QUICH LANGUAGE

an American Indian language of the Mayan family, spoken in the western highlands of Guatemala. It is most closely related to the Cakchiquel, Tzutujil, Sacapultee, and Sipacapa languages of central Guatemala and more distantly related to Uspantec, Pocomam, Pocomch, Kekch, and other languages of the Eastern Mayan group (see Maya languages). The name Ach is sometimes applied to the easternmost dialects of Quich. The major ancient literary work in Quich is the Popol Vuh, a historical chronicle of the Quich people and their kings and heroes. Other important pre-conquest works include three other histories, like the Popol Vuh, written down in the 16th century in a Spanish orthography, and the Rabinal Ach, first discovered in the 19th century. Quich, like the Yucatec language (q.v.), has a set of consonants that includes a voiceless series (p, t, k, etc.) and a glottalized series, but it lacks voiced stops such as b, d, g. In grammar and syntax Quich depends heavily on suffixes and also uses prefixes. Particles (small words used as prepositions, pronouns, adverbs, etc.) are very common.