In the charts below each of the Tzʼutujil phonemes is represented by the character or set of characters that denote it in the standard orthography developed by the Guatemalan Academy of Mayan Languages (ALMG) and sanctioned by the Guatemalan government.
Where different, the corresponding symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet appears in brackets.
Stress is always on the final syllable of native words, except for the adjectival vowel suffix in certain environments.[6]
Consonants
Like other Mayan languages, Tzʼutujil does not distinguish voiced and voiceless stops and affricates but instead distinguishes pulmonic and glottalized stops and affricates.[6]
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The glottalized stop kʼ and affricates chʼ, tzʼ are ejective, while bʼ, tʼ are voiced implosives before vowels, and ejectives ([pʼ], [tʼ]) elsewhere (before consonants and at the ends of words). Qʼ may be either ejective or implosive before vowels, ejective elsewhere.
The pulmonic stops and affricates, p, t, tz, ch, k, q, are tenuis before vowels and aspirated elsewhere.
Velar k, kʼ are palatalized before i, and also usually before a non-back vowel (i, e, a) followed by a post-velar (q, qʼ, j), though the latter dissimilation is not completely productive.
W is [β] before front vowels (i, e) and [w] before non-front vowels (a, o, u).
J is a post-velar [x] in most positions, but [h] before two consonants or a word-final consonant.
At the beginning of a morpheme, there is no distinction between glottal stop and zero: Monosyllabic forms always have a glottal stop, with the exception of a few grammatical forms which never do, and when prefixed the glottal stop is retained. With polysyllabic forms the glottal stop is optional, and when prefixed it is not retained. Usually initial glottal stops are invisible to the morphology, but in some words they are treated as consonants.
Liquids and approximants, r, l, w, y, are devoiced word-finally and before consonants, even before voiced consonants as in elnaq [ɛl̥náq]. The nasals, m, n, are partially devoiced word-finally: they start off voiced, and end up voiceless.[6]