Editing Mayan languages (section)

===Subjects and objects===
Mayan languages are [[ergative–absolutive language|ergative]] in their [[morphosyntactic alignment|alignment]]. This means that the subject of an intransitive verb is treated similarly to the object of a transitive verb, but differently from the subject of a transitive verb.{{sfn|Coon|2010|pages=47–52}}

Mayan languages have two sets of affixes that are attached to a verb to indicate the person of its arguments. One set (often referred to in Mayan grammars as set B) indicates the person of subjects of intransitive verbs, and of objects of transitive verbs. They can also be used with adjective or noun predicates to indicate the subject.{{sfn|Suárez|1983|page=77}}
{|class="wikitable"
|+Set B
!Usage
!Language of example
!Example
!Translation
|-
!style="text-align:left;"|Subject of an intransitive verb
|[[Kaqchikel language|Kaqchikel]]
|x-'''ix-'''ok
|"'''You [plural]''' entered"
|-
!style="text-align:left;"| Object of a transitive verb
|[[Kaqchikel language|Kaqchikel]]
|x-'''ix'''-ru-chöp
|"He/she took '''you [plural]'''"
|-
!style="text-align:left;"| Subject of an adjective predicate
|[[Kaqchikel language|Kaqchikel]]
|'''ix-'''samajel
|"'''You [plural]''' are hard-working."
|-
!style="text-align:left;"| Subject of a noun predicate
|[[Tzotzil language|Tzotzil]]
|ʼantz'''-ot'''
|"'''You''' are a woman."
|}

Another set (set A) is used to indicate the person of subjects of transitive verbs (and in some languages, such as Yucatec, also the subjects of intransitive verbs, but only in the incompletive aspects), and also the possessors of nouns (including relational nouns).<ref group=notes>Another view has been suggested by Carlos Lenkersdorf, an [[anthropologist]] who studied the [[Tojolabʼal language]]. He argued that a native Tojolabʼal speaker makes no cognitive distinctions between subject and object, or even between active and passive, animate and inanimate, seeing both subject and object as active participants in an action. For instance, in Tojolabʼal rather than saying "I teach you", one says the equivalent of "I-teach you-learn". See {{harvtxt|Lenkersdorf|1996|pp=60–62}}</ref>
{|class="wikitable"
|+Set A
!Usage
!Language of example
!Example
!Translation
|-
!style="text-align:left;"|Subject of a<br/>transitive verb
|[[Kaqchikel language|Kaqchikel]]
|x-ix-'''ru'''-chöp
|"'''He/she''' took you guys"
|-
!style="text-align:left;"|Possessive marker
|[[Kaqchikel language|Kaqchikel]]
|'''ru'''-kej ri achin
| "the man''''s''' horse" (literally: "'''his''' horse the man")
|-
!style="text-align:left;"|Relational marker
|[[Classical Kʼicheʼ]]
|'''u'''-wach ulew
| "on the earth" (literally: "'''its''' face the earth", i.e. "face of the earth")
|}