Achi language
Mayan language of Guatemala
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.
01Phonology
The tables present the consonant and vowel phonemes of Achi. On the left is the spelling in use.
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Post-alv./ Palatal |
Velar | Uvular | Pharyn- geal |
Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m [m] | n [n] | |||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p [p] | t [t] | tz [ts] | ch [tʃ] | k [k] | q [q] | ’ [ʔ] | |
| ejective | tʼ [tʼ] | tzʼ [tsʼ] | chʼ [tʃʼ] | kʼ [kʼ] | |||||
| implosive | bʼ [ɓ] | ||||||||
| Fricative | s [s] | x [ʃ] | j [χ] | qʼ [ʕ] | |||||
| Trill | r [r] | ||||||||
| Approximant | w [w] | l [l] | y [j] | ||||||
- Voiceless plosives can have aspirated allophones [pʰ tʰ kʰ qʰ], either when preceding a consonant or in word-final position.
- The uvular fricative /χ/ can also be heard as velar [x] in some environments.
- /n/ assimilates to a velar nasal [ŋ] when preceding a velar consonant.
- Sonorants /l r j/ when preceding a voiceless consonant or in word-final position become devoiced [l̥ r̥ j̊].
Vowels
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Achi language”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
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