodic conditions on status suffixes, and Henderson, 2012 for similar observations in K’iche’). For instance, in (14), the status suffix -i is absent because the verb is immediately followed by the pronoun lu’um.
2.2.2. Non-verbal predicates
Having discussed Chuj’s verbal predicates, we now describe Chuj’s non-verbal predicates. Non-verbal predicates typically denote states, appear without aspectual marking, and tend to lack the inflectional and derivational morphology normally associated with verbal predicates. Examples extracted from the narrative are provided in (16).
16.
Non-verbal predicates in Chuj
a.
[…]
meb’a’onh junelnhej.
meb’a’-onh
jun-el-nhej
poor-B1P
one-NML-only
[…] we were simply poor.
(txt, 19)
b.
T’inhan sb’a lu’um.
t’inh-an
s-b’a
lu’um
straight.up-STAT
A3-REFL
CLF.PRON
They are placed straight up.
(txt, 108)
Other frequent non-verbal predicates, attested several times in the narrative, include the existential predicate ay, as well as the negative existential predicate malaj. As discussed in Elias 2019, both predicates are involved in the realization of existential, locative, and possessive constructions.
17.
Existential predicates ay and malaj
a.
[…] ha heb’ winh ay och yol jusgado […]
ha
heb’
winh
ay
och
y-ol
jusgado
ENF
PL
CLF.PRON
EXT
DIR.out
A3-inside
courthouse
[…] those who were in the courthouse […]
(txt, 135)
b.
Malaj kolu’um.
malaj
ko-lu’um
NEG.EXT
A1P-land
We didn’t have land.
(txt, 21)
2.2.3. Word order
The San Mateo Ixtatán variant of Chuj exhibits basic verb-object-subject word order, as exemplified in the following example from Buenrostro (2013: 215):
18.
VOS word order
Ixyil ix ix winh winak.
ix-y-il
[OBJ
ix
ix
]
[SUBJ
winh
winak ]
PFV-A3-see
CLF
woman
CLF
man
The man saw the woman.
However, as noted for other Mayan languages (England, 1991; Aissen, 1992) and specifically for Chuj (Bielig, 2015), subjects and objects frequently appear preverbally for reasons of topic and focus, a fact that can be observed throughout the narrative. When DPs appear in a preverbal position, regardless of whether they are topics or foci, they appear with the marker ha, which we uniformly gloss as “ENF” in the narrative. Topicalized and focused constituents can nevertheless be distinguished. For one, topics are obligatorily co-referenced with a resumptive classifier pronoun, as shown in (19) below (Bielig, 2015).
19.
Ha winh winak ixyil ix ix winh.
[TOP
ha
winh
winak ]j
ix-y-il
ix
ix
winhj
ENF
CLF
man
PFV-A3-see
CLF
woman
CLF.PRON
As for the man, he saw the woman.
Foci, on the other hand, do not appear with resumptive classifier pronouns, as seen in (20). A second point of divergence is specific to transitive subjects. When focused, transitive subjects must appear in so-called “Agent Focus” constructions, which formally involve an intransitive verb stem and trigger the presence of the Agent Focus suffix -an (Hou 2011, see also Stiebels, 2006 and Coon, Mateo Pedro & Preminger, 2014 for more on the Agent Focus construction):
20.
[…] ha heb’ winh winak chi’ tzchonhanxi el […]
[FOC
ha
heb’
winh
winak
chi’ ]
tz-chonh-an-x-i
el
ENF
PL
CLF
man
DEM
IPFV-sell-AF-ADV-IV
DIR.out
[…] It’s these men who would go out to sell […]
(txt, 140)
Finally, note that interrogative words (21), as well as relativized constituents (22), behave like focused items in appearing preverbally and in triggering the presence of Agent Focus morphology on the verb stem (when the interrogative word or relativized constituent corresponds to a transitive subject):
21.
¿Mach oltupan te’ t’ayonh?
mach
ol-tup-an
te’
t’ay-onh
who
PROSP-pay-AF
CLF.PRON
PREP-B1P
Who is going to pay us for it (the firewood)?
(txt, 127)
22.
Tato chuklaj lu’um, yaxto lu’um yuj heb’ ix tzb’o’ani […]
tato
chuklaj
lu’um,
yax-to
lu’um
y-uj
heb’
ix
if
bad
CLF.PRON
green-still
CLF.PRON
A3-RN.by
PL
CLF.PRON
tz-b’o’-an-i
IPFV-make-AF-IV
If it’s not well made, or if it’s still raw, by those who made it […]
(txt, 111)
2.2.4. Directionals and serial verb constructions
As in other Mayan languages (Coon, 2016b), a class of intransitive roots can co-occur with verbs to form complex predicates (see Mateo Toledo, 2008 for similar observations in Q’anjob’al). Building on Henderson et al. (2018) and Elias (2019), we identify the following eleven directional forms, provided below.9
Table 6:
Directionals in Chuj
Form
Intransitive
Directional
In narrative:
b’at
to go (away)
‘away’
(95)
em
to descend
‘down’
(16)
ek’
to pass by
‘pass’
(154)
el
to leave
‘out’
(43)
hul
to come
‘toward’
-
och
to enter
‘in’
(98)
kan
to stay
‘stable’
(43)
kot
to draw near
‘nearing’
(15)
k’e’
to ascend
‘up’
(87)
k’och
to arrive
‘arriving’
(42)
pax
to return
‘again’
(115)
As can be observed in Table 6, the narrative is rich in complex predicates derived from directional verbs, revealing the extent to which they are productive in Chuj. All but one directional is attested at least once in the ten-minute segment. We provide three relevant examples extracted from the narrative below. As shown in the examples, verbs can productively combine with more than one directional: (24) features two postverbal directionals and (25) features three.
