San Bartolomé de Los Llanos, in the Venustiano Carranza region, was analyzed as having two phonemic tones by Sarles 1966. Research by Heriberto Avelino in 2009 was not able to confirm more than an unstable and incipient tone contrast. Phonological processes When intervocalic, /b/ is pre-glottalized and when it is followed by a consonant, b becomes a voiced m preceded by a glottal stop. In final position, b becomes a voiceless m preceded by a glottal stop so tzeb "girl" is pronounced . When adding an affix results in double fricative consonants, only one is pronounced so xx, ss, nn, or jj should be pronounced as x [ʃ], s.[s], n [n], or j [h]. For example, ta ssut "He is returning" is pronounced [ta sut] . Other double consonants are pronounced twice, like tztz or chch, in verbal construction or in words with the same two consonants appearing in conjoining syllables: chchan "He learns it" is pronounced [tʃ-tʃan]. s changes to x when prefixed to a stem beginning with ch, chʼ, or x. x changes to s when prefixed to a stem with an initial or final tz or s. Morphology In Tzotzil, only nouns, verbs, and attributives can be inflected. Nouns Nouns can take affixes of possession, reflexive relation, independent state (absolutive suffix), number, and exclusion, as well as agentives and nominalizing formatives. Compounds can be formed in three ways: nominal root+nominal root jol-vitz "summit" (head-hill) verbal root+nominal root kʼat-in-bak "inferno" (to burn-bone) attributive root/particle+nominal root unen-vinik "dwarf" (small-man) An example of a prefix for nouns is x-, an indicator of a non-domesticated animal: x-tʼel "large lizard" The plural suffixes for a noun change based on whether or not the noun is possessed: -t-ik, -ik. Plural suffix for possessed nouns, linked with possessive prefixes: s-chikin-ik "his/her/their ears", k-ichʼak-t-ik "our fingernails" -et-ik. Plural suffix for non-possessed nouns: vitz-et-ik "hills", mut-et-ik "birds" -t-ak. Plural suffix for objects that come in pairs, or when it is necessary to indicate the plural of both the noun and the possessor: j-chikin-t-ak "my (two) ears", s-bi-t-ak "their names" Some nouns, such as words for body parts and kinship terms, must always be possessed. They cannot be used without a possessive prefix, or otherwise must be used with an absolute suffix to express an indefinite possessor. The possessive prefixes are: The prefix listed first is the one used before a root starting with a vowel, the