Mayan Language Revitalization, Hip Hop, and Ethnic Identity in Guatemala

This paper analyzes the language ideologies and linguistic practices of Mayan-language hip hop in Guatemala, focusing on the work of the group B\u27alam Ajpu. The members of B\u27alam Ajpu use a mix of Spanish and Mayan languages in their music and run a school that combines lessons in hip hop (rapping, break-dancing, etc.) with efforts to promote the use of Mayan languages among children. The language ideologies associated with B\u27alam Ajpu intersect and challenge the ideologies associated with both language revitalization and with hip hop. The linguistic practices of B\u27alam Ajpu also challenge hegemonic assumptions regarding ethnic identity in Guatemala

Language Ideology and Racial Inequality: Competing Functions of Spanish in an Anglo-owned Mexican Restaurant

This article examines the influence of language ideology on interactions between English-speaking Anglo and monolingual Spanish-speaking employees in an Anglo-owned Mexican restaurant in Texas. In directives to Spanish-speaking employees, Anglo managers typically use English with elements of Mock Spanish. Because the Anglo managers fail to question whether their limited use of Spanish is sufficient for communicative success, Spanish speakers are almost always held responsible for incidents resulting from miscommunication. For Latino workers, Spanish provides an alternative linguistic market in which Spanish operates as a form of solidarity and resistance. The competing functions of Spanish serve to reinforce racial segregation and inequality in the workplace

Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity.

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75472/1/jlin.2003.13.2.239.pd

Mora alignment and multiple foot types in K’ichee’

This paper presents an analysis of the stress system in the Nahualá dialect of K’ichee’ (a Mayan language spoken in Western Guatemala) and discusses the theoretical implications of K’ichee’ stress. In K’ichee’, quantity sensitivity is dependent on position within a word rather than syllable structure. The analysis of K’ichee’ suggests the need for a uniform analysis of foot structure within OT so that stress is always dependent on foot structure rather than syllable structure (with the effects of quantity sensitivity resulting from the equation of a foot with a single syllable). The proposed analysis is applied to the case of Hixkaryana, which has been problematic for OT models of stress (cf. Halle and Idsardi 2000), showing that the analysis proposed here overcomes many of the problems found in Kager’s (1999) analysis of stressed-syllable lengthening in Hixkaryana

Generation Gap: Explaining new and emerging word-order phenomena in Mayan-Spanish bilinguals

We investigate asymmetries in the behavior of NP subjects and objects in Sipakapense (Maya) across three generations of Sipakapense-Spanish bilingual speakers. Often, the two languages are typologically classified into separate groups, with SVO word order assumed as the traditional sequence in Spanish, and VSO in Sipakapense. We illustrate that this typological partition is artificial: in Spanish, as in Mayan, VSO can serve as the basic, declarative word order, where the subject maintains its internal-VP position with a neutral interpretation. Both Spanish and Sipakapense obtain the SVO configuration via subject topicalization. Thus, the key factor in the shift from VSO to SVO observed occurs in the second generation of Sipakapense speakers is not directly related to a dominant influence of Spanish, but instead is based on independent cognitive strategies as the bilinguals economize their cognitive burden by applying the same operations to the VSO structures existing in both languages. We further demonstrate that the third generation of bilinguals exhibits a preference for SOV order in Sipakapense. We provide a principled explanation for this development, based on the confluence of the bilingual’s cognitive strategies for organizing his/her languages and the sociolinguistic factors that impact this particular community

The Evolutionary Phonology of Glottal Stops in K'ichean

n/

Govorna igra, rodna igra i verbalna umješnost u queer žargonima

Th is paper presents a comparative study of argots (or secret varieties) used in communities marked by non–normative gender or sexuality. A comparison of nine argots based in different languages suggests that the development of each of these argots involves large amounts of speech play. A variety of patterns of speech play are analyzed, including cross–language play, play languages, morphological restructuring and innovation, and lexical substitutions within the local language. The importance of speech play in these communities is illustrated with the genre of mock translations in which familiar texts (such as Shakespeare or the Bible) are reproduced using argot. Th e results suggest that speech play and verbal artistry are important and understudied elements of queer cultures.U radu je prikazana usporedna analiza žargona (ili tajnih varijeteta) koje upotrebljavaju govornici u zajednicama koje se identificiraju kao rodno ili seksualno nenormativne. Iz usporedbe devet žargona različitih jezika moguće je zaključiti da razvoj svakoga od njih uključuje bogatu govornu igru. U radu se analiziraju raznoliki uzorci govorne igre, primjericemeđujezična igra, ludički varijeteti, morfološka reanaliza i inovacija te leksičke zamjene unutar lokalnoga jezika. Važnost govorne igre u promatranim zajednicama oprimjeruje se žanrom kvaziprijevoda u kojima se poznati tekstovi (poput Shakespearea ili Biblije) reproduciraju upotrebom žargona. Rezultati istraživanja ukazuju na to da su govorna igra i verbalna umješnost važni, ali nedovoljno istraženi elementi queer kultura

The Huehuetenango Sprachbund and Mayan Language Standardization in Guatemala

This paper outlines the characteristics of a Sprachbund area in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, centered around the town of Huehuetenango. Mesoamerica as a whole forms a unique linguistic area (cf. Campbell 1977, Campbell, Kaufman, and Smith-Stark 1986). The languages of the Huehuetenango Sprachbund contain many of the features typical of the Mesoamerican area, including vigesimal number systems, possessive constructions of the form her car the woman, the use of relational nouns, non-verb-final word orders, and devoicing of non-nasal sonorant coda consonants. The Huehuetenango area is unique, however, in that the languages of the region share several additional features found only in the Sprachbund area