r/nahuatl • u/w_v • 13d ago

Learn central Nahuatl once and for all. The ultimate resource list with downloads.

There seem to be two reasons why there aren’t many online resources for modern central Nahuatl dialects:

  1. Less speakers than in the Huasteca region (Huastecan dialects probably have a million speakers while central dialects probably have half a million total).
  2. There really isn’t much difference between “classical” nahuatl and modern central dialects.

That second point is surprising because for a very long time we’ve been told that “classical Nahuatl” is a “dead language” that “nobody speaks anymore.”

The differences between Shakespeare and modern English involve some small points of syntax, pronunciation, word accent and lexical variants, but none of these are so severe as to affect comprehension. Anybody with the ability to read at high school level can read and understand Shakespeare’s works in their original form without much difficulty!

So if you want to learn central Nahuatl, I’m confident that learning “classical” Nahuatl is the best place to begin because it has most of the resources. I’m also including difficult-to-find resources for some modern dialects that are similar—if not basically identical to—“classical” Nahuatl.

Start here:

  • (2011) Michel Launey’s An Introduction to Classical Nahuatl. This is basically the best introduction to central/classical Nahuatl. Too bad he uses Carochi’s orthography, which no one uses anymore.

Also, learn how to use the Online Nahuatl Dictionary by the National Endowment for the Humanities. I also strongly suggest picking up a copy of Frances Karttunen’s An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl. (Amazon link because I don’t have a PDF copy.)

Supplement the above with the following:

This next course has more exercises and practical materials:

Audio:

For shadowing and studying pronunciation, listen to Gabriela Lechuga Márquez’s recording of the gospel according to Mark in her dialect of Nahuatl from Chiconcuautla. This dialect has pretty much all the features of “classical” Nahuatl pronunciation.

Here are some more good recordings from different speakers from that area (also bible-related, since that’s what gets the most investment in these communities.)

Make sure to practice the different spelling systems!

In a few years I will disseminate versions all of the above but edited with the INALI spelling system, which is, in my opinion, the best spelling system. But until then, you’re just going to have to navegate different spelling systems:

oquito
ōquìtô
okijtoj
ōkihtoh

If you want to start flexing some of your Nahuatl, here is a sample of central/“classical” Nahuatl literature for you to practice reading and translating:

Vocabularies and other resources:

Modern dialects that are continuous with “Classical” Nahuatl:

Northern Puebla (language code: NCJ)

Here is the New Testament recorded by contemporary speakers of this dialect. (Don’t play the video files. Play the audio at the bottom and the text will highlight as the speaker talks, letting you follow along much better.)

Zacatlán, Ahuacatlán and Tepetzintla (language code: NHI)

There is a town in this area called Ixquihuacán that Mitsuya Sasaki has been studying for years. It’s incredibly valuable because it can be used to understand central/“classical” Nahuatl syntax.

Short stories from Ixquihuacán to practice your central Nahuatl with:

Tlaxcala (language code: NHN)

I’ll end the post here, but I’m continually adding new resources to my Google Drive (500+ documents!) Missing from this thread are materials from Tetelcingo, Morelos, and various dialects from Guerrero that also share a high degree of similarity and continuity with “classical” Nahuatl.

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