| Achi | |
|---|---|
| Achiʼ | |
| Native to | Guatemala |
| Region | Baja Verapaz |
| Ethnicity | 161,000 Achi (2019 census) |
| Native speakers | 120,000 (2019 census) |
| Language family | Mayan
|
| Official status | |
| Recognised minority language in |  Guatemala |
| Regulated by | Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | acr |
| Glottolog | achi1256 |
| ELP | Achi' |
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.
Phonology
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 | n | |||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | tz | ch | k | q | ’ | |
| ejective | tʼ | tzʼ | chʼ | kʼ | |||||
| implosive | bʼ | ||||||||
| Fricative | s | x | j | qʼ | |||||
| Trill | r | ||||||||
| Approximant | w | l | y | ||||||
- Voiceless plosives can have aspirated allophones , either when preceding a consonant or in word-final position.
- A uvular consonant /χ/ can also be heard as velar [x] in some environments.
- /n/ when preceding a velar consonant can be heard as a velar nasal [ŋ].
- Sonorants /l r j/ when preceding a voiceless consonant or in word-final position can occur sounding voiceless .
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i ii | u uu | |
| Mid | e ee | o oo | |
| Open | a aa |
References
- Achi at Ethnologue (24th ed., 2021)
- Lopez & Iboy (1992:36)
- Lopez & Iboy (1992:41)
- Lopez & Iboy (1992:45)
- Lopez, Manuel Antonio; Iboy, Juliana Sis (1993). Gramática del Idioma Achi. La Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala: Proyecto Lingüístico Francisco Marroquín.
External links
- Collections in the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America
- Pronouncing the Maya Achi Alphabet
- New Testament in Achi
- OLAC resources in and about the Achi language
- Listen to a sample of Achi from Global Recordings Network
| Languages of Guatemala | |||||||||||||
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| Official language | |||||||||||||
| Indigenous languages |
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| Sign languages | |||||||||||||
| Mayan languages | |||||||||||||||
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| Huastecan | |||||||||||||||
| Yucatecan |
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| Western |
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| Eastern |
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| Mixed language | |||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||
| Italics indicate extinct languages | |||||||||||||||
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