Poqomchiʼ language

Poqomchiʼ (Pokomchi: Poqomchiiʼ) is a Mayan language spoken by the Poqomchiʼ Maya of Guatemala, and is very closely related to Poqomam. Its two main dialects, eastern and western, were spoken by 90,000 or so people in the year 2000, in Purulhá, Baja Verapaz, and in the following municipalities of Alta Verapaz: Santa Cruz Verapaz, San Cristóbal Verapaz, Tactic, Tamahú and Tucurú. It is also the predominant language in Aldea Belejú, in the municipality of Chicamán (El Quiché), which borders Alta Verapaz.^[2]

Poqomchiʼ
Poqomchiiʼ
Native to	Guatemala
Region	Baja Verapaz
Ethnicity	177,000 Poqomchiʼ (2019 census)
Native speakers	130,000 (2019 census)[1] 40,000 monolinguals (2017)[1]
Language family	Mayan Quichean–Mamean Greater Quichean Poqom Poqomchiʼ
Language codes
ISO 639-3	poh
Glottolog	poqo1254
ELP	Poqomchi'

Distribution

Poq'omchí is spoken in the following municipalities of Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, and El Quiché departments (Variación Dialectal en Poqom, 2000).

• Alta Verapaz
  • Panzós (in the community of San Vicente II)
  • La Tinta
  • Tucurú
  • Tamahú
  • Tactic
  • Santa Cruz Verapaz
  • San Cristóbal Verapaz
• El Quiché
  • Chicamán (in the aldea of Belejú)
• Baja Verapaz
  • Purulhá (in the community of Ribalcó)

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	ts	tʃ		k	q	ʔ
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ	tsʼ	tʃʼ		kʼ	qʼ
	implosive	ɓ
Fricative				s	ʃ			χ	h
Nasal		m		n
Trill				r
Approximant	central			l		j	w
	glottalized						(wʼ)

• In Western Poqomchi', /ɓ/ is non-existent and a glottalized /wʼ/ occurs in alteration. Sometimes an allophone of /wʼ/ can be heard as [mʼ].
• /pʼ/ mainly exists among the western dialects.
• /r/ can be heard as a flap sound [ɾ] when occurring word-medially.
• If a glottal sound precedes /l/, it is then heard as a voiceless fricative [ɬ].

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i iː	u uː
Mid	e eː	o oː
Open	a aː

• Short allophones of vowels /i/, /a o/ can be heard as [ɪ], [ə].