Orizaba Nahuatl
Encyclopedia
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 are several primary schools and one secondary school which use this language along with Spanish.
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:
This corresponds to a more phonetic translation while still making use of macron
s to mark long vowels.
Most grammar and vocabulary changes are minor, most of them corresponding to neologisms and loan words from Spanish
.
Example:
(In this case both long vowels and intermediate consonant are lost.)
Some loanwords from Spanish:
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
mostly in the area to the south of the city of Orizaba
Orizaba
Orizaba is a city and municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is located 20 km west of its sister city Córdoba, and is adjacent to Río Blanco and Ixtaczoquitlán, on Federal Highways 180 and 190. The city had a 2005 census population of 117,273 and is almost coextensive with its small...
. 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 are several primary schools and one secondary school which use this language along with Spanish.
Writing
The orthographyOrthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one 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
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
) orthography:
- "I will enter his/her house."
- "Nicalaquīz īcal." [nah]
- "Nikalakīs īkal." [nlv]
This corresponds to a more phonetic translation while still making use of macron
Macron
A macron, from the Greek , meaning "long", is a diacritic placed above a vowel . It was originally used to mark a long or heavy syllable in Greco-Roman metrics, but now marks a long vowel...
s to mark long vowels.
Most grammar and vocabulary changes are minor, most of them corresponding to neologisms and loan words from Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
.
Example:
- "Now/At this moment/Today."
- "Āxcān." [nah]
- "Axan." [nlv]
(In this case both long vowels and intermediate consonant are lost.)
Some loanwords from Spanish:
- "Kahwen" (from café, coffeeCoffeeCoffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
; also used in Classical Nahuatl as "cafetzin"). - "Kawayoh" (from caballo, horseHorseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
; also used in Classical Nahuatl as "cahuayoh"). - "Kochih" (from coche, carAutomobileAn automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
). - "Refreskoh" (from refresco, soft drinkSoft drinkA soft drink is a non-alcoholic beverage that typically contains water , a sweetener, and a flavoring agent...
or soda).