Problem:IOL/2008/i4/en

IOL 2008 Problem #4 Copainalá Zoque

The following are words in Copainalá Zoque and their English translations:

mis nakpatpit	with your cactus	kʌmʌŋdaʔm	shadows
nakpat	a cactus	ʔʌs ncapkʌsmʌšeh	as if above my sky
mokpittih	only with the corn	capšeh	like a sky
pokskukyʌsmʌtaʔm	above the chairs	pahsungotoya	for the squash
pokskuy	a chair	pahsunšehtaʔmdih	just like squashes
peroltih	only a kettle	tʌckotoyatih	only for the tooth
kocʌktaʔm	mountains	kumgukyʌsmʌ	above the town
komgʌsmʌtih	right above the post	kumgukyotoyataʔm	for the towns
ʔʌs ŋgom	my post	cakyotoya	for the vine
kʌmʌŋbitšeh	as if with the shadow	mis ncay	your vine

(a) Translate into English: cakyʌsmʌtih kʌmʌŋšeh ʔʌs mok mis ndʌctaʔm pahsunbit perolkotoyašehtaʔm

(b) Translate into Copainalá Zoque: for the chair with my kettle just like a mountain posts above the shadows your town

⚠ The Copainalá Zoque language is of the Mixe-Zoque linguistic family. It is spoken by approx. 10 000 people in the province Chiapas in southern Mexico.

ʌ ≈ u in but; c ≈ ts in hats (pronounced as a single consonant), nc ≈ nds in hands, š = sh, ŋ = ng in hang, y = y in yay!; ʔ is a specific consonant (the so-called glottal stop).

—Ivan Derzhanski