Nawat (academically Pipil, also known as Nicarao) is a
Nahuan language native to
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
. It is the southernmost extant member of the
Uto-Aztecan
Uto-Aztecan, Uto-Aztekan or (rarely in English) Uto-Nahuatl is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over thirty languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The na ...
family.
It was spoken in several parts of present-day Central America before the
Spanish colonization
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its History ...
, but now is mostly confined to western
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
. It has been on the verge of extinction in El Salvador and has already gone extinct elsewhere in Central America, but as of 2012 new second-language speakers are starting to appear.
In El Salvador, Nawat was the language of several groups:
Nonualcos,
Cuscatlecos,
Izalcos and is known to be the Náhua variety of migrating
Toltec
The Toltec culture () was a Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula (Mesoamerican site), Tula, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoam ...
. The name ''Pipil'' for this language is used by the international scholarly community, chiefly to differentiate it more clearly from
Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
. In
Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
it was spoken by the
Nicarao people
The Nicarao people were a Nahuat-speaking Mesoamerican people who migrated from central and southern Mexico over the course of several centuries from approximately 700 CE onwards. Around 1200 CE, the Nicarao split from the Pipil people and moved i ...
who split from the Pipil around 1200 CE when they migrated south. Nawat became the
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...
there during the 16th century. A hybrid form of Nahuat-Spanish was spoken by many Nicaraguans up until the 19th century.
Description
Most authors refer to this language by the names ''Nawat'', ''Pipil'', or ''Nicarao''. However, ''Nawat'' (along with the synonymous ''Eastern Nahuatl'') has also been used to refer to Nahuatl
language varieties
In sociolinguistics, a variety, also called an isolect or lect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, registers, styles, or other forms of language, as well as a standard variety.Meecham, Ma ...
in southern
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 ...
,
Tabasco
Tabasco (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco), is one of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa.
It is located in ...
, and
Chiapas
Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...
, states in the south of Mexico, that like Pipil have reduced the earlier /t͡ɬ/ consonant (a lateral
affricate
An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pair. ...
) to a /t/. Those Mexican
lect
In sociolinguistics, a variety, also called an isolect or lect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, registers, styles, or other forms of language, as well as a standard variety.Meecham, M ...
s share more similarities with Nawat than do the other Nahuatl varieties.
Nawat specialists (
Campbell Campbell may refer to:
People Surname
* Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell
Given name
* Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer
* Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...
, Fidias Jiménez,
Geoffroy Rivas,
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
,
Lemus, and Schultze, ''inter alia'') generally treat Pipil/Nawat as a separate language, at least in practice.
Lastra de Suárez (1986) and
Canger (1988) classify Pipil among "Eastern Periphery" dialects of Nahuatl.
Classification
![NATIVE AMERICAN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF EL SALVADOR IN CENTRAL AMERICA ISTHMUS](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/NATIVE_AMERICAN_INDIGENOUS_PEOPLE_OF_EL_SALVADOR_IN_CENTRAL_AMERICA_ISTHMUS.png)
(Campbell 1985)
*Uto-Aztecan
**Southern Uto-Aztecan
***Nahuan (Aztecan, Nahuatlan)
****Pochutec ''(extinct)''
****General Aztec
*****Core Nahua
*****Pipil
Uto-Aztecan is uncontroversially divided into eight branches, including Nahuan. Research continues into verifying higher level groupings. However, the grouping adopted by Campbell of the four southernmost branches is not yet universally accepted.
Status
As of 2012, extensiv
online resources for learning Nawatare available at the website of linguist Alan R. King, including video lessons and a Facebook group. A video documentation project is also underway, in collaboration with the
Living Tongues Institute, focusing on "Pipil culture, such as natural medicines, traditions, traditional games, agricultural practices, and childhood songs," which is intended for language learners.
The varieties of Nawat in
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
,
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
,
Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
, and
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
are now
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
. In El Salvador, Nawat is endangered: it is spoken mostly by a few elderly speakers in the Salvadoran departments of
Sonsonate
Sonsonate () is a city and municipality of El Salvador. It is the capital of the department of Sonsonate; on the Sensunapan River and the Pan-American Highway from San Salvador to the Pacific port of Acajutla, south. Pop. (2007), about 71,541.
E ...
and
San Salvador
San Salvador (; ) is the capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its eponymous department. It is the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital i ...
and
Ahuachapán
Ahuachapán () is a city, and municipality, and the capital of the Ahuachapán Department in western El Salvador. The municipality, including the city, covers an area of 244.84 km² and as of 2007 has a population of 110,511 people. Situat ...
