Nahuatl intonation

[Gordon Whittaker]

Dear Nahuatlatoque,

I'm wondering if some kind soul can put me on the track of a good (or even
middling) study or description of Nahuatl intonation, preferably in a
dialect relatively close to the Valley of Mexico. It's sometimes been said
that the lilting intonation of rural Mexican Spanish in the central area
comes from Nahuatl, something that seems likely to me. But I've never seen
a study of this, or, for that matter, a reconstruction of what Classical
Nahuatl intonation might have been like (an impossible task, I suspect).

I would be grateful to any of you who have worked with speakers of various
dialects, if you could perhaps provide a few pointers on this matter --
given the fact that so little audio material is available freely online or
elsewhere. Are there considerable differences between basic declarative
and question patterns in, say, Guerrero and Puebla/Tlaxcala or Huaxteca
Nahuatl? Are the patterns in Morelos similar to one, or several, of these?

Thanks in advance!

Best,
Gordon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gordon Whittaker
Professor
Linguistische Anthropologie und Altamerikanistik
Seminar fuer Romanische Philologie
Universitaet Goettingen
Humboldtallee 19
37073 Goettingen
Germany
tel./fax (priv.): ++49-5594-89333
tel. (office): ++49-551-394188
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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