Nahuatl
Spoken in central and western
Mexico. Nahuatl, the most important of the Uto-Aztecan languages, was the
language of the Aztec and Toltec civilizations of Mexico. A large body of
literature in Nahuatl, produced by the Aztecs, survives from the 16th century,
recorded in an orthography that was introduced by Spanish priests and based on
that of Spanish.
After the conquest, when Spanish
colonists and missionaries introduced the Latin alphabet, Nahuatl also became a
literary language. Many chronicles, grammars, works of poetry, administrative
documents and codices were written in it during the 16th and 17th centuries. This
early literary language based on the Tenochtitlan variety has been labeled
Classical Nahuatl. It is among the most studied and best-documented languages
of the Americas.
Today, Nahuan languages are spoken
in scattered communities, mostly in rural areas throughout central Mexico and
along the coastline. There are considerable differences among varieties, and
some are not mutually intelligible. Huasteca Nahuatl, with over one million
speakers, is the most-spoken variety. All varieties have been subject to
varying degrees of influence from Spanish. No modern Nahuan languages are
identical to Classical Nahuatl, but those spoken in and around the Valley of
Mexico are generally more closely related to it than those on the periphery.
Under Mexico's General Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples,
promulgated in 2003, Nahuatl and the other 63 indigenous languages of Mexico
are recognized as lenguas nacionales ('national languages') in the regions
where they are spoken. They are given the same status as Spanish within their
respective regions.
Nahuan languages exhibit a complex
morphology, or system of word formation, characterized by polysynthesis and
agglutination. This means that morphemes – words or fragments of words that
each contain their own separate meaning – are often strung together to make
longer complex words.
Through a very long period of
development alongside other indigenous Mesoamerican languages, they have
absorbed many influences, coming to form part of the Mesoamerican language
area. Many words from Nahuatl were absorbed into Spanish and, from there, were
diffused into hundreds of other languages in the region. Most of these
loanwords denote things indigenous to central Mexico, which the Spanish heard
mentioned for the first time by their Nahuatl names. English has also absorbed
words of Nahuatl origin, including avocado, chayote, chili, chipotle,
chocolate, atlatl, coyote, peyote, axolotl and tomato.The phonology of
Classical Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, was notable for its use of a tl
sound produced as a single consonant and for the use of the glottal stop. The
glottal stop has been lost in some modern dialects—replaced by h—and retained
in others. The tl sound, however, serves to distinguish the three major modern
dialects: central and northern Aztec dialects retain the tl sound, as can be
seen in their name, Nahuatl. Eastern Aztec dialects, around Veracruz, Mexico,
have replaced the tl by t and are called Nahuat. Western dialects, spoken
primarily in the Mexican states of Michoacán and México, replace the tl with l
and are called Nahual.
Nahuatl used a set of 15 consonants
and four long and short vowels. Its grammar was basically agglutinative, making
much use of prefixes and suffixes, reduplication (doubling) of syllables, and
compound words.
At Trápaga Asociados – Interpretation & Translation Agency, we work with all Mayan languages, and also Nahuatl.
Please contact us with any job or project
inquiries.
https://asociadostrapaga.com/home/
+502 55717516
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