Kʼicheʼ has a rather conservative phonology. It has not developed many of the innovations found in neighboring languages, such as retroflex consonants or tone.
Stress[]
Stress is not phonemic. It occurs on the final syllable, and on every other syllable before the final in an iambic pattern.
Unstressed vowels are frequently reduced (to [ɨ] or [ə]) or elided altogether, often producing consonant clusters even at the beginnings of words. For example, sibʼalaj "very" may be pronounced [siɓlaχ], and je na laʼ "thus" [χenðaʔ].
Vowels[]
Kʼicheʼ dialects differ in their vowel systems. Historically, Kʼicheʼ had a ten-vowel system: five short and five long. Some dialects (for instance, Nahualá and Totonicapán) retain the ten-vowel system. Others (for instance, Cantel) have reduced it to a six-vowel system with no length distinctions: short /a/ has become /ə/ in these dialects, and the other short vowels have merged with their long counterparts. Different conventions for spelling the vowels have been proposed, including by the Proyecto Lingüístico Francisco Marroquín, the Summer Institute of Linguistics and the Academia de Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala. The table below shows the two vowel systems, and several of the spelling systems that have been proposed.
| Phonemes | Spelling | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ten-vowel | Six-vowel | PLFM | SIL | ALMG |
| /a/ | /ə/ | a | ä | a |
| /aː/ | /a/ | aa | a | |
| /ɑ/ | /ɑ/ | ă | ă | |
| /ɑː/ | ăă | |||
| /æ/ | /æ/ | æ | æ | |
| /æː/ | ææ | |||
| /e/ | /e/ | e | ë | e |
| /eː/ | ee | e | ||
| /ɛ/ | /ɛ/ | ĕ | ĕ | |
| /ɛː/ | ĕĕ | |||
| /i/ | /i/ | i | ï | i |
| /iː/ | ii | i | ||
| /ɪ/ | /ɪ/ | ĭ | ĭ | |
| /ɪː/ | ĭĭ | |||
| /o/ | /o/ | o | ö | o |
| /oː/ | oo | o | ||
| /ɔ/ | /ɔ/ | ŏ | ŏ | |
| /ɔː/ | ŏŏ | |||
| /u/ | /u/ | u | ü | u |
| /uː/ | uu | u | ||
| /ʊ/ | /ʊ/ | ŭ | ŭ | |
| /ʊː/ | ŭŭ | |||
Vowels typically undergo syncope in penultimate syllables, allowing for a wide array of complex onsets. Diphthongs are found in recent loanwords.
Consonants[]
Kʼicheʼ has both pulmonic stops and affricates, p /p/, t /t/, tz /ts/, ch /tʃ/, k /k/, and q /q/, and glottalized counterparts bʼ /ɓ/, tʼ /tʼ/, tzʼ /tsʼ/, chʼ /tʃʼ/, kʼ /kʼ/, and qʼ /qʼ/. The glottalized /ɓ/ is a weak implosive, while the other glottalized consonants are ejectives. The pulmonic stops and affricates are typically aspirated.
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasals | m [m] | n [n] | c [ŋ] | ç [ɴ] | ||||
| Glottalized plosive | pʼ [pʼ] | tʼ [tʼ] | kʼ [kʼ] | qʼ [qʼ] | ||||
| Aspirated plosive | p [pʰ] | t [tʰ] | k [kʰ] | q [qʰ] | ʼ [ʔ] | |||
| Implosive | bʼ [ɓ] | dʼ [ɗ] | gʼ [ɠ~ʛ] | |||||
| Voiced plosive | b [b] | d [d] | g [ɡ~ɢ] | |||||
| Glottalized affricate | tzʼ [tsʼ] | chʼ [tʃʼ] | ||||||
| Aspirated affricate | tz [tsʰ] | ch [tʃʰ] | ||||||
| Voiced affricate | š [dz] | ž [dʒ] | ||||||
| Voiceless fricative | f [ɸ~f] | s [s] | x [ʃ] | j [x~χ] | h [h] | |||
| Voiced fricative | v [β~v] | ð [z] | z [ʒ] | ɉ [ɣ~ʁ] | ||||
| Approximant | w [ʋ] | l [l] | r [ɻ] | y [j] | ɣ [ɰ] | |||
In West Quiche, the approximants l /l/, r /ɻ/, y /j/, and w /w/ devoice and fricate to [ɬ], [ʂ], [ç], and [ʍ] word-finally and often before voiceless consonants. In some dialects, intervocalic /l/ alternates between [l] and [ð], a highly unusual sound change. The fricative [ð] is most common between the vowels o and a and between two o's, and occurs more often than not between two a's.
Syllabic structure[]
Complex onsets are very common in Kʼicheʼ, partially due to the active process of penultimate syncope. Complex codas are rare, except when the first member of the complex coda is a phonemic glottal stop, written with an apostrophe. The sonorants /m, n, l, r/ may be syllabic.