. The towns of
Cuisnahuat
Cuisnahuat (Nawat: ) is a city and municipality in the Sonsonate department
Sonsonate () is a Departments of El Salvador, department of El Salvador in the western part of the country. The capital is Sonsonate.
The department has a population o ...
and
Santo Domingo de Guzmán
, total_type = Total
, population_density_km2 = auto
, timezone = AST (UTC −4)
, area_code_type = Area codes
, area_code = 809, 829, 849
, postal_code_type = Postal codes
, postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional)
, websi ...
have the highest concentration of speakers. Campbell's 1985 estimate (based on fieldwork conducted 1970–1976) was 200 speakers. Gordon (2005) reports only 20 speakers were left in 1987. Official Mexican reports have recorded as many as 2000 speakers.
The exact number of speakers has been difficult to determine because persecution of Nawat speakers throughout the 20th century (massacres after suppression of the
1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising
''La Matanza'' (Spanish for "The Massacre") refers to a communist-indigenous rebellion in El Salvador that took place between 22 and 25 January 1932. It was succeeded by large-scale government killings in western El Salvador, which resulted ...
, laws that made speaking Nawat illegal) made them conceal their use of the language. (About 30,000 people were killed during the uprising over the course of a few weeks, and those who spoke Nawat outside their homes against the new rules "provoked shame and fear." A young Nawat language activist, Carlos Cortez, explained in 2010 that this fear is worse for older speakers.)
A few small-scale projects to revitalize Nawat in El Salvador have been attempted since 1990. The Asociación Coordinadora de Comunidades Indígenas de El Salvador
ACCIES) an
Universidad Don Boscoof San Salvador have both produced some teaching materials. Monica Ward has developed an on-line language course.
The Nawat Language Recovery Initiative is a grassroots association currently engaged in several activities including an ongoing
language documentation
Language documentation (also: documentary linguistics) is a subfield of linguistics which aims to describe the grammar and use of human languages. It aims to provide a comprehensive record of the linguistic practices characteristic of a given speec ...
project, and has also produced a range of printed materials. Thus, as the number of native speakers continues to dwindle, there is growing interest in some quarters in keeping the language alive, but as of 2002, the national government had not joined these efforts (cf. Various, 2002).
As of 2010, the town of
Santo Domingo de Guzmán
, total_type = Total
, population_density_km2 = auto
, timezone = AST (UTC −4)
, area_code_type = Area codes
, area_code = 809, 829, 849
, postal_code_type = Postal codes
, postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional)
, websi ...
had a
language nest
A language nest is an immersion-based approach to language revitalization in early-childhood education. Language nests originated in New Zealand in the 1980s, as a part of the Māori-language revival in that country. The term "language nest" is a ...
, “Xuchikisa nawat” ("the house where Nawat blooms"), where children three to five years of age learned Nawat, run in cooperation with
Don Bosco University
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
.
In 2010, Salvadoran President
Mauricio Funes
Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena (born 18 October 1959) is a Salvadoran politician and former journalist who served as President of El Salvador from 2009 to 2014. Funes won the 2009 Salvadoran presidential election, 2009 presidential election as ...
awarded the National Culture Prize (Premio Nacional de Cultura 2010) to linguist Dr. Jorge Ernesto Lemus of Don Bosco University for his work with Nawat.
According to a 2009 report in ''
El Diario de Hoy
''Diario de Hoy'' is a morning newspaper in El Salvador. It is published in San Salvador and circulates throughout the country. It also has an open online edition. The director of ''El Diario de Hoy'' is Enrique Altamirano Madriz, its executive ...
,'' Nawat had started to make a comeback as a result of the preservation and revitalization efforts of various non-profit organizations in conjunction with several universities, combined with a post-civil war resurgence of Pipil identity in El Salvador. In the 1980s, Nawat had about 200 speakers. By 2009, 3,000 people were participating in Nawat language learning programs, the vast majority being young people, giving rise to hopes that the language might be pulled back from the brink of extinction.
Present geographic distribution
Localities where Nawat/Pipil was reported by
Campbell Campbell may refer to:
People Surname
* Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell
Given name
* Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer
* Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...
as spoken in the 1970s include the following:
Gordon (2009) lists
Dolores Dolores, Spanish for "pain; grief", most commonly refers to:
* Our Lady of Sorrows or La Virgen María de los Dolores
* Dolores (given name)
Dolores may also refer to:
Film
* ''Dolores'' (2017 film), an American documentary by Peter Bratt
* ' ...
as a Pipil-speaking area. Kaufman (1970:66) lists
Escuintla
Escuintla () is an industrial city in Guatemala, its land extension is 4384 km², and it is nationally known for its sugar agribusiness. Its capital is a minicipality with the same name. Citizens celebrate from December 6 to 9 with a small fair i ...
and
Comapa as former Pipil-speaking areas of
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
, and
as a former "Mejicano"-speaking town.
