Q’Eqchi’ Mayan Thematic Dictionary: Tusb’il Molob’aal Aatin Q’Eqchi’ Inkles

Description

This book fills a gap not yet well covered by other published Q’eqchi’ language materials. As a dictionary it combines features of both traditional bilingual dictionaries and vocabularies used for language learning. It is a thematic dictionary, since the arrangement of entries in the Q’eqchi’-to-English section is done by theme, rather than alphabetically. This approach offers advantages to students as a vocabulary builder, to writers as a thesaurus, and to linguists as an insight into the structure and usage of the language. There are three principal sections: Section I contains a simple introduction to Q’eqchi’ orthography and pronunciation for English speakers that are new to Q’eqchi’. Section II is a thematic list of Q’eqchi’ words followed by their parts of speech and English equivalent(s). As in many vocabularies, many of the entries are illustrated. Themes vary from basic nominal categories like fruits or tools to linguistic categories such as verb-ending type or notional categories such as time and quantity. Section III is an alphabetical listing of the English words corresponding to all of the 8,500+ Q’eqchi’ entries in Section II (as in a traditional dictionary).