Nahuatl status (ii)

[mike gaby]

Nahuatl is alive and well in the california penal system.  Inmates use it as
a coded language the guards cannot understand
Mike


>From: Yaoxochitl at aol.com
>Reply-To: nahuat-l at server.umt.edu
>To: Multiple recipients of list <nahuat-l at server.umt.edu>
>Subject: Re: Nahuatl status (ii)
>Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 09:44:36 -0700
>
>I'll answer your query Leonel.  I too have heard that there  are about 1.5
>million speakers of Nahuatl.  A friend of mine who is a "danzante"
>interacted
>with fellow Mexicah dancers down in D.F. and according to him the language
>is
>alive and well, in fact, gaining momentum with non-speakers to learn it
>also.
>  It appears that there might be a Nahuatl "fever" spreading throughout
>Anawak
>though here in the U.S. nobody hears about it.  I believe Nahuatl will
>endure
>even with encroachment of Spanish unleashed by the Mexican government's
>language policies on its mother tongues.  The majority of Mexicans regard
>their native language as socioeconomically backwards even going as far as
>expressing self-hatred by labelling Nahuatl speakers as "indio."
>Self-hatred
>in the sense that these same Mexicans that insult and belittle, not only
>Nahuatl speakers but all speakers of an indigenous language, most likely
>have
>native blood running through their veins themselves since about 90% of the
>population of Mexico constitutes mixed and full-blooded indigena.  I am
>drifting into other topics here, but the bottom line is, Nahuatl will
>endure.

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