[ Kaufman, Terrence. 1970. ''Proyecto de alfabetos y ortografías para escribir las lenguas mayances''. Antigua: Editorial José de Pineda Ibarra.] The genetic position of San Agustín Acasaguastlán Mejicano is still uncertain (''see
Alagüilac language
Alagüilac is an unclassified languages, undocumented Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous American language that is thought to have been spoken by the Alaguilac people, Alaguilac people of Guatemala at the time of the Spanish conquest. ...
''). However, Nahuan languages are currently no longer spoken in Guatemala.
Nawat and Nahuatl compared
Phonology
Two salient features of Nawat are found in several Mexican dialects: the change of
͡ɬto
and
rather than
as the predominant
allophone
In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is a set of multiple possible spoken soundsor ''phones''or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, (as in ''s ...
of a single basic rounded vowel phoneme. These features are thus characteristic but not diagnostic.
However, Nawat corresponds to not only the two Classical Nahuatl sounds and but also a word final ''saltillo'' or
glottal stop
The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
in nominal plural suffixes (e.g. Nawat ''-met'' : Classical ''-meh'') and verbal plural endings (Nawat ''-t'' present plural, ''-ket'' past plural, etc.). This fact has been claimed by Campbell to be diagnostic for the position of Nawat in a genetic classification, on the assumption that this /t/ is more archaic than the Classical Nahuatl reflex, where the direction change has been > ''saltillo''.
One other characteristic phonological feature is the merger in Nawat of original geminate with single .
Grammar
Nawat lacks some grammatical features present in Classical Nahuatl, such as the past prefix ''o-'' in verbs. It distributes others differently: for example, 'subtractive' past formation, which is very common in the classical language, exists in Nawat but is much rarer. On the other hand,
reduplication
In linguistics, reduplication is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) or even the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change.
The classic observation on the semantics of reduplication is Edwa ...
to form plural nouns, of more limited distribution in the language of the Aztecs, is greatly generalised in Nawat. Still other grammatical features that were productive in Classical Nahuatl have left only fossilised traces in Nawat: for example, synchronically Nawat has no
postposition
Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
s, although a few lexical forms derive etymologically from older postpositional forms, e.g. ''apan'' 'river' < *'in/on the water', ''kujtan'' 'uncultivated land, forest' < *'under the trees'; these are synchronically unanalyzable in modern Nawat.
Noun phrase
Nawat has developed two widely used
article
Article often refers to:
* Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness
* Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication
Article may also refer to:
G ...
s,
definite
In linguistics, definiteness is a semantic feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between referents or senses that are identifiable in a given context (definite noun phrases) and those which are not (indefinite noun phrases). The prototypical d ...
''ne'' and
indefinite ''se''. The
demonstrative
Demonstratives (abbreviated ) are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They are typically deictic; their meaning depending on a particular frame ...
pronouns/determiners ''ini'' 'this, these' and ''uni'' 'that, those' are also distinctively Nawat in form. The obligatory marking of
number
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers c ...
extends in Nawat to almost all
plural
The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...
noun phrase
In linguistics, a noun phrase, or nominal (phrase), is a phrase that has a noun or pronoun as its head or performs the same grammatical function as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently oc ...
s (regardless of
animacy
Animacy (antonym: inanimacy) is a grammatical and semantic feature, existing in some languages, expressing how sentient or alive the referent of a noun is. Widely expressed, animacy is one of the most elementary principles in languages around th ...
), which will contain at least one plural form, most commonly marked by
reduplication
In linguistics, reduplication is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) or even the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change.
The classic observation on the semantics of reduplication is Edwa ...
.
Many nouns are invariable for
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
, since ''-ti'' (cf. Classical ''-tli'', the absolute suffix after consonants) is rarely added to polysyllabic noun stems, while the Classical postconsonantal construct suffix, ''-wi'', is altogether unknown in Nawat: thus ''sin-ti'' 'maize' : ''nu-sin'' 'my maize', ''uj-ti'' 'way' : ''nu-uj'' 'my way', ''mistun'' 'cat' : ''nu-mistun'' 'my cat'.
