Linguistics 210 - Homework 5

Due March 8, 2000

Mayan Languages

Observe the following data from Mayan languages taken from Historical Lingustics: An Introduction, by Lyle Campbell.  Answer the questions that follow completely, using full sentences in paragraph form on a separate sheet of paper.
 
 
K’iche’ Tzeltal Yucatec Huastec Gloss
1.  ra:h ja jah jah- ‘hot, spicy’
2. ri?x jix ji?ih jeh- ‘old (man)’
3. r- j- j- --  ‘his/her/its’
4. raS jaS ja?aS jaS ‘green’
5. war waj waj waj ‘to sleep’
6. ja:x  jah jah ja? ‘sick’
7. jaS jaS -- -- ‘crab, pincers’
8. k’aj- k’aj-
[‘sing’]		  k’aj-
[‘sing, sell’] 		 C’aj-
[‘buy’] 		 ‘to sell’
      
 1. There is a sound correspondence among these languages involving [r] and [j].  What is that correspondence?  For example, in the Numic languages, the correspondence involving [m] and [w] is that in some forms, where Yerington Paviotso has [m], Northfork Monachi has [w].

2. There are two possibilities for the reconstruction of the Proto-Mayan consonant that results in this correspondence.  What are the two possibilities?  For example, in Numic, one possibility for the reconstruction of the [m]/[w] consonant is either that the proto-form is *[m] and that this consonant changes to [w] in Northfork Monachi in some environment, or that the proto-form is *[w] and this consonant changes to [m] in Yerington Paviotso in some environment.

3. What are the conditioning environments for each possible reconstruction?

4. Based on your answers for (3), which reconstruction is the most likely reconstruction for the [r]/[j] correspondence in the Mayan languages?  Explain your reasoning.

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