Huasteca Nahuatl is a
Nahuan language spoken by over a million people in the region of
La Huasteca
La Huasteca is a geographical and cultural region located partially along the Gulf of Mexico and including parts of the states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Puebla, Hidalgo, San Luis PotosÃ, Querétaro and Guanajuato. It is roughly defined as the area ...
in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, centered in the states of
Hidalgo
Hidalgo may refer to:
People
* Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility
* Hidalgo (surname)
Places
Mexico
* Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico
* Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila
* Hidalgo, Nuevo Leà ...
(Eastern) and
San Luis PotosÃ
San Luis Potosà (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosà ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis PotosÃ), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...
(Western).
''
Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''EthnoloÉ ue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...
'' divides Huasteca Nahuatl into three languages: Eastern, Central, and Western, as they judge that separate literature is required, but notes that there is 85%
mutual intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...
between Eastern and Western. Half of Eastern speakers know no
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
.
XEANT-AM radio broadcasts in Huasteca Nahuatl.
Demographics
Huasteca Nahuatl is spoken in the following municipalities in the states of
Hidalgo
Hidalgo may refer to:
People
* Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility
* Hidalgo (surname)
Places
Mexico
* Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico
* Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila
* Hidalgo, Nuevo Leà ...
,
Veracruz
Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
, and
San Luis PotosÃ
San Luis Potosà (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosà ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis PotosÃ), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...
.
;
Hidalgo
Hidalgo may refer to:
People
* Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility
* Hidalgo (surname)
Places
Mexico
* Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico
* Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila
* Hidalgo, Nuevo Leà ...
(121,818 speakers)
*Huejutla Reyes (56,377 speakers)
*Huautla (18,444 speakers)
*Yahualica (14,584 speakers)
*Xochiatipan (12,990 speakers)
*Atlapexco (12,445 speakers)
*Jaltocan (6,978 speakers)
;
Veracruz
Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
(98,162 speakers)
*Chicontepec (41,678 speakers)
*Ixhuatlán de Madero (21,682 speakers)
*Benito Juárez (11,793 speakers)
*Ilamantlan (9,689 speakers)
*Ixcatepec (6,949 speakers)
*Zontecomatlán (6,371 speakers)
;
San Luis PotosÃ
San Luis Potosà (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosà ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis PotosÃ), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...
(108,471 speakers)
*Tamazunchale (35,773 speakers)
*Axtla de Terrazas (17,401 speakers)
*Xilitla (16,646 speakers)
*Matlapa (16,286 speakers)
*Coxcatlan (12,300 speakers)
*Chalchicuautla (10,065 speakers)
Phonology
The following description is that of Eastern Huasteca.
Vowels
Consonants
Orthography
Huasteca Nahuatl currently has several proposed orthographies, most prominent among them those of the Instituto de Docencia e Investigación Etnológica de Zacatecas (IDIEZ), Mexican government publications, and the
Summer Institute of Linguistics
SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics) is an evangelical Christian non-profit organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to ex ...
(SIL).
[Bible.is: Old Testament i]
Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl
;IDIEZ
* Their orthography is based on the evolution of Classical Nahuatl. It is somewhat of a deep orthography based on morphology since it aims to provide a unified system across regions.
* uses ⟨ca⟩, ⟨que⟩, ⟨qui⟩, ⟨co⟩ for /k/
* takes morphology into account
* uses ⟨za⟩, ⟨ce⟩, ⟨ci⟩, ⟨zo⟩ for /s/
* uses ⟨h⟩ for /h/
;Mexican government publications
* Is influenced by modern Spanish conventions and is a very surface-based orthography. It aims to provide easy literacy across regions but with a different writing system in each one.
* uses ⟨k⟩ for /k/
* does not take morphology into account
* uses ⟨s⟩ for /s/
* uses ⟨j⟩ for /h/
;SIL
* Somewhat based on modern Spanish conventions, mostly surface-based orthography as well but does not completely dispose of Classical Nahuatl conventions.
* uses ⟨ca⟩, ⟨que⟩, ⟨qui⟩, ⟨co⟩ for /k/
* does not take morphology into account
* uses ⟨s⟩ for /s/
* uses ⟨j⟩ for /h/
Sample text: 'a book about my location.'
* IDIEZ: ce tlahcuilolli tleh campa niitztoc.
* Government: se tlajkuiloli tlej kampa niitstok
* SIL: se tlajcuiloli tlej campa niitztoc
Notes
References
*
*RodrÃguez López, MarÃa Teresa, and Pablo Valderrama Rouy. 2005. "The Gulf Coast Nahua." In Sandstrom, Alan R., and Enrique Hugo GarcÃa Valencia. 2005. ''Native peoples of the Gulf Coast of Mexico''. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
*
*Stiles, Neville Náhuatl in the Huasteca Hidalguense: A Case Study in the Sociology of Language (1983) PhD Thesis, University of St. Andrews, Scotland.
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Nahuatl