Mopan language
| Mopan | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Belize, Guatemala |
| Ethnicity | Mopan |
|
Native speakers
|
9,000–12,000 (2008) |
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | mopa1243 |
Mopan (or Mopan Maya) is a language that belongs to the Yucatecan branch of the Mayan languages. It is spoken by the Mopan people who live in the Petén Department of Guatemala and in the Maya Mountains region of Belize. There are between three and four thousand Mopan speakers in Guatemala and six to eight thousand in Belize.
The other Yucatecan languages are Yucatec, Lacandon, and Itza'. Mopan began to diverge from the other Yucatecan languages at least one thousand years ago.
Towns where Mopan is prominently spoken include San Luis, Poptún, Melchor de Mencos, and Dolores in Guatemala, as well as San Antonio in the Toledo District of Belize.
The word order in Mopan is verb-object-subject (VOS), although subject-verb-object (SVO) is also common.
Numerals in Mopan always include a numeral classifier which is added as a suffix. These classifiers indicate qualities about the referent. For example, round objects are indicated by the suffix -kuul, while long, thin objects are indicated by the suffix -tz'iit. The most commonly used numeral classifiers are -p'eel, for inanimate objects, and -tuul, for people and animals. In all, there are over 70 numeral classifiers used in Mopan Maya.
The following are the consonant sounds used by the Mopan Maya language (written with the International Phonetic Alphabet):
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