[…] tonhej b’at tzkilan pax kan eli mach ix tewach’ tz’aj lum […]
to-nhej
b’at
tz-k-il-an
pax
kan
el-i
mach
COMP-only
go
IPFV-A1P-see-DEP
DIR.return
DIR.stay
DIR.leave-IV
who
te-wach’
tz’-aj
lum
CLF.PRON-good
IPFV-do
CLF.PRON
(txt, 115)
2.2.5. Noun classifiers and third person pronouns
Finally, we discuss one property of the Chuj nominal domain that is especially relevant to the narrative at hand: noun classifiers. Mayan languages of the Cuchumatanes mountain range have innovated a system of noun classifiers, not present in other Mayan languages, which function like determiners when appearing before nominals, and like third person pronouns when appearing alone (Craig, 1977, 1986; Zavala, 2000; Hopkins, 2012b; Royer, 2019, to appear, and others). Noun classifiers, grammaticalized from nominals (Hopkins, 2012b), continue to closely resemble some nouns in the language. For instance, the noun classifier for female individuals, ix, has grammaticalized from the noun ix ‘woman’. Chuj features between 15 and 17 noun classifiers (depending on the dialect), eight of which are attested in the narrative. A list of those found at least once in the narrative are provided below:
Table 7:
Chuj noun classifiers occurring in the narrative
Form
Class
In narrative:
ix
Female individuals
(52)
winh
Male individuals
(36)
nok’
Animals/animal products
(31)
te’
Wood entities
(35)
k’en
Metal/stone entities
(69)
lum
Soil/earth entities
(11)
ha’
Water
(14)
atz’am
Salt (products)
(34)
Though the exact semantic contribution of noun classifiers is not easy to pin down, all work converges in proposing that noun classifiers play an important semantic role, related broadly to referentiality (Craig, 1977, 1986; Buenrostro et al., 1989; Zavala, 2000; Royer, 2019, to appear). For instance, noun classifiers are obligatory with definite DPs, like in (26), and can sometimes appear with indefinite DPs to force specific interpretations of indefinites (see Royer, 2019). They are also used with kind-denoting nominals, as in (27), and can, under this use, appear in existential constructions like (28).
26.
Tz’elta wakch’ub’ winh alkal.
tz’-el-ta
wak-ch’ub’
winh
alkal
PFV-leave-PRX
six-jar
CLF
mayor
Six saltwater jars were for the mayor.
(txt, 137)
27.
Ha heb’ ix Ch’ichjoj tzyak’ emi, ha lum mas.
ha
heb’
ix
Ch’ichjoj
tz-y-ak’
em-i
ha
lum
mas
ENF
PL
CLF
Ch’ichjoj
IPFV-A3-give
DIR.down-IV
ENF
CLF
mas
The women of Ch’ichjoj use ‘mas’ (type of sand).
(txt, 55)
28.
Malaj ha’ pila pekataxo.
malaj
ha’
pila
pekataxo
NEG.EXT
CLF
pila
before
The pila (water well) didn’t exist before.
(txt, 18)
Perhaps most relevant for the current work, however, is the use of noun classifiers as third person pronouns. In such cases, the classifier is used without an overt nominal, and tends to be anaphoric with a previously introduced referent in discourse. An example extracted from the narrative is provided below.
29.
Narrative sequence
a.
Ha ha’ Tinita’ tzkuk’ej.
ha
ha’
Tinita’
tz-k-uk’-e-j
ENF
water
Tinita
IPFV-A1P-drink-DERIV-VTD
It was water of the Tinita (a river) that we would drink.
(txt, 14)
b.
Ha ha’ ha’ Tinita’ chi’ tzkokuch koti.
ha
ha’
ha’
Tinita’
chi’
tz-ko-kuch
kot-i
ENF
CLF
water
Tinita
DEM
IPFV-A1P-carry
DIR.draw.near-IV
We would go find the water of the Tinita.
(txt, 15)
c.
Tzkak’an em kokuchan kot ha’.
tz-k-ak’-an
em
ko-kuch-an
kot
ha’
IPFV-A1P-give-DEP
DIR.down
A1P-carry-DEP
DIR.arrive
CLF.PRON
And then we would put it down and carry it.
(txt, 16)
d.
Tzkuk’an ha’.
tz-k-uk’-an
ha’
IPFV-A1P-drink-DEP
CLF.PRON
And then we would drink it.
