The Grammatical Person in Poqomchi’ Maya Ceremonial Speech

Abstract

This paper discusses the use of the grammatical category of person within a specific discursive genre – ceremonial speech. This kind of discourse occurs during traditional offering rituals, which form part of the common Mayan culture. The focus of this study is on the Poqomchi’ Maya tradition. There are three major categories of participants in the ritual: spiritual guides, attendees and supernatural beings to whom the invocations are addressed. A linguistic analysis of the word forms that bear person marking and their referents in ceremonial discourse elucidates the specific relations between participants and provides insight into the internal structure of the ritual act.