Editing Chʼol language (section)

== Phonology ==
=== Consonants ===
There are 21 consonantal segments in Chʼol. Below is the consonant inventory of Chʼol.<ref>Vázquez Álvarez, Juan Jesús. ''A Grammar of Chol, a Mayan Language''. Austin, Texas: University of Texas at Austin, 2011; p.34-35</ref>
Corresponding orthography is presented in the angle brackets next to the [[International Phonetic Alphabet chart|IPA symbols]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! colspan=2 |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="3" |[[Plosive]]
! {{small|[[Voiceless consonant|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|p}} {{angbr|p}}
|
| {{IPA link|tʲ}} {{angbr|ty}}
| {{IPA link|k}} {{angbr|k}}
| rowspan="3" |{{IPA link|ʔ}} {{angbr|-}}
|-
! {{small|[[Ejective consonant|ejective]]}}
| {{IPA link|pʼ}} {{angbr|pʼ}}
|
| {{IPA link|tʲʼ}} {{angbr|tyʼ}}
| {{IPA link|kʼ}} {{angbr|kʼ}}
|-
! {{small|[[Voiced consonant|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|b}} {{angbr|b}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan=2 | [[Affricate]]
! {{small|[[Voiceless consonant|voiceless]]}}
|
| {{IPA link|ts}} {{angbr|ts}}
| {{IPA link|tʃ}} {{angbr|ch}}
|
|
|-
! {{small|[[Ejective consonant|ejective]]}}
|
| {{IPA link|tsʼ}} {{angbr|tsʼ}}
| {{IPA link|tʃʼ}} {{angbr|chʼ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Fricative]]
|
| {{IPA link|s}} {{angbr|s}}
| {{IPA link|ʃ}} {{angbr|x}}
| {{IPA link|x}} {{angbr|j}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}} {{angbr|m}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɲ}} {{angbr|ñ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Liquid consonant|Liquid]]
! {{small|[[Lateral consonant|lateral]]}}
|
| {{IPA link|l}} {{angbr|l}}
|
|
|
|-
! {{small|[[Trill consonant|trill]]}}
|
| {{IPA link|r}} {{angbr|r}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[Semivowel|Glide]]
| {{IPA link|w}} {{angbr|w}}
|
| {{IPA link|j}} {{angbr|y}}
|
|
|}

For the segments in the [[palatal consonants|palatal]] column, [{{IPA link|tʲ}}, {{IPA link|tʲʼ}}] are [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]] [[alveolar consonants]], and [{{IPA link|tʃ}}, {{IPA link|tʃʼ}}] are [[Palato-alveolar consonant|palato-alveolar affricates]]. Another property of the consonant inventory is that only the labial has a voiced segment [b], which corresponds to the [[Voiced bilabial implosive|voiced bilabial implosive [ɓ]]] in [[Proto-Mayan language|Proto-Mayan]].<ref>Kaufman, Terrence and William M. Norman. ''An outline of Proto-Cholan phonology, morphology and vocabulary. In Phoneticism in Mayan Hieroglyphic Writing, ed. by John Justeson and Lyle Campbell, 77-166''. Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, State University of New York, Albany, 1984; p.86-88</ref>

Alveolar sounds [{{IPA link|n}}, {{IPA link|t}}] are only heard as allophones of /{{IPA link|ɲ}}, {{IPA link|ts}}/.

=== Vowels ===
Chʼol has a six vowel system, as shown below in the vowel inventory.<ref>Vázquez Álvarez, Juan Jesús. ''A Grammar of Chol, a Mayan Language''. Austin, Texas: University of Texas at Austin, 2011; p.41</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|High]]
|{{IPA link|i}} {{angbr|i}}
|{{IPA link|ɨ}} {{angbr|ä}}
|{{IPA link|u}} {{angbr|u}}
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}} {{angbr|e}}
|
|{{IPA link|o}} {{angbr|o}}
|-
![[Low vowel|Low]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}} {{angbr|a}}
|
|}

