question on Spanish/Nahuatl "language"

John F. Schwaller schwallr at potsdam.edu
Tue May 5 17:14:34 UTC 2009


If I remember correctly, and Joe Campbell can remind me, Spanish pidgins 
are generally known as "ladino."  One of the most famous is the Ladino 
used by Sephardic Jews who fled the Iberian Peninsula following the 1492 
expulsion.

In various documents from the 17th and 18th centuries there are 
increasing intrusions of Spanish words into Nahuatl.  Examples can be 
found in my guide to Nahuatl manuscripts in US repositories.  Lockhart 
does trace the three periods of language deformation, based on work he 
and Frances Karttunen did.  But as to the creation of a real amalgam of 
Spanish and Nahuatl, I'm not aware of any.



Jesse Lovegren wrote:
> Hi Sharon
>
>   If you haven't already done this, you might be interested in reading 
> in Pidgin & Creole linguistics and in language contact.  English and 
> French-based creoles sprung up frequently through colonial-era 
> contact, but Spanish-based creoles are rare.  In the case of Spanish, 
> the situation is more like a koiné, where proficient bilinguals are 
> the ones initially introducing changes, and the new variety is formed 
> gradually.  As for Nahuatl/Spanish, I am not familiar with literature 
> on present-day contact between these two, but you will find a 
> discussion of how Nahuatl changed under influence from Spanish in 
> Lockhart's "The Nahuas after Conquest"
>



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John F. Schwaller
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