(txt, 17)
In the first example (29a), ‘water of the Tinita’ is introduced for the first time. In (29b), the speaker immediately refers back to the ‘water of the Tinita’ with the overt nominal, but this time the nominal co-occurs with the noun classifier for water products, ha’, and a demonstrative.11 Finally, in examples (29c) and (29d), the speaker uses the bare classifier ha’ to refer back to the water. As seen in the examples, pronominal uses of noun classifiers are glossed as “CLF.PRON”, and determiner uses as “CLF”.
Having introduced the basic grammatical properties of Chuj, we now turn to the narrative.
The presentation of the text is divided as follows. We first provide Chuj, Spanish, and English versions of the text. Then, we provide a morphological segmentation of the text, translated to both Spanish and English. The glosses are in Spanish (see glossary of abbreviations for information on abbreviations).
ATZ’AM K’IK’ ATZ’AM: AB’IX YUJ IX XUWAN
(1) X: Te’ ya’ kaj yuj meb’a’il pekatax chi’. (2) Malaj nok’ koxanhab’. (3) Malaj kopichul. (4) T’a jun tyempo’al chi’ malaj kopichul. (5) Malaj te’ kopat. (6) Jun t’ub’an tzonhway ichok. (7) Malaj tasi. (8) Malaj tas - malaj te’ koch’at wenas wal. (9) Malaj nok’ kok’u’ wenas wal tzkok’u’ej. (10) Malaj junokxo tas mero importante t’ayonh.
(11) Ha lum chen tzkok’ana’. (12) Ha lum ch’ub’ tzkokuchu’. (13) Asta malaj ha’ pila tik pekatax chi’. (14) Ha ha’ Tinita’ skuk’ej. (15) Ha ha’ ha’ Tinita’ chi’ tzkokuch koti. (16) Tzkak’an em kokuchan kot ha’. (17) Tzkuk’an ha’. (18) Malaj ha’ pila pekataxo.
(19) Durante ixwilan elta toxonhtonhto meb’a’onh junelnhej. (20) Malaj tas ayonh, malaj. (21) Malaj kolu’um. (22) Malaj tasi. (23) Temeb’a’onh junelnhej. (24) Pero k’ojank’olal tzkona’ani tas jab’ kosay kok’ulok. (25) Ichachi ixek’ kowida jun tyempo’al chi’. (26) Mero malaj tas ayonh. (27) Malaj kowa’el kuk’el. (28) Malaj, descaso munlajel. (29) Malaj retaso k’apak tzchonhchaj icha tikne’ik. (30) Ha pekatax chi’ malaj retaso k’apak. (31) Ha nok’ lopil k’u’ tzkok’u’ej. (32) Ha jab’ok k’apak simpletak tzkomana’ komo malaj kotumin, jun. (33) I tzyak’anxi koti pwede ser ayam b’ajti’il - ayam ajti’il tik ha kowa’el tik pural tz’aji. (34) Hanhej wal tas mero seguro ixkok’ulej ha wal atz’am atz’am ixkopayej. (35) Ha wal jun seguro ixkok’ulej ha wal te’ k’atzitz tzkokuch koti. (36) Ha heb’ winh komam pekataxo xapan k’e’ta sjenjab’ heb’ winh. (37) Malaj tik tik manxalaj ixelamnaj nok’ slopil heb’ winh t’a jenjab’. (38) Ixelamnaj nok’ t’a sti’ syop heb’ winh. (39) Manxalaj nok’ slopil heb’ winh chi’.
(40) Tob’ payoj ch’ilon tz’ek’ heb’ ix konun chichim pekti’ xchi tzkab’i, ha payoj ch’ilon. (41) Ha’onhxo tik jun, manxo hoklaj ch’ilon chi’ ixkopayej. (42) Haxo atz’am atz’am chi’ atz’am ay t’a yemk’och tik ha atz’am ixkopayej, tzkokuch koti, tzkak’an k’e’ yib’an k’ak’. (43) Tzkoyam kan tzonhk’e’ wa’an a las tres de la manyana ma a la una de la manyana tato kogana spet’ el atz’am. (44) Bweno haxo tz’aji tzkak’ej atz’am a la una de la manyana. (45) A las dies de la nochxo tzkoluchan atz’am pero b’ut’ul ti’ tz’aji, jun pilon chi’.
(46) A: ¿Jantak tzkochi tzkochonh jun pilon t’a atz’am atz’am?
(47) X: Mero karo stojol. (48) Tzkochi tzoch stojol - tzkochinaji tzoch dyes ketzal. (49) Mato tzoch jun, mato dose ketzal tzkochonh jun pilon, pero malaj.
(50) A: ¿Tas jun pilon chi’, jun?
(51) X: Ha pilon chi’ haton lum mayb’etzal chi’. (52) Haxo lum mayoj chi’ ha heb’ ix Ch’ichjoj ha heb’ ix tzb’o’an lu’um. (53) Ha heb’ ix Ch’ichjoj ha heb’ ix tzb’o’an lu’um. (54) Haxo t’a b’at kokuch kot lum chi’, lum mayoj chi’, t’a heb’ ix Ch’ichjoj chi’. (55) Ha heb’ ix Ch’ichjoj chi’ tzyak’ emi, ha lum mas. (56) Tzb’at skal lu’um. (57) Ha lum mas chi’ b’ajtil sb’o’ heb’ ix t’a mayojal chi’. (58) Tzkomanxi jantak stojol lum mayoj chi’. (59) Ay lum stojol t’a sinko sentawo. (60) Ay lum stojol t’a dos-t’ay sinkwenta sentawo xchi. (61) Komo ha pekatax chi’ ay k’en sinkwenta sentawo, ay k’en chab’ sentawo. (62) Ha lum teniwak chi’ sinko len tzkotup lu’um. (63) Haxo lum yunetak chi’, jun, tzkotup lum t’a chab’ sentawo. (64) Tzkotup lum t’ay- ay lum tzkotup pax t’ay chanhe’ sentawo, chanhe’ ketzal icha tikne’ik.
