The position of Set B markers in Proto-Mayan

Abstract

This paper discusses the position of Set B pronouns in Proto-Mayan. While previous reconstructions differ from each other with regard to the exact position that Set B pronouns occupied with respect to the predicate (always preceding, always following, or sometimes preceding and sometimes following the predicate word), all of them assume that Set B pronouns attached to the predicate just as they usually do in the modern Mayan languages. Based on cases in modern and colonial Mayan languages where Set B pronouns attach either to a non-predicate or the false predicate, in this paper, it is proposed that Set B pronouns were second-position enclitics (ultimately derived from free personal pronouns) in Proto-Mayan which attached to the first word of the clause regardless of the host’s word class. That Set B pronouns attach to the predicate in the modern Mayan languages is an innovation that results from the common clause-initial positioning of verbs in Mayan languages.

Keywords

• Proto-Mayan
• language change
• historical linguistics
• Set B pronouns
• second position enclitics