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I was fortunate to have taken the five week summer course offered by
John and the Nahuatl indigenous people he works with this past summer.
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I would recommend it to anyone who wants an in-depth cultural, social,
linguistic, and (yes, even a) spiritual experience!<br>
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They are working on a Nahuatl web portal that will offer a great many
texts in both older and modern Nahuatl. <br>
This will include a Nahuatl dictionary written by and for Nahuatl
native speakers!<br>
Their website is:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.idiez.org.mx">www.idiez.org.mx</a>
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mario e. aguilar<br>
chuco13<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.mexicayotl.org">www.mexicayotl.org</a><br>
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<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:idiez@MAC.COM">idiez@MAC.COM</a> wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid2CC5F13D-01EA-11D9-89B9-003065C46A4A@mac.com"
type="cite">Listeros,
<br>
I had a chance to briefly peruse Herrera's work this Summer. First of
all, it isn't a dictionary: it's a vocabulary list. This list makes no
mention of where the material came from. Are there classical sources?
Are there modern sources? If so, what are they?
<br>
We have written evidence that Nahuatl as a language has been
creatively adapting to change since the mid 1530s. Today words for car
and bus, for example, differ from microregion to microregion. In
Zacatecas, we work simultaneously with Older and Modern Nahuatl, and
since our vehicle for teaching is the language itself, we are
constantly struggling with ways to express new concepts. This is all
good. The problem is that if you are going to publish a dictionary,
you need to be methodical and explicit about how you put it together.
You need to explain the decisions you had to make in order to arrive
at your final system of "words", definitions, and grammatical
terminology. This is not done in Herrera's work.
<br>
John
<br>
<br>
John Sullivan, Ph.D.
<br>
Profesor de lengua y cultura nahua
<br>
Unidad Académica de Idiomas
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Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas
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Director
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Instituto de Docencia e Investigación Etnológica de Zacatecas, A.C.
<br>
Tacuba 152, int. 47
<br>
Centro Histórico
<br>
Zacatecas, Zac. 98000
<br>
México
<br>
Oficina: +52 (492) 925-3415
<br>
Fax: +52 (492) 925-3416
<br>
Domicilio: +52 (492) 768-6048
<br>
Celular: +52 (492) 544-5985
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:idiez@mac.com">idiez@mac.com</a>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.idiez.org.mx">www.idiez.org.mx</a>
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On Sep 7, 2004, at 6:33 PM, <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Amapohuani@AOL.COM">Amapohuani@AOL.COM</a> wrote:
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<blockquote><!-- Geneva --><font size="-1">Listeros:</font>
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<br>
<!-- Geneva --><font size="-1"> Once again I am impressed
by the thoughtful openmindedness of many of the people on this list. I
very much look forward to reading Fran's review (see below) but am
reminded of a comment someone much wiser than I made about language:
'the only perfect language is a dead one.' That is, once a language is
no longer actively used then there is always someone who fixes upon
some 'high culture' definition of what constituted that
now-no-longer-spoken language, makes its conventions the standard for
all other varieties, and then attempts to foist this somewhat (not
always completely) arbitrary choice on everyone else who wants to
study that language. </font>
<br>
<br>
<!-- Geneva --><font size="-1"> I am rather focused on the
16th to 19th century varieties of Nahuatl (as expressed in docs) but
am very mindful and appreciative of what others have been, or are,
doing. For example, I think Jonathan Amith's upcoming publication is
going to be a major help for folks like me. </font>
<br>
<br>
<!-- Geneva --><font size="-1"> The more the merrier. And
my sincere thanks to all of you who help keep Nahuatl, in all its many
spoken and written forms, a living language. Oannechmocnelilitzinoque,
otlacauhqui in amochalchiuhyollotzin.</font>
<br>
<br>
<!-- Geneva --><font size="-1"> Ye ixquich.</font>
<br>
<!-- Geneva --><font size="-1"> Barry D. Sell</font>
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<br>
<!-- Geneva --><font size="-1"> In a message dated 9/7/04
11:16:18 AM, <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:karttu@NANTUCKET.NET">karttu@NANTUCKET.NET</a> writes:</font>
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<br>
<!-- Geneva --><font size="-1">I just wrote a review of it
in an article evaluating a number of recent</font>
<br>
<!-- Geneva --><font size="-1"> books intended to
facilitate Nahuatl studies. The review article has</font>
<br>
<!-- Geneva --><font size="-1"> been submitted to the
journal Ethnohistory. I am not sure how long it</font>
<br>
<!-- Geneva --><font size="-1"> will be before it appears
in print.</font>
<br>
<br>
<!-- Geneva --><font size="-1"> Frances Karttunen</font>
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</blockquote>
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</blockquote>
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