(68) X: Tzkok’an lu’um. (69) Yo haxo tz’aji yo to ha k’en machit tzkoti. (70) Tzkotz’eyan eli spatik. (71) Tato tewach’ yol lum chi’, jun, nuk’uk’i yol lum, yuj heb’ ix b’o’an chi’ yo, tonhej tzkek’nhojlaj lum ixtik yo. (72) Tz’el kecheljok lu’um
(73) A: ¿Tzspoj b’at lum junelnhej?
(74) X: Tzspoj b’at lum junelnhej. (75) Manh tzyak’ kok’anlaj lu’um. (76) Icha tzsk’anan heb’ tikne’ik ha k’en palangana, xalchi’ ha lum lu’um. (77) Yujchi’ tato ha lum tzatz chuklaj yol chi’ jun yo to stz’eychaj lum t’a k’en machit. (78) Stz’eychaj lu’um.
(85) X: Haxo bweno heb’ ix tz’ak’ani, pwede ser, sb’o’ lum t’ay - (86) Ha tzyik’ti’ej jun ix t’ayin tob’: (87) ¿Jantak lum mayoj tzwik’ k’e’ wa’an tz’ek’ k’u? - xchi ix. (88) Tzwik’ k’e’wa’an jun syete, jun ocho lum mayb’etzal chi’. (89) Mero b’ab’el wal tzintet’ek’ej k’ejmi lu’um. (90) Te’och yib’ lum yo. (91) Ixtotik tzinb’o’an lu’um. (92) B’i’an yujchi’ jun syete ma jun dyes tzinb’o’ tz’ek’ k’u - xchi ix tik yujchi’.
(93) Ha’onhxo tik max kil wallaj tas yutej heb’ ix komo to toxonhej b’at koman koti. (94) Ha’inxo tik, jun, ha ixwak’ prowal ixinb’o’an atz’am, to b’at wik’ kot jun syete lum ma jun seys lum yo. (95) B’ab’el tzinb’o’ kan b’at hinyokech. (96) Ixtotik tzwak’an kan b’at lu’um. (97) Pero to tzkak’ k’och tanh yich lu’um.
(98) A: ¿Ham k’en k’en tzyeak’ ochi?
(99) X: Ha k’en yokech chi’ ha k’en tzb’at t’ilanh. (100) Bweno tzb’at komayoj chi’, b’i’an.
(148) X: Hi jun, ha pekatax chi’ komo to ha t’a winh ha winh kontrol de la minas chi’- (149) Hanhej ichok tikne’ik. (150) Komo ay och heb’ winh kontrol chi’. (151) Ha heb’ winh chi’ tz’ilani jantak tzyik’an suma heb’ winh. (152) ¡Jantak stuminal chi’ tzyik’ heb’ winh! (153) Pero yo korrido tzk’e’ latz’an t’a junjun k’u, junjun k’u. (154) Wakwanh winakil tz’ochi, jaye’ ik’ ek’ hekwentan ek’, jaye’ tzk’e’ k’och t’a jun wakwanh winakil chi’, t’a waktak uktawo t’a waktakch’ub’ chi’.
(155) A: ¿Tato wakwanh heb’ winh yo waktak pax atz’am - tik waktakch’ub’?
(156) X: Hi, wakwanh heb’ winh.
(157) A: ¿Treyntay seys?
(158) X: Treyntay seys uktawo tzk’e’ta. (159) I ay yuktawo winh rejidor tz’elta. (160) Ay yuktawo - ay atz’am yik’ pax winh kontrol chi’. (161) Bweno hato tzyal winh kontrol tato spayej atz’am winh yo, t’a spat winh olk’och atz’am. (162) Hato tzyal winh kontrol tato tzschonh el winh yo.
ATZ’AM K’IK’ ATZ’AM: EL RELATO DE XUWAN TRADUCIDO AL ESPAÑOL
(1) X: Sufrimos mucho por la pobreza en el pasado. (2) No teníamos zapatos. (3) No teníamos ropa. (4) En ese tiempo no teníamos ropa. (5) No teníamos casa. (6) Juntos dormíamos amontonados así. (7) No había nada. (8) No teníamos nada - no teníamos muy buenas camas. (9) No teníamos buenas cobijas para cubrirnos. (10) No había otra cosa más importante para nosotros.
(11) Ollas (de barro) usábamos. (12) Tinajas (de barro) cargábamos. (13) Hasta no había pila (= pozo público) en el pasado. (14) Y entonces... agua del Tinita bebíamos.13 (15) El agua del Tinita íbamos a buscar. (16) Y luego la poníamos abajo y la cargábamos. (17) Y luego la bebíamos. (18) No existía la pila anteriormente.
