Basic K’ichee’ Grammar: Thirty-Eight Lessons

The K'ichee'an languages--K'ichee', Kaqchikel, Tz utujil, Sakapulteko, Achi, and Sipakapense--occupy a prominent place among the indigenous languages of the Americas because of both their historical significance and the number of speakers (more than one million total). Basic K'ichee' Grammar is an extensive and accurate survey of the principal grammatical structures of K'ichee'. Written in a clear, nontechnical style to facilitate the learning of the language, it is the only K'ichee' grammar available in English.

A pedagogical rather than a reference grammar, the book is a thorough presentation of the basics of the K'ichee' Maya language organized around graded grammatical lessons accompanied by drills and exercises. Author James L. Mondloch spent ten years in K'ichee'-speaking communities and provides a complete analysis of the K'ichee' verb system based on the everyday speech of the people and using a wealth of examples and detailed commentaries on actual usage.

A guide for learning the K'ichee' language, Basic K'ichee' Grammar is a valuable resource for anyone seeking a speaking and reading knowledge of modern K'ichee', including linguists, anthropologists, and art historians, as well as nonacademics working in K'ichee' communities, such as physicians, dentists, community development workers, and educators.

James L. Mondloch is adjunct professor at the Latin American and Iberian Institute at the University of New Mexico, where he founded the K’iche’ Maya Oral History Project, a digitized collection of more than one hundred oral histories gathered in the municipios of Nahualá and Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán in Sololá, Guatemala, during the 1960s and 1970s. He has co-translated and annotated several sixteenth-century K’ichee’ documents, including El Título de Totonicapán, El Título Yax, and El Título K’oyoy, in collaboration with Robert Carmack.