The vowel ''ä'' is a distinctive segment in Chʼol, as in other [[Chʼolan languages]]. According to Kaufman and Norman (1984), long vowels in the [[Proto-Mayan language]] merged with their short counterparts in [[Chʼolan languages]], except for ''*aa (long)'' and ''*a (short)''. These segments went under a sound change, in which ''*aa'' became ''a'' and ''*a'' became ''ä''.<ref>Kaufman, Terrence and William M. Norman. ''An outline of Proto-Cholan phonology, morphology and vocabulary. In Phoneticism in Mayan Hieroglyphic Writing, ed. by John Justeson and Lyle Campbell, 77-166''. Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, State University of New York, Albany, 1984; p.85</ref>

=== Syllable Structure ===
Chʼol can have CV, CVC, CVCC, CCVC, CCVCC as possible syllable structures. The most common ones are CV and CVC.<ref>Vázquez Álvarez, Juan Jesús. ''A Grammar of Chol, a Mayan Language''. Austin, Texas: University of Texas at Austin, 2011; p.46</ref>

{|-
| muty || [mutʲʰ] || {{gloss|chicken}} || CVC
|-
| pul || [pul̥] || {{gloss|to burn}} || CVC
|-
| ja' || [xaʔ] || {{gloss|water}} || CVC
|-
| ixik || [ʔi.xikʰ] || {{gloss|woman}} || CV.CVC
|-
| wiñik || [wi.ɲikʰ] || {{gloss|man}} || CV.CVC
|}

Like many other Mayan languages, Chʼol does not allow [[Onset (syllable)|onsetless]] syllables, which means words that appear to start with vowel in fact have a glottal stop as the onset.

{|-
| ich || [ʔit͡ʃ] || {{gloss|chili}} || CVC
|-
| ax || [ʔax] || {{gloss|a type of fruit}} || CVC
|-
| ok || [ʔokʰ] || {{gloss|foot}} || CVC
|-
| ej || [ʔej] || {{gloss|tooth}} || CVC
|}

Although complex onsets and complex codas exist, the former only occur across morpheme boundaries, and the latter are limited to ''j''C.<ref>Vázquez Álvarez, Juan Jesús. ''A Grammar of Chol, a Mayan Language''. Austin, Texas: University of Texas at Austin, 2011; p.47</ref>

{|-
| kpam || [kpam̥] || {{gloss|my forehead}}
|-
| ktyem || [ktʲem̥] || {{gloss|my chair}}
|-
| ch'ujm || [t͡ʃ'uxm̥] || {{gloss|pumping}}
|-
| mujk || [muxkʰ] || {{gloss|navel}}
|}

=== Stress ===
The main stress of a word typically falls on the [[Ultima (linguistics)|ultima]] in Chʼol. This is true for most of the [[wikt:bisyllabic|bisyllabic]] native words and [[wikt:polysyllabic|polysyllabic]] [[loanwords]]. In the following examples, the stress is indicated by an [[acute accent]] on the [[Nucleus (syllable)|nucleus]].<ref>Vázquez Álvarez, Juan Jesús. ''A Grammar of Chol, a Mayan Language''. Austin, Texas: University of Texas at Austin, 2011; p.43</ref>

{|-
| {{lang|ctu|ixím}} || || {{gloss|corn}}
|-
| {{lang|ctu|okʼól}} || || {{gloss|mud}}
|-
| {{lang|ctu|jaʼás}} || || {{gloss|banana}}
|-
| {{lang|ctu|alaxáx}} || ‹ {{langx|es|naranja}} || {{gloss|orange}}
|-
| {{lang|ctu|kayetáj}} || ‹ {{langx|es|galleta}} || {{gloss|cookies}}
|-
| {{lang|ctu|tyexeléx}} || ‹ {{langx|es|tijera}} || {{gloss|scissors}}
|}

Compound words also have the main stress on the ultima. A secondary stress, indicated by a [[grave accent]], can be heard in the first part of a compound word. This weak stress usually goes on the ultima of the first part.<ref>Vázquez Álvarez, Juan Jesús. ''A Grammar of Chol, a Mayan Language''. Austin, Texas: University of Texas at Austin, 2011; p.44</ref>

{|-
| {{lang|ctu|tyàtymúty}} || {{gloss|rooster}} (male+chicken)
|-
| {{lang|ctu|chä̀kmé}}' || {{gloss|mud}} (red+deer)
|-
| {{lang|ctu|matyè'chityám}} || {{gloss|banana}} (forest+pig)
|-
| {{lang|ctu|bajlä̀mtyé'}} || {{gloss|orange}} (jaguar+tree)
|}