(19) Durante este tiempo me di cuenta de que de por sí éramos pobres. (20) No teníamos nada. (21) No teníamos tierra. (22) No teníamos nada. (23) Éramos muy pobres y punto. (24) Pero poco a poco pensamos en lo que podíamos hacer. (25) Así pasaba nuestra vida en ese tiempo. (26) No teníamos nada. (27) No teníamos comida o bebida. (28) No había nada-estaba escaso el trabajo. (29) No vendían ropa de paca como hoy en día.14 (30) En el pasado no había ropa de paca. (31) Era el capixay que usábamos como chamarra.15 (32) Era un poco de ropa simple que comprábamos, como no teníamos dinero, pues. (33) Y a la vez puede ser a veces-hay veces que era difícil encontrar comida. (34) La única cosa segura que hacíamos era cocer la sal. (35) Lo más seguro que hacíamos era cargar mucha leña. (36) Nuestros padres tenían los hombros de la ropa desgarrados. (37) Ya no había nada, se deshacía el capixay en el hombro de ellos. (38) Se deshacía arriba en el borde de las nalgas de ellos. (39) Ya ellos no tenían el capixay.
(40) Dicen que quemaban ch’ilon nuestras abuelas en el pasado. (41) Y nosotras ya pues, ya no era el ch’ilon que quemábamos.16 (42) La sal que estaba allá abajo es la que cocíamos, cargábamos y poníamos encima del fuego. (43) Empezábamos con levantarnos a las tres de la mañana o a la una de la mañana si queríamos que saliera temprano (la sal). (44) Bueno lo que pasa es que poníamos (el agua salina) a la una de la mañana. (45) A las diez de la noche la movemos (la sal) pero estaba lleno (sin agua) el pilón.
(46) A: ¿A cuánto vendían un pilón de sal?
(47) X: Era muy elevado el precio. (48) Salía el precio -digamos que salía a diez quetzales (49) O salía por, pues, o vendemos (ahora) el pilón a doce quetzales, pero no es nada.
(50) A: ¿Qué es un pilón, pues?
(51) X: El pilón es el recipiente para cocer la sal. (52) Las mujeres de Ch’ichjoj eran las que fabricaban el mayoj.17 (53) Las mujeres de Ch’ichjoj eran las que lo hacían. (54) Y entonces los buscábamos allá, los mayojes, de las mujeres de Ch’ichjoj. (55) Las de Ch’ichjoj usaban “mas” (tipo de arena). (56) Se mezcla. (57) Esa arena (mas), la usaban las mujeres para hacer el mayoj. (58) Y comprábamos al precio que sea que cueste el mayoj. (59) Algunos costaban cinco centavos. (60) Algunos costaban dos -a cincuenta centavos, dicen. (61) Como anteriormente había monedas de cincuenta centavos y había monedas de dos centavos. (62) Las grandes las comprábamos a cinco lenes (centavos). (63) Y las pequeñas, pues, las comprábamos a dos centavos. (64) Lo comprábamos por -también pagábamos cuatro centavos, o cuatro quetzales, como ahora.
(65) A: ¿Cuánto tiempo se puede usar (el mayoj)?
(66) X: Lo usamos para un solo viaje (para un uso).
(67) A: ¿Solo lo usan una vez?
(68) X: Lo usamos. (69) Y luego lo que pasa es que tomamos el machete. (70) Y raspamos por detrás. (71) Si está bien hecho todo allá por dentro -está suave- por quienes lo hacen, solo le dan una vuelta así. (72) Sale por pedazos (el mayoj).
(73) A: ¿Se quiebra de una vez?
(74) X: Se quiebra de una vez. (75) Ya no los usamos. (76) Hoy en día se usan palanganas (de metal); antes eran de barro. (77) Por eso si estaba duro o mal hecho por dentro, pues, lo raspaban con el machete. (78) Lo raspan.
(79) A: ¿Se le quedaba pegada (la sal al mayoj)?
(80) X: Sí, se le quedaba pegada. (81) Ahora el que está bien liso por dentro es el que sale de un golpe quemadísimo. (82) Se pone muy rajado al quemarse. (83) Se pone muy blanco al quemarse.
(84) A: ¿Cuántos hacen al día, pues?
(85) X: Bueno las que lo fabrican, puede ser que, hacen - (86) Es lo que me cuenta una de ellas: (87) “¿Cuántos mayojes levanto al día?” - me dijo. (88) “Levanto unos siete u ocho mayb’etz.”18 (89) “Primero lo pisoteo (el barro) mucho dándole vueltas.” (90) “Así agarra fuerza.” (91) “Después los hago.” (92) “Entonces por eso hago unos siete o diez al día” - me dijo ella.
(93) Ya nosotras no veíamos cómo lo hacían ellas porque solo íbamos a comprar. (94) Yo pues, cuando yo intenté hacerla (la sal), traía unos siete o seis (mayojes). (95) Primero, arreglaba mis tenamastes. (96) Después, comenzaba a ponerlos (los mayojes). (97) Pero le ponía cal en su base.
