Tzeltal phonology

The phonology of Tzeltal is quite straightforward with a common vowel inventory and a typical consonant inventory for Mayan languages. Some phonological processes do occur, however, including assimilation, epenthesis, lenition and reduplication.

Vowels
Tzeltal has 5 vowels:

Whether vowel length is phonemic distinctive in Tzeltal is debatable.

Consonants
Tzeltal has 21 consonants, including the glottal stop. Though Tzeltal does not have a standardized orthography, the bolded letters in the chart below represent one orthography heavily derivative of Spanish:

[pʼ] has three allophones: However, in the Oxchuc (central) dialect, the ejective [p'] does not exist, having been replaced by the phone [b]. Phonemic charts representing this dialect would include [b] but not [p']. In this dialect, suffixes carrying b often may be realized as [m]. In the initial position of a suffix following a consonant, it is realized as the true stop [b], but in the postvocalic position it is preceded by a glottal stop, such that chabek ('wax') sounds like cha'bek. When ['b] is found in the final position, it can be pronounced as ['m], or even disappear completely; thus cheb ('two') could sound like che'b, che'm, or even che'.
 * [pʼ] at the end of a word: early, sap' [sapʼ]
 * [ʔb] between vowels: many, tzop'ol [t͡sʰoʔbol]
 * [b] everywhere else: road, p'e [be]

[w] has two allophones:
 * [β] when it is the first member of a CC-consonant cluster,
 * or if it is at the end of a word: seed, awlil [ʔaβlil]

Note, however, that it can be interchangeably [w] or [β] in the beginning of a word, as in older sister, wix [wiʃ] ~ [βiʃ].
 * [w] everywhere else: I feared, ziwon [siwon]

Phonological processes
When a vowel is found in the context [_ʔC], the vowel is pronounced with creaky voice.

Contraction may occur with consecutive identical phonemes, either at a word- or morpheme-boundary. For example, the word /ta a'tel/ ("at work") may be pronounced [ta'tel], the two [a] phonemes having been pronounced as one.

The phoneme [h] may undergo a number of processes depending on context and dialect. In most dialects, most notably that of Bachajón, word-final [h] is very light and in rapid speech often disappears entirely if not protected by some other element. For example, in the Bachajón dialect, the nominal root bah ("corncob/field mouse") in isolation would lose the final [h] and sound like ba, but if the root takes the particle -e, the word will be pronounced [bahe]. This process does not hold true for word-final [j]. All dialects retain [h] before voiceless consonants. Similarly, medial [h] has disappeared from the Oxchuc dialect but not from the Bachajón dialect, such that yahl ("below") and ch'ahil ("smoke") in Bachajón would be said yal and ch'ail in Oxchuc. Further, in the Oxchuc dialect, an [h] preceding a plain consonant will change the consonant into an ejective stop; thus baht' ("he/she went") in Oxchuc corresponds to baht in other dialects.

In the majority of cases, root-initial glottal stop is pronounced, though it is often omitted in orthography. ['] is only lost when the root is closely related to the preceding word. For example, the glottal stop in the particle -ʼix ("already") will never be pronounced, because the particle always attaches to the preceding word. The prefix ʼa- ("you/your") sometimes retains the glottal stop, but not when it occurs in a verb form. Similarly, the glottal stop in the particle ma' has been lost in verbal forms. Thus, words beginning or ending with a vowel and not a glottal stop should be pronounced together with the word preceding or following it. For example, tal ix ("he already came") would sound like [talix].

Root syllable structure and stress
The following is a general list of common root shapes in Tzeltal. For further examples and detail, see section 3.3 below.


 * VC (including glottalized consonants and glides)
 * CV
 * CVC (including CV', CVh, CVw, and CVy)
 * CVhC
 * CV'C
 * CCVC (in which the initial consonants are limited to s, x, and j).

Common bisyllabic roots include: These final three bisyllabic root constructions result almost always from the combination of two roots, and are always nominal roots. Stress always falls on the last syllable of a word. If a root takes a suffix or if it follows a particle, the accent falls on the latter. Many Spanish loanwords retain penultimate stress in the Spanish style.
 * CVCV
 * CVCVC
 * CVhCVC
 * CV'CVC

Minimal pairs
Kaufman provides the following list of minimal pairs from "dialects other than that of Aguacatenango," though recall that, for example, [p'] is a phoneme in some dialects and does not exist in others.


 * /p/≠/p'/
 * /hpís/ ("one stone") and /hp'ís/ ("I measure)
 * /p/≠/b/
 * /spók/ ("he washes") and /sbók/ ("his vegetable")
 * /p'/≠/b/
 * /hp'ál/ ("one word") and /hbál/ ("my brother-in-law")
 * /b/≠/w/
 * /bá/ ("gopher") and /wá/ ("tortilla")
 * /t/≠/t'/
 * /htúl/ ("one man") and /ht'úl/ ("one drop")
 * /ts/≠/ts'/
 * /stsák/ ("he grabs") and /sts'ák/ ("he mends")
 * /tʃ/≠/tʃ'/
 * /tʃín/ ("pimple") and /tʃ'ín/ ("small")
 * /k/≠/k'/
 * /kúʃ/ ("he woke up") and /k'ùʃ/ ("painful")
 * /ts/≠/tʃ/
 * /tsám/ ("nice") and /tʃám/ ("he died")
 * /s/≠/ʃ/
 * /súl/ ("fish-scale") and /ʃul/ ("he arrives")
 * /t/≠/ts/
 * /tám/ ("it was picked up) /tsám/ ("nice")
 * /t/≠/tʃ/
 * /tám/ ("it was picked up") and /tʃám/ ("he died")
 * /k/≠/tʃ/
 * /kól/ ("he escaped") and /tʃól/ ("it was lined up")
 * /k/≠/ʔ/
 * /sík/ ("cold") and /síʔ/ ("firewood")
 * /k'/≠/ʔ/
 * /hák'/ ("I answer") and /háʔ/ ("water")
 * /h/≠/ʔ/
 * /hám/ ("it opened") and /ʔám/ ("spider")
 * /m/≠/n/
 * /stám/ ("he picks it up") and /stán/ ("his ashes")
 * /l/≠/r/
 * /ʃpululét/ ("bubbling") and /ʃpururét/ ("fluttering")
 * /i/≠/e/
 * /wilél/ ("flying") and /welél/ ("fanning")
 * /e/≠/a/
 * /htén/ ("one level") and /htán/ ("my ashes")
 * /a/≠/o/
 * /tán/ ("ashes") and /tón/ ("stone")
 * /o/≠/u/
 * /kót/ ("my tortilla") and /kút/ ("I say")
 * /u/≠/i/
 * /yútʃ'/ ("he drinks") and /yítʃ'/ ("he takes")
 * /w/≠/u/
 * /haláw/("agouti") and /snàu/ ("he spins thread") [subminimal]
 * /y/≠/i/
 * /ʔáy/ ("there is") and /ʔai/ ("particle") [subminimal]