UC Santa Cruz

Uspanteko is one of the smallest (in terms of speakers) and most threatened Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala. While Uspanteko belongs to the K’ichean branch of the Mayan family, it bears a striking number of linguistic features not seen in its sister languages across major aspects of the grammar, including phonetics/phonology (e.g., lexical tone) and morphosyntax (e.g., null verbal inflection). After introducing an Uspanteko text about the sacred hill Xoqoneb’ and placing it in its cultural context, including surveying related Uspanteko texts, we use Xoqoneb’ to illustrate those aspects of the Uspanteko language which stand out relative to other K’ichean languages. We also comment on the possible sources of these divergent features, which include both language contact and innovation.