(98) A: ¿Es piedra lo que usaban ustedes?
(99) X: El tenamaste iba alineado. (100) Bueno iba nuestro mayoj, pues.
(101) A: ¿Ponían dos o tres de esos mayojes al mismo tiempo o solo uno, pues?
(102) X: Es que si solo se pone uno, se gasta el fuego. (103) Ahora, si se suben unos cinco o seis, entonces se vienen y se van las leñas así. (104) Se vienen por otro lado. (105) Y luego se calienta por en medio. (106) Por eso solo van las leñas aquí. (107) Entonces, se mueve ya para allá. (108) Se colocan parados (los mayojes), pues. (109) El fuego queda encendido solo. (110) Si está la suerte, se hace bien (la sal) en el mayoj. (111) Si está mal hecho (el mayoj), o si está crudo, por las que lo hacen, se revienta el líquıdo (del agua salada) del mayoj. (112) Y los traemos a sellar. (113) Lo quitamos rápido, lo sellamos, y lo ponemos de nuevo en el fuego - ¡muchísimo esfuerzo! (114) (El mayoj) agarra bien (la sal). (115) Y si es bueno, pues, simplemente reconocíamos a quienes les queda bien cuando lo hacen, pues. (116) Y a ellas les comprábamos. (117) Y con ellas seguíamos comprando. (118)
Y las que lo hacían mal, las abandonábamos. (119) Esa era la manera de hacer la sal.
(120) Y después, cuando la sal empieza adentro, pues, cuando se vuelve clara- (121) Si está bien (la sal), si y se ve bien, entonces sale como la panza de una vaca encima (del mayoj). (122) Entonces salen burbujas por arriba y entonces se va a poner pesado. (123) Poco a poco se forma una piedra. (124) Ahora luego si (la sal) sale mal, no llega a ser piedra. (125) Se derrama del fuego mal (el agua salada). (126) Al instante se derrama entonces vamos a gastar nuestra leña. (127) ¿Quién nos la va a pagar a nosotras? (128) Nadie, porque solo se desperdicia.
(129) A: ¿Ustedes la iban a traer (la leña)?
(130) X: Nosotras la cargábamos en la espalda.
(131) A: ¿Y luego la sal, había quienes la compraban?
(132) X: Y la sal, pues, como anteriormente, eran seis hombres que la trabajaban. (133) Entonces ¿cuántas les tocaba a cada uno de los seis hombres? (134) Seis tinajas les tocaba cargar a cada uno de ellos. (135) Eran ellos que estaban en el juzgado que se la llevaban (la sal) antes. (136) A ellos les tocaba una tinaja. (137) Y seis tinajas iban para el alcalde. (138) Seis tinajas iban para el regidor. (139) Seis tinajas iban para los que estaban allá dentro (del juzgado). (140) Entonces son aquellos hombres que salían a vender. (141) Y nosotras como no teníamos representantes allí, solo les comprábamos a ellos. (142) ¿Cuánto pagábamos? (143) Pagábamos seis centavos, pues, seis tinajas valían un centavo por cada octavo de tinaja. (144) Y desde entonces, subió (el precio). (145) Llegó a subir a doce quetzales. (146) La comprábamos (la sal) por octavos.
(147) A: ¿Era poca la cantidad (de sal) antes, por eso ellos vendían-?
(148) X: Sí anteriormente, como él que estaba a cargo de las minas- (149) Es justo como hoy. (150) Hay los controladores. (151) Y ellos son los que vigilan cuánto se suma. (152) ¡Cuánto dinero se llevaban ellos! (153) Pero así de corrido, hacían montones cada día, cada día. (154) Seis hombres entraban a hacer su cuenta de cuánto recibían cada uno de estos seis hombres, por cada seis octavos, por cada seis tinajas.
(155) A: ¿Si ellos son seis, entonces vuelven con seis porciones de sal cada uno - este, seis tinajas cada uno?
(156) X: Sí, son seis.
(157) A: ¿Treinta y seis?
(158) X: Sacaban treinta y seis octavos. (159) Y tiene el regidor su octavo. (160) Y hay un octavo - uno (mayoj de sal) que se devuelve al controlador. (161) Bueno, el controlador decide si la va a quemar (la sal) para que lo llevan para su casa. (162) O él decide si se vende.
(163) Ya nosotras cocemos la sal que compramos. (164) Así es mi historia de cuándo cocíamos la sal.
ATZ’AM K’IK’ ATZ’AM: THE STORY OF XUWAN TRANSLATED TO ENGLISH
(1) X: We suffered a lot because of the poverty in the past. (2) We didn’t have shoes. (3) We didn’t have clothes. (4) During that time, we didn’t have clothes. (5) We didn’t have houses. (6) Together we slept on top of each other like this. (7) There was nothing. (8) We didn’t have anything - we didn’t have very good beds. (9) We didn’t have good blankets to cover ourselves. (10) There was nothing else more important to us.
(11) It was pots of clay that we used. (12) Saltwater jars we carried.19 (13) And there was no pila (≈public well) before either. (14) And so, it was water of the Tinita that we would drink.20 (15) We would go find the water of the Tinita. (16) And then we would put it down and carry it. (17) And then we would drink it. (18) The pila didn’t exist before.
