New Lockhart book(s)

[Mark David Morris]

I got a copy of Lockhart's translation of Carochi about a month ago from a
major commercial bookseller.  For those who haven't had a chance to look
over the work, I can offer the following comments:  The clear typeface of
Carochi's original text alone is such an improvement over the facsimilar
version that it makes the book worth buying.  The English translation is
superb and makes Carochi's text even clearer.   The footnotes make a
valuable contribution to  both the general linguistic operations Carochi
describes and specific vocabulary, often using valuable examples from
Lockhart's work with community Nahuatl documents.  I wish, however, that
those footnotes had included more extensive examples from those kinds of
Nahuatl texts rather than the condensed grammatical generalizations he
attempts.  Lockhart's knowledge of Nahuatl is impressive,  but I think
his attempts at grammatical generalization  often muddy Carochi's grammar
as clarify it. Finally, I would have preferred that Lockhart not have
included his definition of Nahuatl terms parenthetically in the English
translation.  Many Nahuatl verbs, for example, have such an extended
metaphorical semantic range that such pithy attempts at semantic
compression often confuse me more than they help.

Mark Morris

















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La muerte tiene permiso a todo

MDM, PhD Candidate
Dept. of History, Indiana Univ.