Orizaba Nahuatl is a native American language spoken in the southeastern Mexican state of Veracruz mostly in the area to the south of the city of Orizaba. It is also known as Orizaba Aztec and Náhuatl de la Sierra de Zongolica. It has 79 percent intelligibility with Morelos Nahuatl. There is a dialect called Ixhuatlancillo Nahuatl which is spoken in a town to the north of Orizaba. There is one secondary school which uses this language.
Phonology
Vowels
Short| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | |
| Mid | e | o |
| Low | a | |
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | iː ⟨ī⟩ | |
| Mid | eː ⟨ē⟩ | oː ⟨ō⟩ |
| Low | aː ⟨ā⟩ | |
Consonants
Consonants6| Labial | Apical | Post-alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central | Lateral | Unrounded | Rounded | ||||
| Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | n ~ ŋ ⟨n⟩ | |||||
| Plosive | p ⟨p⟩ | t ⟨t⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ | kʷ ⟨kw⟩ | h ⟨h⟩ | ||
| Affricate | ts ⟨ts⟩ | tɬ ⟨tl⟩ | tʃ ⟨ch⟩ | ||||
| Fricative | w ~ β ~ ɸ ⟨w⟩ | s ⟨s⟩ | l ⟨l⟩ | ʃ ⟨x⟩ | ɣ ⟨g⟩ | ||
| Semivowel | j ⟨y⟩ | ||||||
Writing
The orthography of Orizaba Nahuatl (nlv) is similar to that of Classical Nahuatl (nah), though it features the consonants of this modern variety internationally rather than on the basis of Castilian (Spanish) orthography:
- "I will enter his/her house."
This corresponds to a more phonetic translation while still making use of macrons to mark long vowels. In this orthography the name of the language is Nawatl (as capitalized for English speakers), rather than Nahuatl. Most grammar and vocabulary changes are minor, most of them corresponding to neologisms and loan words from Spanish. Example:
- "Now/At this moment/Today."
(In this case both long vowels and intermediate consonant are lost.)
Some loanwords from Spanish:
"Kahwen" (from café, coffee; also used in Classical Nahuatl as cafetzin). "Kawayoh" (from caballo, horse; also used in Classical Nahuatl as cahuayoh). "Kochih" (from coche, car). "Refreskoh" (from refresco, soft drink or soda).Notes
External links
- Mexico portal
- Languages portal
References
[1], Orizaba Nawatl, SIL-México, retrieved 19 Nov, 2007 http://www.sil.org/mexico/nahuatl/orizaba/00e-Orizaba-nlv.htm ↩
Orizaba Nahuatl at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) https://www.ethnologue.com/25/language/nlv ↩
Orizaba Nahuatl at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) https://www.ethnologue.com/25/language/nlv ↩
Orizaba Nahuatl at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) https://www.ethnologue.com/25/language/nlv ↩
Orizaba Nahuatl at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) https://www.ethnologue.com/25/language/nlv ↩
Theodore R. Goller; Patricia L. Goller; Viola G. Waterhouse (April 1974). "The Phonemes of Orizaba Nahuatl". International Journal of American Linguistics. 40 (2): 126–131. doi:10.1086/465295. JSTOR 1264347. S2CID 142992381. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