Editing Yucatec Maya language (section)

==Phonology==
A characteristic feature of Yucatec Maya, like other Mayan languages, is the use of [[ejective consonant]]s: {{IPA|/pʼ/, /tʼ/, /kʼ/}}. Often referred to as [[glottalization|glottal]]ized consonants, they are produced at the same place of oral articulation as their non-ejective stop counterparts: {{IPA|/p/, /t/, /k/}}. However, the release of the lingual closure is preceded by a raising of the closed glottis to increase the air pressure in the space between the glottis and the point of closure, resulting in a release with a characteristic ''popping'' sound. The sounds are written using an [[apostrophe]] after the letter to distinguish them from the plain consonants (''tʼàan'' "speech" vs. ''táan'' "forehead"). The apostrophes indicating the sounds were not common in written Maya until the 20th century but are now becoming more common. The Mayan ''b'' is also glottalized, an implosive {{IPA|/ɓ/}}, and is sometimes written ''bʼ'', but that is becoming less common.

Yucatec Maya is one of only three Mayan languages to have developed [[tone (linguistics)|tone]], the others being [[Uspantek language|Uspantek]] and one dialect of [[Tzotzil language|Tzotzil]]. Yucatec distinguishes short vowels and long vowels, indicated by single versus double letters (ii ee aa oo uu), and between high- and low-tone long vowels. High-tone vowels begin on a high pitch and fall in phrase-final position but rise elsewhere, sometimes without much vowel length. It is indicated in writing by an acute accent (íi ée áa óo úu). Low-tone vowels begin on a low pitch and are sustained in length; they are sometimes indicated in writing by a grave accent (ìi èe àa òo ùu), though the 2014 [[INALI]] orthography uses no accent.

Also, Yucatec has contrastive laryngealization ([[creaky voice]]) on long vowels, sometimes realized by means of a full intervocalic glottal stop and written as a long vowel with an apostrophe in the middle, as in the plural suffix ''-oʼob''.

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan=2|
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan=2|[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPAlink|m}} {{angbr|m}}
| {{IPAlink|n}} {{angbr|n}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan=2|[[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
! <small>plain</small>
| {{IPAlink|p}} {{angbr|p}}
| {{IPAlink|t}} {{angbr|t}}
|
| {{IPAlink|k}} {{angbr|k}}
| {{IPAlink|ʔ}} {{angbr|ʼ}}
|-
! <small>[[Ejective consonant|ejective]]</small>
| {{IPAlink|pʼ}} {{angbr|pʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|tʼ}} {{angbr|tʼ}}
|
| {{IPAlink|kʼ}} {{angbr|kʼ}}
|
|-
! colspan=2|[[Implosive consonant|Implosive]]
| {{IPAlink|ɓ}} {{angbr|b}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan=2|[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
! <small>plain</small>
|
| {{IPAlink|ts}} {{angbr|ts}}
| {{IPAlink|tʃ}} {{angbr|ch}}
|
|
|-
! <small>[[Ejective consonant|ejective]]</small>
|
| {{IPAlink|tsʼ}} {{angbr|tsʼ}}
| {{IPAlink|tʃʼ}} {{angbr|chʼ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan=2|[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
| 
| {{IPAlink|s}} {{angbr|s}}
| {{IPAlink|ʃ}} {{angbr|x}}
|
| {{IPAlink|h}} {{angbr|j}}
|-
! colspan=2|[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| {{IPAlink|w}} ~ {{IPAlink|v}} {{angbr|w}}{{efn|the letter {{angbr|w}} may represent the sounds {{IPA|[w]}} or {{IPA|[v]}}. The sounds are interchangeable in Yucatec Mayan although {{IPA|/w/}} is considered the proper sound.}}
| {{IPAlink|l}} {{angbr|l}}
| {{IPAlink|j}} {{angbr|y}}
|
|
|-
! colspan=2|[[Flap consonant|Flap]]
|
| {{IPAlink|ɾ}} {{angbr|r}}
|
|
|
|}
{{notelist}}

Some sources describe the plain consonants as aspirated, but Victoria Bricker states "[s]tops that are not glottalized are articulated with lung air without aspiration as in English spill, skill, still."<ref>{{cite book|last=Bricker|first=Victoria|year=1998|title=Dictionary Of The Maya Language: As Spoken in Hocabá Yucatan|publisher=University of Utah Press|page=XII|isbn=978-0874805697}}</ref>

===Vowels===
In terms of vowel quality, Yucatec Maya has a straightforward five vowel system:

{| class="wikitable"
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|- align="center"
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}}
| {{IPA link|u}}
|- align="center"
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}}
| {{IPA link|o}}
|- align="center"
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|a}}
|}

For each of these five vowel qualities, the language contrasts four distinct vowel "shapes", i.e. combinations of [[vowel length]], [[tone (linguistics)|tone]], and [[phonation]]. In the standard orthography first adopted in 1984,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180726170115/http://www.cofemersimir.gob.mx/expediente/20612/mir/43270/anexo/3733913]</ref> vowel length is indicated by digraphs (e.g. "aa" for IPA {{IPA|[aː]}}).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Short, neutral tone !! Long, low tone !! Long, high tone !! Creaky voiced ('glottalized,<br>rearticulated'), long, high tone
|-
| pik 'eight thousand' {{IPA|[pik]}} || miis 'cat' {{IPAblink|mìːs}} || míis {{IPAblink|míːs}} 'broom; to sweep' || niʼichʼ {{IPAblink|nḭ́ːtʃʼ}} 'to get bitten'
|}

In fast-paced speech, the glottalized long vowels may be pronounced the same as the plain long high vowels, so in such contexts ''ka’an'' {{IPA|[ká̰ːn]}} 'sky' sounds the same as ''káan'' {{IPA|[káːn]}} 'when?'.

===Stress===
Mayan words are typically stressed on the earliest syllable with a long vowel. If there is no long vowel, then the last syllable is stressed. Borrowings from other languages such as Spanish or Nahuatl are often stressed as in the original languages.

===Debuccalization===
An important [[morphophonology|morphophonological]] process in Yucatec Maya is the [[dissimilation]] of identical consonants next to each other by [[debuccalization|debuccalizing]] to avoid [[geminate consonant]]s. If a word ends in one of the [[glottalization|glottalized]] plosives /pʼ tʼ kʼ ɓ/ and is followed by an identical consonant, the final consonant may dispose of its [[point of articulation]] and become the glottal stop /ʔ/. This may also happen before another plosive inside a common idiomatic phrase or [[compound word]]. Examples: {{IPA|[majaɓˈtʼàːn]}} ~ {{IPA|[majaʔˈtʼàːn]}} 'Yucatec Maya' (literally, "flat speech"), and ''náak’-'' {{IPA|[náːkʼ-]}} (a prefix meaning 'nearby') + ''káan'' {{IPA|[ká̰ːn]}} 'sky' gives {{IPA|[ˈnáːʔká̰ːn]}} 'palate, roof the mouth' (so literally "nearby-sky").

Meanwhile, if the final consonant is one of the other consonants, it debuccalizes to /h/: ''nak'' {{IPA|[nak]}} 'to stop sth' + ''-kúuns'' {{IPA|[-kúːns]}} (a [[causative]] suffix) gives ''nahkúuns'' {{IPA|[nahˈkúːns]}} 'to support sb/sth' (cf. the [[homophone]]s ''nah'', possessed form ''nahil'', 'house'; and ''nah'', possessed form ''nah'', 'obligation'), ''náach’'' {{IPA|[náːtʃ]}} 'far' + ''-chah'' {{IPA|[-tʃah]}} (an [[inchoative]] suffix) gives ''náahchah'' {{IPA|[ˈnáːhtʃah]}} 'to become distant'.

This change in the final consonant is often reflected in orthographies, so {{IPA|[majaʔˈtʼàːn]}} can appear as ''maya’ t’àan'', ''maya t'aan'', etc.

===Acquisition===
Phonology acquisition is received idiosyncratically. If a child seems to have severe difficulties with affricates and sibilants, another might have no difficulties with them while having significant problems with sensitivity to semantic content, unlike the former child.<ref name="Straight, Henry Stephen 1976 207-18">Straight, Henry Stephen (1976) "The Acquisition of Maya Phonology Variation in Yucatec Child Language" in Garland Studies in American Indian Linguistics. pp.207–18</ref>

There seems to be no incremental development in phonology patterns. Monolingual children learning the language have shown acquisition of aspiration and deobstruentization but difficulty with sibilants and affricates, and other children show the reverse. Also, some children have been observed fronting palatoalveolars, others retract lamino-alveolars, and still others retract both.<ref name="Straight, Henry Stephen 1976 207-18"/>

Glottalization was not found to be any more difficult than aspiration. That is significant with the Yucatec Mayan use of ejectives. Glottal constriction is high in the developmental hierarchy, and features like [fricative], [apical], or [fortis] are found to be later acquired.<ref name="Straight, Henry Stephen 1976">Straight, Henry Stephen 1976</ref>