Nahuatl
Ximocehuitzino "welcome"
Ximocehuitzino "welcome"
Introduction |
Nahuatl languages form the southernmost branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Nahuatl has more speakers than any other indigenous language in Mexico today. The name Nahuatl comes from the root nahua which means "clear sound." Nahuatl sometimes refers to Classical Nahuatl, the administrative language of the Aztec empire, that served as a lingua franca in Central As is the case with most other indigenous languages of Mexico, most speakers of Nahuatl are bilingual in Nahuatl and Spanish. In the past, a significant number of Nahuatl speakers outside the Valley of Mexico were bilingual in Nahuatl and some other indigenous language. Today, only elderly monolingual speakers of Nahuatl remain. |
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America from the 7th to the 16th century AD when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the New World. It also serves as a general name for 28 linguistic variants, some mutually unintelligible, that are spoken by over 1.6 million people in Mexico today. None of the modern dialects are identical with Classical Nahuatl, but those spoken around the Valley of Mexico are thought to more closely resemble Classical Nahuatl than other varieties. 
Structure
Sound System |
The phonemic inventories of the different Nahuatl varieties do not vary greatly. The tables below shows a standardized phonemic inventory based on the inventory of Classical Nahuatl. Many modern dialects lack some of these sounds or include others. Vowels Consonants
Nahuatl syllables usually consist of a single vowel, optionally preceded or followed by a single consonant. The most common type of syllable is Consonant + Vowel. Consonant clusters occur only because two consonants from two separate syllables run into each other. Nahuatl generally does not have diphthongs, so when two vowels are written together, they belong to different syllables and are pronounced separately. Stress in Nahuatl normally falls on the next-to-the-last (penultimate) syllable. |
, other write a double vowel, e.g., oo. In some varieties of Nahuatl, it is difficult to hear the difference between short and long vowels.  |
Nahuatl is a polysynthetic language, i.e., many different kinds of affixes (prefixes and/or suffixes) can be added to roots to form very long words. These words function as whole sentences in less synthetic languages such as English. For example, there is an 18-syllable word in one variety of Nahuatl (Tetelcingo Nahuatl) nehualmoyecastemojmolunijtzinutinemisquioni Click here to see how this impossibly long word was put together.
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Spanish has been the politically and socially dominant language of Mexico for nearly 500 years. It was necessary for speakers of Nahuatl to learn Spanish and to borrow Spanish words into their language, particularly for artifacts and concepts that did not exist in the Nahuatl culture. As a result, modern Nahuatl has a large number of borrowings from Spanish. On the other hand, Mexican Spanish has also borrowed many words from Nahuatl, including a significant number of place names, such as the name of the country itself. Below are some words in Nahuatl to give you a general idea of its vocabulary.
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Writing |
Writing Nahuatl has the most extensive literature of all Native American languages. It includes a relatively large corpus of poetry and a theological dissertation called Nican Mopohua. Take a look at Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Nahuatl.
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All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. |
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Nahuatl words in English Nahuatl has provided the English language with some words that came in second-hand from Spanish. Some of them are listed below.
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Resources
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