Languages that have a phonemic glottal stop /ʔ/ - about 40% of all human languages. This is a very widespread consonant except in Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Turkic, Uralic, Mongolic, Dravidian, Koreanic and Japonic languages.
It’s almost universally present in the indigenous languages of the Americas, in Afro-Asiatic languages, in Austroasiatic and Austronesian languages, in Papuan languages, North Caucasian langauges, and in some Khoe, Sino-Tibetan, Daic, Uralic, Iranian, Turkic and Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages. It’s also present in Estuary and Scouse English as in ‘watter’ as /woːʔɐ/.
“Hey everyone, it’s Xochitl back again with another Nahuatl lesson.” The sparkles emoji pops up with text saying “Happy Mother Language Day”.
“It’s international Mother Language Day, so what better to celebrate by paying tribute to my and probably your mother language, Nahuatl.”
Greenscreen opens up to map. “So many words we know today come from Nahuatl.”
“Nahuatl is the most widely spoken Indigenous language in North America. It belogs to the Uto-Aztecan family of language. It’s related to the Huichol language of Nayarit, the Yaqui and Tarahumara of Chihuahua, the Hopi of Arizona, and the Shoshone Indigenous language of Wyoming.”
“The Nahuatl language experienced it’s Golden Era in the 15th and early 16th century. During this time, the Nahautl language spread from Western Mexico to the Gulf Coast and even parts of Central America.”
Picture in background changes to a art recreation of a Nahuatl city, with the three names of the greatest cities, Tenochtitlan, Tetzcohco, and Tlacopan.
“These theee cities right here are the greatest empires of the Mexica People.”
New picture pops up of an ideogram of Nahuatl language.
“This right here is pictographics script, which is how the Mexica People used to communicate and write down their Nahuatl language. To this day, along with written manuscripts in Spanish, that’s how we preserve the Nahuatl classical language.”
Cacamatzin was a powerful nahual of the order of eagles. He was one of the Ahuízotl comrade in arms, accompanied him on numerous campaigns of conquest.
After the death of his friend, Cacamatzin became one of the teachers and counselors of Cuauhtemoc, the last Aztec tlatoani and son of Ahuízotl.
Cacamatzin was killed covering the withdrawal of several survivors during the siege of Tenochtitlan, the legend said has it that it took 10 Spanish soldiers and tlaxcaltecas to kill him.
“A lot of Spanish speaking indigenous people of Mexico always tend to say to me, “I see you writing & speaking Nahuatl. I wish I spoke, Nahuatl, too!” But what they don’t know is that MOST of us, more so us that were raised in pueblos, ejidos, little villages, we already speak Nahuatl, at least a large list of words we use daily are actually Nahuatl words. What happened is that when the Spaniards forced our ancestors to speak Spanish (or Castellano/Castilian), and prohibited us from speaking Zapotec, Mixtli, Nahuatl, Maya, etc., our people had no choice, as captives, but to speak Spanish, but in secret they still spoke their indigenous tongue among each other. Our ancestors believed that it was very important to speak our tongue (regardless what tongue it is, as long as it’s indigenous to you) and that is why they continued speaking it, even if with time it watered down some, the fact remains that our ancestors passed it on. A lot of us that were born, and raised in, or by parents raised in villages, pueblitos, ejidos, we are speaking Nahuatl meanwhile we speak Spanish. Don’t believe me? I’m going to write down a few words for you in Nahuatl, and you’ll be shocked as to how you thought you were speaking Spanish, but in reality you were speaking Nahuatl:
These are just a few that we use on a daily basis, but most of what we say is really Nahuatl, at times Zapotec, Mixtli, and other Native tongues, and that’s why when you go to Spain, or even attend a school in Mexico, you might even fail a Spanish class because, We speak Nahuatl mixed with some Spanish, and we owe all thanks to our ancestors that were so dedicated in passing down our tongue. I hope that empowered you, and gave you pride as well!” - credit to (Ricardo Ignacio)
every Mexican on tumblr better reblog this.
