Awakatek (also known as Aguateco, Awaketec, Coyotin, Chalchitec, and Balamiha, and natively as Qa'yol) is a

Mayan language Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

spoken in

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...

, primarily in

Huehuetenango Huehuetenango () is a city and municipality in the highlands of western Guatemala. It is also the capital of the department of Huehuetenango. The city is situated from Guatemala City, and is the last departmental capital on the Pan-American High ...

and around Aguacatán. The language only has fewer than 10,000 speakers, and is considered vulnerable by UNESCO. In addition, the language in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

is at high risk of endangerment, with fewer than 2,000 speakers in the state of Campeche in 2010 (although the number of speakers was unknown as of 2000). Awakatek is closely related to Ixil and the two languages together form the sub-branch Ixilean, which together with the Mamean languages,

Mam Mam or MAM may refer to: Places * An Mám or Maum, a settlement in Ireland * General Servando Canales International Airport in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico (IATA Code: MAM) * Isle of Mam, a phantom island * Mam Tor, a hill near Castleton in th ...

and Tektitek, form a sub-branch Greater-Mamean, which again, together with the Greater-Quichean languages, ten Mayan languages, including Kʼicheʼ, form the branch Quichean–Mamean.

Etymology

The Awakatek people themselves refer to their language as ''qaʼyol'', literally meaning 'our word'. They also call themselves ''qatanum'', which means 'our people' and is distinct from the word ''Awakatec'', which is used in Spanish in reference to the municipality of Aguacatán (which means ''place of abundant avocados'' and refers to agricultural production and not specifically to the indigenous people).

Phonology

Vowels

Diphthongs

There are four diphthongs: ay , ey , oy , uy .

Consonants

The coronal ejectives may be allophonically pre-voiced.

References

Agglutinative languages Mayan languages Indigenous languages of Central America Mesoamerican languages Languages of Guatemala Huehuetenango Department {{indigenousAmerican-lang-stub