Ixil (''Ixhil'') is a Mayan language spoken in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. It is the primary language of the Ixil people, which mainly comprises the three towns of San Juan Cotzal, Santa María Nebaj, and San Gaspar Chajul in the

n highlands and numerous towns in the states of

Campeche Campeche, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche, is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, make up the Administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the sta ...

and

Quintana Roo Quintana Roo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, constitute the 32 administrative divisions of Mexico, federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into municipalities of ...

in southeast

México Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. There is also an Ixil speaking migrant population in Guatemala City, Mexico City and the United States. Although there are slight differences in vocabulary in the dialects spoken by people in the three main Guatemalan Ixil towns, they are all mutually intelligible and should be considered dialects of a single language. According to historical linguistic studies Ixil emerged as a separate language sometime around the year 500AD.

Distribution

Ixil language is spoken in Mexico in some municipalities of the states of

and

. In the state of Campeche is spoken in the communities of Los Laureles and Quetzal-Edzná from the Campeche municipality and in Maya Tecún in Champotón municipality, while in Quintana Roo is spoken in the towns of Maya Balam and Kuchumatán, Bacalar municipality. In Guatemala, the municipalities where Ixil is spoken the most are San Gaspar Chajul, San Juan Cotzal and Santa María Nebaj,

Quiché department Quiché () is a department of Guatemala. It is in the heartland of the Kʼicheʼ (Quiché) people, one of the Maya peoples, to the north-west of Guatemala City. The capital is Santa Cruz del Quiché. The word Kʼicheʼ comes from the languag ...

Phonology

Sample Words

Source:

Grammar

Ixil

pronominal In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun ( glossed ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not con ...

s are discerned between ergative ones and

absolutive In grammar, the absolutive case (abbreviated ) is the case of nouns in ergative–absolutive languages that would generally be the subjects of intransitive verbs or the objects of transitive verbs in the translational equivalents of nominative� ...

ones. A notable feature of the language's grammar is its ambiguity in discerning reflexive from

reciprocal pronoun A reciprocal pronoun is a pronoun that indicates a reciprocal relationship. A reciprocal pronoun can be used for one of the participants of a reciprocal construction, i.e. a clause in which two participants are in a mutual relationship. The recip ...

s."Reflexive and Reciprocal Elements in Ixil",

ERIC The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-N ...

ED353802
Glenn Ayres, 1990.

Notes

Bibliography

*Asicona Ramírez, Lucas, Domingo Méndez Rivera, Rodrigo Domingo Xinic Bop. 1998. ''Diccionario Ixil de San Gaspar Chajul''. La Antigua Guatemala: Proyecto Linguistico Francisco Marroquín. * *Cedillo Chel, Antonio, Juan Ramírez. 1999. ''Diccionario del idioma ixil de Santa María Nebaj''. La Antigua Guatemala: Proyecto Linguistico Francisco Marroquín. *England, Nora C. 1994. ''Ukutaʼmiil Ramaqʼiil Utzijobʼaal ri Mayaʼ Amaaqʼ: Autonomia de los Idiomas Mayas: Historia e identidad. (2nd ed.)''. Guatemala City: Cholsamaj. *Maximiliano Poma S., Tabita J.T. de la Cruz, Manuel Caba Caba et al. 1996. ''Gramática del Idioma Ixil''. La Antigua Guatemala: Proyecto Linguistico Francisco Marroquín. *Oxlajuuj Keej Mayaʼ Ajtzʼiibʼ (OKMA). 1993. ''Mayaʼ chiiʼ. Los idiomas Mayas de Guatemala.'' Guatemala City: Cholsamaj. *Programa de Rescate Cultural Maya-Ixil. 1995. ''Aqʼbʼal Eluʼl Yol Vatzsaj: Diccionario Ixil''. Guatemala City: Cholsamaj.

External links

Doctrina y Confesionario en lengua IxilOLAC resources in and about the Ixil language
*ELAR archive o
Ixil Maya language documentation materials
at the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America, containing audio recordings and digital texts. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ixil Language Mayan languages Indigenous languages of Central America Mesoamerican languages Verb–subject–object languages Agglutinative languages Languages of Guatemala Quiché Department Languages of Mexico Indigenous languages of Mexico Ixil