Editing Mayan languages (section)

===Possession===
The morphology of Mayan nouns is fairly simple: they inflect for number (plural or singular), and, when possessed, for person and number of their possessor. Pronominal possession is expressed by a set of possessive prefixes attached to the noun, as in Kaqchikel ''ru-kej'' "his/her horse". Nouns may furthermore adopt a special form marking them as possessed. For nominal possessors, the possessed noun is inflected as possessed by a third-person possessor, and followed by the possessor noun, e.g. Kaqchikel ''ru-kej ri achin'' "the man's horse" (literally "his horse the man").<ref name="Suaréz 1983, p. 85">{{harvtxt|Suárez|1983|page=85}}</ref> This type of formation is a main diagnostic trait of the [[Mesoamerican Linguistic Area]] and recurs throughout [[Mesoamerica]].{{sfn|Campbell|Kaufman|Smith-Stark|1986|pages=544–545}}

Mayan languages often contrast alienable and [[inalienable possession]] by varying the way the noun is (or is not) marked as possessed. Jakaltek, for example, contrasts inalienably possessed ''{{IPA|wetʃel}}'' "my photo (in which I am depicted)" with alienably possessed ''{{IPA|wetʃele}}'' "my photo (taken by me)". The prefix ''we-'' marks the first person singular possessor in both, but the absence of the ''-e'' possessive suffix in the first form marks inalienable possession.<ref name="Suaréz 1983, p. 85"/>