(19) During this time, I realized that we were simply poor. (20) We didn’t have anything. (21) We didn’t have land. (22) We didn’t have anything. (23) We were very poor and that’s it. (24) But slowly we thought about what we needed to do. (25) That’s how our lives would be during that time. (26) We didn’t have anything. (27) We didn’t have anything to eat or drink. (28) There wasn’t anything-work was scarce. (29) They didn’t sell “bundles of used clothing” like they do today. (30) In the past there were no bundles of used clothing. (31) It was the capixay that we would use as a blanket.21 (32) It would be just a few simple clothes that we would buy, because we didn’t have money, you know. (33) And at the same time, it can be that sometimes-there were times when it was hard to find food. (34) The only thing we would do for sure was to cook the salt. (35) The most common thing we would do was carry a lot of firewood. (36) Our fathers’ clothes were ripped at the shoulders. (37) There was nothing, the capixay got torn up on their shoulders. (38) It would tear up in the edge of their buttocks. (39) They no longer had the capixay.
(40) They say that our grandmothers would do some ch’ilon-burning in the past. (41) As for us, it wasn’t the ch’ilon that we would burn. (42) The salt down there was the one we cooked, carried, and put in the fire. (43) We would begin by waking up at three in the morning or one in the morning if we wanted it (the salt) to be ready early. (44) Well what we would do was put it (the saltwater) at one in the morning. (45) At ten at night we would take out the salt, but it would be full (without water), the pilón.
(46) A: How much would one pilón of salt sell for?
(47) X: The price was very high. (48) The price would go for-let’s say it would be ten quetzals. (49) Or it would go for, you know, or we (now) sell the pilón for twelve quetzales, but that’s nothing.
(50) A: What’s a pilón?
(51) X: The pilón is a pot used to cook salt. (52) The women of Ch’ichjoj were the ones who made the mayoj.22 (53) The women of Ch’ichjoj were the ones who would do it. (54) And so then we would go get them over there, the mayojs, from the women of Ch’ichjoj. (55) The women of Ch’ichjoj use “mas” (type of sand). (56) It is mixed. (57) That sand (mas), they would use it to make the mayoj. (58) And we would buy it at whatever price it would cost. (59) Some would cost five cents. (60) Some would cost two-fifty cents, they say. (61) Since in the past there were fifty cent coins and there were two cent coins. (62) We bought the big ones for five lens (cents). (63) And the small ones, well, we would buy them for two cents. (64) We would buy it for-we would also pay four cents or four quetzales, like today.
(65) A: How much time can it be used (the mayoj)?
(66) X: For only one trip do we use it (for one use).
(67) A: You only use it once?
(68) X: We use it. (69) And then what happens is that we take the machete. (70) And we scrape it from behind. (71) If it’s well done there inside-it’s smooth- by the ones who make it, they just flip it around like this. (72) It comes out in pieces (the mayoj).
(73) A: Does it break right away?
(74) X: It breaks right away. (75) We don’t use them anymore. (76) Nowadays palanganas (bowls of metal) are used; before they were made of clay. (77) That’s why when it was not well made on the inside, well, they would scrape it with the machete. (78) It is scraped.
(79) A: Would it (the salt) stay stuck to it (the mayoj)?
(80) X: Yes, it would stay stuck to it. (81) Now the one that is perfect comes out all at once really burnt. (82) It becomes cracked into many pieces as it burns. (83) It becomes very white as it burns.
(84) A: How many are made per day?
(85) X: Well the ones that make it, it’s possible that, they make - (86) This is what one of them told me: (87) “How many mayojs do I bring up each day?” - she said. (88) “I bring up about seven or eight mayb’etz.”23 (89) “First, I stomp it (the clay) a lot and twist it.” (90) “This way it becomes stronger.” (91) “After, I make them.” (92) “So this is why I make about about seven to ten per day” - she told me.
(93) Now we didn’t see how they would make them because we would only go to buy. (94) Me, when I tried to cook it (the salt), I would bring seven or six (mayojs). (95) First, I would put together my tenamastes. (96) Next, I would place them (the mayojs). (97) But I would put lime at their base.
(98) A: You used stone?
(99) X: The tenamaste would be lined up. (100) Well we would put the mayoj, you know.
(101) A: Would you put two or three mayojs at the same time or only one?
(102) X: The thing is that if you only put one, the fire is wasted. (103) Now, if you put five or six, then the logs come and go. (104) They come on the other side. (105) And then it heats up in the middle. (106) That’s why the firewood simply goes here. (107) And so, it moves over there. (108) They (the mayojs) are placed straight up. (109) And the fire burns by itself. (110) But if luck is on your side, you receive a lot of it (the salt) from it (the mayoj). (111) If it’s not well made (the mayoj), or if it’s raw, by the ones who make it, then the liquid (saltwater) leaks through it. (112) And we bring them to get sealed. (113) We take it out quickly, repair it, and then we put it back in the fire - so much effort! (114) It (the mayoj) receives it (the salt) well. (115) And if the mayoj is good, well we would simply recognize which of them makes it well when they do it. (116) And we would buy them (the mayojs) from them (the women). (117) And we would continue to buy from them. (118) And those who would make it badly, we would just let them go. (119) That’s the way we made the salt.