An important number of nouns lack absolute forms and occur only
inalienably possessed, e.g. ''nu-mey'' 'my hand' (but not *''mey'' or *''mey-ti''), ''nu-nan'' 'my mother' (but not *''nan'' or *''nan-ti''), thus further reducing the number of absolute-construct oppositions and the incidence of absolute ''-ti'' in comparison to Classical Nahuatl.
Postposition
Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
s have been eliminated from the Pipil grammatical system, and some monosyllabic
preposition
Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
s originating from
relationals have become
grammaticalized
In historical linguistics, grammaticalization (also known as grammatization or grammaticization) is a process of language change by which words representing objects and actions (i.e. nouns and verbs) become grammatical markers (such as affixes or ...
.
Verbs
To form the
past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some hav ...
, most Nawat verbs add ''-k'' (after vowels) or ''-ki'' (after consonants, following loss of the final vowel of the present stem), e.g. ''ki-neki'' 'he wants it' : ''ki-neki-k'' 'he wanted it', ''ki-mati'' 'he knows it' : ''ki-mat-ki'' 'he knew it'. The mechanism of simply removing the present stem vowel to form past stems, so common in Classical Nahuatl, is limited in Nawat to polysyllabic verb stems such as ''ki-talia'' 'he puts it' → ''ki-tali(j)'' 'he put it', ''mu-talua'' 'he runs' → ''mu-talu(j)'' 'he ran', and a handful of other verbs, e.g. ''ki-tajtani'' 'he asks him' → ''ki-tajtan'' 'he asked him'.
Nawat has a
perfect in ''-tuk'' (synchronically unanalyzable), plural ''-tiwit''. Another tense suffix, ''-tuya'', functions both as a
pluperfect
The pluperfect (shortening of plusquamperfect), usually called past perfect in English, is a type of verb form, generally treated as a grammatical tense in certain languages, relating to an action that occurred prior to an aforementioned time i ...
(''k-itz-tuya ne takat'' 'he had seen the man') and as an
imperfect
The imperfect (abbreviated ) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to w ...
of
stative
According to some linguistics theories, a stative verb is a verb that describes a state of being, in contrast to a dynamic verb, which describes an action. The difference can be categorized by saying that stative verbs describe situations that are ...
verbs (''inte weli-tuya'' 'he couldn't'), in the latter case having supplanted the ''-ya'' imperfect found in Mexican dialects.
Nawat has two
conditional tenses, one in ''-skia'' expressing possible conditions and possible results, and one in ''-tuskia'' for impossible ones, although the distinction is sometimes blurred in practice. A
future tense
In grammar, a future tense (abbreviated ) is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. An example of a future tense form is the French ''aimera'', meaning ...
in ''-s'' (plural ''-sket'') is attested but rarely used, a
periphrastic
In linguistics, periphrasis () is the use of one or more function words to express meaning that otherwise may be expressed by attaching an affix or clitic to a word. The resulting phrase includes two or more collocated words instead of one infl ...
future being preferred, e.g. ''yawi witz'' (or ''yu-witz'') 'he will come'.
In
serial constructions, the
present tense
The present tense (abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present ...
(really the
unmarked
In linguistics and social sciences, markedness is the state of standing out as nontypical or divergent as opposed to regular or common. In a marked–unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one. The dominant defau ...
tense) is generally found except in the first verb, regardless of the tense of the latter, e.g. ''kineki / kinekik / kinekiskia kikwa'' 'he wants / wanted / would like to eat it'.
There are also some differences regarding how
prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...
es are attached to verb-initial stems; principally, that in Nawat the prefixes ''ni-'', ''ti-'', ''shi-'' and ''ki-'' when word-initial retain their ''i'' in most cases, e.g. ''ni-ajsi'' 'I arrive', ''ki-elkawa'' 'he forgets it'.
See also
*
Nicarao people
The Nicarao people were a Nahuat-speaking Mesoamerican people who migrated from central and southern Mexico over the course of several centuries from approximately 700 CE onwards. Around 1200 CE, the Nicarao split from the Pipil people and moved i ...
*
Cuzcatlan
Cuzcatlan (Nawat: Kuskatan) (Nahuatl: Cuzcatlan) was a pre-Columbian Nahua state confederation of the Mesoamerican postclassical period that extended from the Paz river to the Lempa river (covering most of western El Salva ...
*
Pipil people
The Nahua people, also academically referred to as ''Pipil'', are an indigenous group of Mesoamerican people inhabiting the western and central areas of present-day El Salvador. Although very few speakers are now left, they speak the Nawat langua ...
*
Nawat language (typological overview)
This rather technical article provides a typological sketch of the Pipil language (also known as Nawat). Another related article outlines Pipil grammar in fuller detail. The distinctive purpose of the present article is to single out those specific ...