Here are more “Spanish words” of Nahuatl origin. (Check out the link)
Javier speaking Nahuatl & Espanol in this video. Translation below:
Tonatiuhuia cuando nos guia en el camino (When Tonatiuh guides us in the path)
Aguilas vuelan cuando rezamos en el jardin del “bron”? (Eagles fly when we pray in the “bron” garden)
Mujeres fuertes, hombres valientes, la muerte no es el fin (Strong women, brave men, death is not the end)
Ninos que nacen en temazcales, vientre de Tonantzin (Children born in temazcales, womb of Tonantzin)
Atlachinolli, huehuetlatolli, danzando con corazon (Atlachinolli, huehuetlatolli, dancing with heart)
El kopal en el aire, cuidando los ninos, esa es la fundacion (Copal in the air, taking care of the children, that is the foundation)
Teokalli Quetzalcoatl (Church of Quetzalcoatl)
Then it repeats the same again except in the second to last line he says “cuidando la familia” taking care of the family instead of ninos/children
Temazcales are like a Mexican sweat lodge. Atlachinolli is a concept that is difficult to explain, some people would say it means water & fire, but it made up of three smaller Nahuatl words that mean water, earth, and movement.
Huehuetlatolli is ancient wisdom or words of the ancestors. Tonatiuh is the Sun, Tonantzin is Mother Earth, Quetzalcoatl is like Transformational Knowledge or Understanding
here’s ur reminder that axolotl is NOT pronounced like “ak-suh-laa-tl” (or lot-ul), it is in fact a nahuatl word (that most commonly translates to “water dog” actually, very cute!) and is pronounced “ah-SHOW-lowtch” !!!!
i think abt this every time i see a post abt axolotls coz i just know there r so many ppl mispronouncing it and the thought bothers me. if ppl, esp white ppl, reblogged this to spread the word to those who may not be aware, i’d be very grateful. thank u!!
Hi guys! I was just thinking about how different Spanish vocabulary can be from region to region, and how so much of that comes from local languages. So, here are some regional words I’ve noticed in my travels that are pretty essential! (This is obviously not an exhaustive list of all words or regions, but I’ve chosen some of the most common words I’ve come across personally).
★From Nahuatl (Central Mexico)
aguacate| avocado [from ahuacatl]
atole | atole (traditional Mesoamerican drink) [from atolli]
cacahuate | peanut [from tlacucahuatl]
chamaco | young boy [from chamahuac]
chapulín | grasshopper [from chapol-in]
chayote | chayote (type of squash) [from chayotli]
chicle | gum [from chictli]
chipotle | chipotle (pepper) [from xipoctli]
comal | comal (type of flat pan used for making tortillas) [from comalli]
cuate | twin, buddy, friend [from cuatl*, which means serpent and twin]
elote | corn (on the cob) [from ēlō-tl]
esquite | corn (in a cup) [from izquitl]
escuincle | small child [from itzcuintli]
guacamole | guacamole [from ahuaca-molli]
guajalote | turkey [from wueh-xōlō-tl]
huarache | sandal; also a type of food, like an elongated taco. [from kwarachi]
pulque | pulque (alcohol) [from poliuhqui, originally ‘spoiled’]
tamal | tamale [from tamalli]
tecolote | owl [from tecolotl]
tianguis | market [from tianquiztli]
tlacuache| opossum [from tlacuatzin]
tocayo | namesake (person with the same name or named after) [from toca-yō-tl]
zacate | grass, weeds, lawn [from saka-tl]
★From Quechua (Inca Empire, primarily modern day Peru but also dialects in Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and others in diaspora)
callampa | mushroom [from k’allampa]
cancha | soccer field [from kancha]
carpa | tent [from karpa]
chacra | small farm [from chakra]
charqui | jerky [from ch’arki]
Chile | Chile (country) [*one theory is that Chile was named for the Quechua word chiri meaning ‘cold,’ though this is unproven.]
