Michoacán Nahuatl
Nahuatl variety of Mexico
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Michoacán Nahuatl is the name given to a variety of Nahuatl language spoken by the Nahua Michoacan on the Pacific Coast of Mexico in Michoacán. It is a dialect of Nahuatl, a language of the Uto-Aztecan family. It is the westernmost extant variant of this language, although the Uto-Aztecan family is spread further north, central, south and east. It has around 9,000 speakers which mainly reside in rural communities in the municipality of Aquila, primarily Pómaro and Maruata, in Michoacán de Ocampo,[a] which coexist with the Purepecha language speakers.[citation needed] The Michoacan Nahuatl is one of many Nahua dialects, notably with regard to the central dialects which include tl in certain words, usually Michoacan. For example, the word for "man" in Central Nahuatl is tlacatl, whereas in Michoacan Nahuatl it is lacal.[2]: 37
| Michoacán Nahuatl | |
|---|---|
| Pómaro Nahuatl | |
| Native to | Mexico |
| Region | Pómaro and Maruata, Aquila municipality, Michoacán |
Native speakers | (3,000 cited 1990 census)[1] |
Uto-Aztecan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ncl |
| Glottolog | mich1245 |
Phonology
William Sischo provides the following set of phonemes for Michoacán Nahuatl, with the dialect of Pómaro as exemplar.[3] Marginal phonemes are in parentheses.
Vowels
Consonants
Morphology
Michoacán Nahuatl exhibits a robust system of affixes on its nouns and verbs, including mixed forms that reflect contact with Spanish.
Nouns
The derivative suffix -ero, a borrowing from Spanish, indicates someone who is associated with a thing:[3]: 329
masal-ero
deer-ASSOC
'deer hunter'
mič-ero
fish-ASSOC
'fisherman'
Syntax
Basic constituent order of the sentence tends to be subject - verb - object if the verb is transitive, and verb - subject if intransitive.[3]: 313
Sischo proposes a neutral (i.e., non-emphatic) constituent order template supporting ditransitive sentences as in the table below.[3]: 313 Of these, only the verb is required in a sentence.
| Introducer | Temporal | Particle | Subject | Particle | Verb | Adverb | Direct Object | Indirect Object | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | conjunctions, subordinators | pues 'so, then' | amo 'not', ayamo 'not yet', yahmo 'no more', ma 'hortatory' | manner, location adverbial |
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