*
Nawat grammar
This article provides a grammar sketch of the Nawat or Pipil language, an endangered language spoken by the Pipils of western El Salvador and Nicarao people of Nicaragua. It belongs to the Nahua group within the Uto-Aztecan language family. Ther ...
*
Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
Notes
Bibliography
* Asociación Coordinadora de Comunidades Indígenas de El Salvador (ACCIES) (no date). ''Tukalmumachtiak Nahuat (Lengua Náhuat, Primer Ciclo).''
* Arauz, Próspero (1960). ''El pipil de la región de los Itzalcos.'' (Edited by
Pedro Geoffroy Rivas
Pedro Geoffroy Rivas (16 September 1908 - 10 November 1979) was an anthropologist, poet, and linguist.
His poetic work marked a landmark in Salvadoran poetic development. A rebellious, individualistic poet, Rivas incorporated in his poetry the ...
.) San Salvador: Ministerio de Cultura.
* Calvo Pacheco, Jorge Alfredo (2000). ''Vocabulario castellano-pipil pípil-kastíyan.'' Izalco, El Salvador.
*
Campbell, Lyle
Lyle Richard Campbell (born October 22, 1942) is an American scholar and linguist known for his studies of Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous American languages, especially those of Central America, and on historical linguistics in ...
(1985)
''The Pipil Language of El Salvador'' Berlin: Mouton Publishers.
* Comisión Nacional de Rescate del Idioma Náhuat (1992a). ''Ma Timumachtika Nauataketsalis / Aprendamos el Idioma Náhuat.'' San Salvador: Concultura.
* Comisión Nacional de Rescate del Idioma Náhuat (1992b). ''Ma Timumachtika Nauataketsalis (Aprendamos el Idioma Náhuat). Guía Metodológica para la Enseñanza del Náhuat.'' San Salvador: Concultura.
* Geoffroy Rivas, Pedro (1969). ''El nawat de Cuscatlán: Apuntes para una gramática.'' San Salvador: Ministerio de Educación.
* King, Alan R. (2004). ''Gramática elemental del náhuat.'' El Salvador: IRIN.
* King, Alan R. (2004). ''El náhuat y su recuperación.'' In: ''Científica 5.'' San Salvador: Universidad Don Bosco.
* King, Alan R. (2011).
Léxico del Náhuat Básico''
*
King, Alan R. (2011)
''Timumachtikan!: Curso de lengua náhuat para principiantes adultos'' Izalco, El Salvador: Iniciativa para la Recuperación del Idioma Náhuat.
* Ligorred, E. (1992). ''Lenguas Indígenas de México y Centroamérica''. Madrid: Mapfre.
* Roque, Consuelo (2000). ''Nuestra escuela náhuat.'' San Salvador: Universidad de El Salvador.
* Todd, Juan G. (1953). ''Notas del náhuat de Nahuizalco.'' San Salvador: Editorial "Nosotros".
*
Universidad de El Salvador
The University of El Salvador or Universidad de El Salvador (UES) is the oldest and the most prominent university institution in El Salvador. It serves as the national university of the country. The main campus, Ciudad Universitaria, is located ...
, Secretaria de Docencia, Investigación Posgrado y Proyección Social. (1996) El náhuat de El Salvador: uno de los dialectos más importantes de la lengua nahua de la familia utoazteca junto con el náhuatl y el náhual. San Salvador: Editorial Universitaria, Universidad de El Salvador.
* Various (2002). ''Perfil de los pueblos indígenas en El Salvador.'' San Salvador.
* Ward, Monica (2001). ''A Template for CALL Programs for Endangered Languages.''
On-line version
External links
Nawat Language Learning Resources site lessons, dictionaries, texts, videos
Munextia muchi ipal ne tehtechan tay tupal (Universal Declaration of Human Rights)– includes grammar notes, vocabulary, texts and sound recordings
Iniciativa para la Recuperación del Idioma Náhuat– Spanish only
Ne Bibliaj Tik Nawat– Nawat Bible translation project
Gospel Recordings Network: Nahuat– sound recordings
*
OLAC resources in and about the Pipil languageTeotamachilizti iny iuliliz auh yni miquiliz Tu Temaquizticatzim Iesu Christo ... Pipil text, from Internet Archive; English language article
contains Pipil documents
Pipil recordings projectat
University of Wyoming
The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...
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Language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...
Nahuan languages
Uto-Aztecan languages
Indigenous languages of Central America
Mesoamerican languages
Languages of El Salvador
Endangered Uto-Aztecan languages
Verb-second languages
Languages of Nicaragua