K’iche’ language

K’iche’ ([kʼiˈtʃeʔ], also Qatzijob'al "our language" to its speakers), or Quiché (/kiːˈtʃeɪ/), is a Maya language of Guatemala, spoken by the K'iche' people of the central highlands. With over a million speakers (some 7% of Guatemala's population), K'iche' is the second-most widely spoken language in the country after Spanish. Most speakers of K'iche' languages also have at least a working knowledge of Spanish.

The Central dialect is the most commonly used in the media and education. The literacy rate is low, but K'iche' is increasingly taught in schools and used on radio. The most famous work in the Classical K'iche' language is the Popol Vuh (Popol Wu'uj in modern spelling).

Kaufman (1970) divides the K'iche' complex into the following five dialects, with the representative municipalities given as well (quoted in Par Sapón 2000:17).

The Nahualá dialect of K'iche' shows some differences from other K'iche' dialects. It preserves an ancient Proto-Mayan distinction between five long vowels (aa, ee, ii, oo, uu) and five short vowels (a, e, i, o, u). It is for that conservative linguistic feature that Guatemalan and foreign linguists have actively sought to have the language called K'ichee rather than K'iche' or Quiché.

K'iche' has a rather conservative phonology. It has not developed many of the innovations found in neighboring languages, such as retroflex consonants or tone.

Stress is not phonemic. It occurs on the final syllable, and on every other syllable before the final in an iambic pattern.

Unstressed vowels are frequently reduced (to [ɨ] or [ə]) or elided altogether, often producing consonant clusters even at the beginnings of words. For example, sib'alaj "very" may be pronounced [siɓlaχ], and je na la' "thus" [χenðaʔ].