(120) And then, when the salt starts inside, you know when it’s becoming clear- (121) If it’s good (the salt), if it looks good, then it comes out like the belly of a cow on the surface (of the mayoj). (122) And so bubbles come out and so it will become heavy. (123) Little by little, a stone starts to take form. (124) Now if it (the salt) comes out badly, it does not form rocks. (125) It spills out of the fire badly (the saltwater). (126) It spills over immediately, and so we’ll waste our wood. (127) Who is going to pay us for it? (128) No one, because it is wasted.
(129) A: You would go get it (the firewood)?
(130) X: We would carry it on our backs.
(131) A: And then the salt, were there any people who would buy it?
(132) X: And the salt, well since before, there were six men working with it. (133) So how many would each of the six men have? (134) They would each have to carry six saltwater jars. (135) Those who were in the courthouse were the ones who would take it (the salt) before. (136) They would get one saltwater jar. (137) And six saltwater jars were for the mayor. (138) Six saltwater jars would go to the councilperson. (139) Six saltwater jars would go to those who are in there (the courthouse). (140) Therefore, it’s these men who would go out to sell. (141) And since we didn’t have any representatives there, we only bought from them. (142) How much would we pay? (143) We paid six cents, six saltwater jars were worth one cent for every eighth of a jar. (144) And from then on, it rose (the price). (145) It got to rise to twelve quetzals. (146) We would buy it (the salt) by eighths.
(147) A: Were there little amounts of it (the salt) before, this is why they would sell-? (148) X: Yes, before, like the one that was in charge of the mines- (149) It’s just like today. (150) There are controllers. (151) And they’re the ones that verify how much is added up. (152) How much money they would gather! (153) Non-stop, they made tons of money each day, each day. (154) Six men would enter to calculate how much they would each receive, for every six eighths, for every six saltwater jars.
(155) A: If they’re six, then they take six portions of salt each - uhm, six saltwater jars each?
(156) X: Yes, they’re six.
(157) A: Thirty-six?
(158) X: They would take out thirty-six eighths. (159) And the councilperson has his eighth. (160) And there’s one eighth - one (mayoj of salt) that goes to the controller. (161) Well, the controller decides if he’s going to cook it (the salt), so that they will bring it to his home. (162) Or he decides whether it is sold.
(163) And now us, we cook the salt that we buy. (164) That’s my story of how we would cook the salt.
TEXTO GLOSADO - GLOSSED TEXT
1.
X: Te’ ya’ kaj yuj meb’a’il pekatax chi’.
te’
ya’
k-aj
y-uj
meb’a’-il
pekatax
chi’
INTS
dolor
A1P-estar
A3-SR.por
pobre-NML
antes
DEM
Sufrimos mucho por la pobreza en el pasado.
We suffered a lot because of the poverty in the past.
2.
Malaj nok’ koxanhab’.
malaj
nok’
ko-xanhab’
NEG.EXT
CLF
A1P-zapato
No teníamos zapatos.
We didn’t have shoes.
3.
Malaj kopichul.
malaj
ko-pichul
NEG.EXT
A1P-ropa
No teníamos ropa.
We didn’t have clothes.
4.
T’a jun tyempo’al chi’ malaj kopichul.
t’a
jun
tyempo-’al
chi’
malaj
ko-pichul
PREP
uno
tiempo-NML
DEM
NEG.EXT
A1P-ropa
En ese tiempo no teníamos ropa.
During that time, we didn’t have clothes.
5.
Malaj te’ kopat.
malaj
te’
ko-pat
NEG.EXT
CLF
A1P-casa
No teníamos casa.
We didn’t have houses.
6.
Jun t’ub’an tzonhway ichok.
jun
t’ub’-an
tz-onh-way
ich-ok
uno
amontonado-STAT
IPFV-B1P-dormir
así-IRR
Juntos dormíamos amontonados así.
Together we slept on top of each other like this.
7.
Malaj tasi.
malaj
tasi
NEG.EXT
qué
No había nada.
There was nothing.
8.
Malaj tas - malaj te’ koch’at wenas wal.
malaj
tas
malaj
te’
ko-ch’at
wenas
wal
NEG.EXT
qué
NEG.EXT
CLF
A1P-cama
buena
INTS
No teníamos nada - no teníamos muy buenas camas.
We didn’t have anything - we didn’t have very good beds.
9.
Malaj nok’ kok’u’ wenas wal tzkok’u’ej.
malaj
nok’
ko-k’u’
wenas
wal
tz-ko-k’u’-e-j
NEG.EXT
CLF
A1P-cobija
buena
INTS
IPFV-A1P-cobija-DERIV-VTD
No teníamos buenas cobijas para cubrirnos.
We didn’t have good blankets to cover ourselves.
10.
Malaj junokxo tas mero importante t’ayonh.
malaj
jun-ok-xo
tas
mero
importante
t’ay-onh
NEG.EXT
uno-IRR-ya
qué
mero
importante
PREP-B1P
No había otra cosa más importante para nosotros.24
