Pidiginization in nawatl ?

[David Sanchez]

In a personal conversation with a member of this group, we wondered that
nahuatl can express so many terms with a very reducted set of radical items.
For example for terms like "moustache", "neighbour", "ankle" are expressed
by more basic items:

<te:n> 'lip' + <tson> 'hair' = <te:n.tson.tli> 'moustache'
<kal> 'house' + <na:wak> 'near' + <tlaka> = <kal.na:wak.tlaca.tl> 'neighbour'
<ikxi> 'leg' + <kechtla> 'neck' = <ikxi.kechtla.tl> 'ankle'

In fact I've heard the number of radicals used is only around 1000!!!

This is a prototypical situation in PIDGINS and CREOLES, and we think
that it is possible nawatl undergoed(?) a period of pidginization when a
considerable number of yuto-aztecan radicals becomed lost and therefore
they were replaced by compounds like (1), (2) and (3).

What do you think? Do you consider reasonable this hypothesis about
diachronic history of nawatl?
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