This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{lang}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used - notably mam for Mam. See why. (May 2019)

Mam
Qyool Mam, Ta yol Mam
Native to	Guatemala, Mexico
Region	Chiapas and Campeche, Mexico Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango, San Marcos, and Retalhuleu, Guatemala;
Ethnicity	Mam
Native speakers	600,000 in Guatemala (2019 census)[1] 10,000 in Mexico (2020 census)[2]
Language family	Mayan Eastern Mayan Greater Mamean Mamean Mam
Dialects	Northern Mam Central Mam Soconusco Mam Western Mam Southern Mam
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Mexico  Guatemala
Regulated by	Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas Comunidad Lingüística Mam (COLIMAM)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mam
Glottolog	mamm1241
ELP	Mam
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Mam is a Mayan language spoken by about half a million Mam people in the Guatemalan departments of Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango, San Marcos, and Retalhuleu, and the Mexican states of Campeche and Chiapas. Thousands more make up a Mam diaspora throughout the United States and Mexico, with notable populations living in Oakland, California^[3][4] and Washington, D.C. The most extensive Mam grammar is Nora C. England's A grammar of Mam, a Mayan language (1983), which is based on the San Ildefonso Ixtahuacán dialect of Huehuetenango Department.

Classification

Mam is closely related to the Tektitek language, and the two languages together form the Mamean sub-branch of the Mayan language family. Along with the Ixilan languages, Awakatek and Ixil, these make up the Greater Mamean sub-branch, one of the two branches of the Eastern Mayan languages (the other being the Greater Quichean sub-branch, which consists of 10 Mayan languages, including Kʼicheʼ).

Dialects

Because contact between members of different Mam communities is somewhat limited, the language varies considerably even from village to village. Nevertheless, mutual intelligibility, though difficult, is possible through practice.^[5]

Mam varieties within Mexico and Guatemala are divided into five dialect groups:^[6]

• Northern Mam in Campeche, Mexico and southern Huehuetenango Department, Guatemala.^[7] Northern Mam is the least conservative group according to Terrence Kaufman.^[5]
• Southern Mam in southern Campeche, Mexico and Quetzaltenango Department, San Marcos Department, and Retalhuleu Department, Guatemala.^[8]
• Central Mam in Chiapas, Mexico and San Marcos Department, Guatemala.
• Western Mam in eastern Chiapas, Mexico and northwestern San Marcos Department, Guatemala.^[9] The Tektitek language may be mutually intelligible with Western Mam dialects.
• Soconusco Mam in the Soconusco region, Chiapas, Mexico^[10]

In addition to these, the dialects of Chiapas, Mexico are characterized by significant grammatical as well as lexical differences from the Guatemalan varieties.^[11]

Distribution

Mam is spoken in 64 communities in four Guatemalan departments^[12] and numerous communities in Campeche and Chiapas, Mexico.^[11] Neighboring languages include Jakaltek and Qʼanjobʼal to the north, Tektitek and Qato'k to the west, and Ixil, Awakatek, Sipacapense, and Kʼicheʼ to the east.

Phonology

Stress

Mam has weight sensitive stress assignment.^[13] Primary stress falls on the long vowel in a word if there is one, e.g. aq'ú:ntl 'work'. Words without a long vowel assign primary stress to the vowel preceding the last glottal stop, e.g. puʔláʔ 'dipper'. Words without a long vowel or a glottal stop assign stress to the vowel preceding the last consonant in the root, e.g. xpicháqʼ 'raccoon'. Stress is not assigned to suffixes or enclitics that do not have long vowels or a glottal stop.

Vowels

Mam has 10 vowels, 5 short and 5 long:^[14]

• A mid-central vowel is an allophone of a short unstressed vowel that can occur in the syllable following a stressed long vowel.

Consonants

Mam has 27 consonants, including the glottal stop:^[5]

• Stop sounds /p, t, t͡s, t͡ʃ, t͡ʂ, k, q/ are released with aspiration in word-final position.
• Todos Santos Mam has an extended amount of affricate consonants being apical palato-alveolar /t̺͡ʃ̺ʰ, t̺͡ʃ̺ʼ, ʃ̺/.^[15]

Syllable structure

Most roots take the morphological shape CVC.^[16] The only possible root final consonant cluster is -nC. Syllables can have up to four consonants in a cluster in any position. Most consonant clusters are the result of vowel dropping and morpheme addition.^[17]

Morphology

Mam has two sets of agreement markers, known to Mayanists as Set A and Set B markers, which can appear on both nouns and verbs. Mam uses Set A (ergative) markers on nouns to mark possessor agreement and on verbs to cross-reference the transitive subject. Mam uses Set B (absolutive) markers on transitive verbs to cross-reference the object and on intransitive verbs to cross-reference the subject. Below is a table of Set A (ergative) and Set B (absolutive) prefixes from England.^[18]

Phonologically conditioned allomorphs are as follows.

• n- ~ w-
  • n- /__C
  • w- /__V
• Ø ~ tz- ~ tzʼ- ~ k-
  • k- /potential
  • tzʼ- /__V initial root, non-potential
  • tz- /__uul 'arrive here', iky' 'pass by', non-potential
  • Ø- /__C, non-potential
• -a ~ -ya
  • -ya /V__ ; In the first person in post-vowel environments, -ya varies freely with -kyʼa and -y'.
  • -a /C__

Some paradigmatic examples from England (1983) are given below. Note that "Ø-" designates a null prefix. Additionally, ma is an aspectual word meaning 'recent past'.