Nahuatl status

[Leonel Hermida]

Hi,

This will perhaps be considered "deja vu", but I've never seen it discussed
before and would like to know: what is the status of 'Nahuatl' in Mexico
first and in the world today?

Please forgive me if I use some material from a book I once came across
(and have read 3 or 4 times since), namely Bernard Comrie's "The
languages of the Soviet Union", C.U.P. 1981.
1." At one end of the scale, we have languages that are spoken by very
small population groups" (let us say by less than 10,000 people)," that have
no written form, and are normally spoken by people who are bilingual
in one of the larger languages".
2. "Secondly, there are languages that have a written form and are used
to a very limited extent in publication, but are not used as media of
education. In many instances this is a transitional stage in the phasing
out of a written language, since clearly a written language will soon
cease to have an audience if its speakers are not taught how to read it."
One such language is Yiddish in the USSR, another being Kurdish.
3. "The third class in this functional classification is where a language
is used quite extensively in publication (e.g. children's books, basic
political litterature, newspapers, short stories, even novels), and is
also used as the medium of instruction in the first few grades of school,
after which instruction shifts to another language (though the native
language may still be taught as a school subject)". An example is
Chukchi, spoken in East Siberia...
4. "Fourthly, there are languages which are used in a wide range of
publications, including some technical subjects, and are used as media
of education throughout the school system (though often not in further
education)". Examples are Chechen, Abkhaz, Komi, ...
5. Fifthly, there are languages which, in addition to having the above
functions, are also used as educational media in universities, and are
effectively used as co-government languages in the internal adminis-
tration of the corresponding administrative area.
6. Finally only Russian, etc. etc. (Here one should say only Spanish,etc.
etc.)

Now: what happens with Nahuatl? Is instruction provided in the so-called
'classical form' (hope Richard will not scold on this), or otherwise?
What are the numbers? How far is Nahuatl used in the press? How
does it compare with for example Basque and Catalan in Spain today?
Is there an Academy of the Nahuatl Language? What is the situation
now and which are the prospects as to the future?
I shall not give up studying 'Cassical Nahuatl'  whatever the actual
situation of the language, but I would like to learn more about the facts
of yesterday and today...

Thank you.
Best regards,

Leonel