Achi (''Achí'' in Spanish) is a
Mayan language very closely related to
Kʼicheʼ (''Quiché'' in the older orthography). It is spoken by the
Achi people, primarily in the department of
Baja Verapaz in
Guatemala.
There are two Achi dialects. Rabinal Achi is spoken in the
Rabinal area, and Cubulco Achi is spoken in the
Cubulco area west of Rabinal.
One of the masterpieces of precolumbian literature is the
Rabinal Achí, a theatrical play written in the Achi language.
Phonology
Consonants
* Voiceless plosives can have aspirated allophones , either when preceding a consonant or in word-final position.
* A pharyngeal fricative sound can be heard before vowels or in word-initial or intervocalic environments preceding vowels.
* A uvular consonant can also be heard as velar in some environments. when preceding a velar consonant can be heard as a velar nasal .
* Sonorants when preceding a voiceless consonant or in word-final position can occur sounding voiceless .
Vowels
Orthography
Achi uses a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
-based
alphabet
An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a s ...
:
["Achi Pronunciation and Spelling Guide." ''Verb-Based Languages'', www.native-languages.org/achi_guide.htm.]
References
External links
Collections in the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin AmericaNew Testament in AchiOLAC resources in and about the Achi language
Listen to a sample of Achi from Global Recordings Network
Agglutinative languages
Mayan languages
Indigenous languages of Central America
Mesoamerican languages
Languages of Guatemala
Baja Verapaz Department
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