choclo | corn [from choqllo]
chullo | hat with earflaps [from ch’ullu]
cochayuyo | an edible type of kelp/seaweed [from kochu=lake and yuyu=vegetable]
cura | priest [from kuraq]
guacho|cowboy [from wakcha(orphan) –> huacho (alone)]. *I think this is also likely related to waxo/wacho/wachito/guacho which in Chile I heard used to mean both ‘orphan’ or ‘young boy.’
here’s ur reminder that axolotl is NOT pronounced like “ak-suh-laa-tl” (or lot-ul), it is in fact a nahuatl word (that most commonly translates to “water dog” actually, very cute!) and is pronounced “ah-SHOW-lowtch” !!!!
i think abt this every time i see a post abt axolotls coz i just know there r so many ppl mispronouncing it and the thought bothers me. if ppl, esp white ppl, reblogged this to spread the word to those who may not be aware, i’d be very grateful. thank u!!
In Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, the character America Chavez is played by Xochitl Gomez
When I checked the IPA pronunciation of her name in English, I almost fell off my chair. Her name is obviously of Nahuatlorigin, it means “flower”. It is pronounced /ʃoː.tʃitɬ/inNahuatl. Then her name in Spanishbecomes/ˈso.t͡ʃitl/ and ends up as /ˈsoʊ.tʃi/inAmerican English and I honestly can’t forgive it
To note, /ˈʃo.t͡ʃitl/ also exists in Spanish, but might not be the norm, given that the language doesn’t have /ʃ/ in word-initial position in its native lexicon and is “normalised” to /s/ but can be kept there in Spanish varieties that have long been in contact with languages that do admit an initial /ʃ/likeNahuatl
Yesterday was Teachers Day in Mexico, a date to celebrate and thank the work of educators.
The Nahuatl word that refers to teachers is temachtiani, “who teaches someone”, while the word momachtiani, “who teaches themself”, is used to talk about students.
Another word associated with education is tlamatini, “who knows something”, or “who perceives something”
It is believed that Spanish or Portuguese are the most important languages of Latinidad. However, there are millions of people that speak many indigenous languages throughout Latin America. Spanish and Portuguese languages are one thing that unites most of Latin America, but those languages were imposed on the region through European colonization. It’s one reason some Mexican writers have rejected Spanish to write in indigenous languages.
There are some apps that can can be used to help you learn some indigenous languages of Latin America. Unfortunately, there aren’t many, but here are a few resources:
1. Náhuatl - With an estimated 1.5 million speakers, Náhuatl is the most commonly spoken indigenous language in Mexico.
2.Mixtec - The Mixtec languages belong to the Otomanguean language family of Mexico and they are spoken by over half a million people, and can include up to 50 different dialects.
3.Quechua- Quechua is one of the most widely spoken indigenous languages in the Americas and encompasses many different dialects. The Quechua people primarily live in the Andes and highland regions of South America and include nearly 8 million people.
Habla Quechua by PromPerú: available on iOSandAndroid (available in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish)
4. Purépecha - The Purépecha or Tarascans are a group of indigenous people centered in the northwestern region of Michoacán, Mexico. The languages is spoken by a quarter-million people.
5. Jopará (Guaraní) - Jopará is a dialect of the Guaraní indigenous language and is spoken in Paraguay. The majority of Paraguayans speak some form of this dialect, as it is a mixture of Guaraní and Spanish loan words.
2.Instituto de Investigación de la Amazonía Peruana (IIAP) - the IIAP has created apps for learning indigenous languages from the Amazon region of Peru and Brazil. Though these apps are geared for children, they are helpful for beginning to familiarize yourself with the languages: available on Android (Spanish only)
After doing extensive research, these were the only free apps I was able to find, but if you know of any other free apps for learning indigenous languages of Latin America, please add on!
