Cubanascnan

[John Sullivan]

Just an observation. I think Nahuatl is based in many more places than just
the central highlands. The fifty-plus native speakers of nahuatl from the
Huasteca who are currently persuing their university studies in Zacatecas
would certainly be quick to point this out.
    John Sullivan
    Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas

on 7/5/00 8:19 AM, David L. Frye at dfrye at umich.edu wrote:

> 1. No, there is no relation between the (extinct) Taino language of Cuba
> and Nahuatl. Most linguistic reconstructions have Taino languages coming
> from South America into the Caribbean, not from Middle America. Even if
> there were relationships between any Mesoamerican language and Taino, it
> would much more likely be with Maya (since Maya speakers were the
> sea-faring ones -- Nahuatl was based in the central highlands, far from
> the sea). There is the one example of "hurakan," the word for hurricane in
> both Yucatec Maya and Taino.
>
> 2. Isn't it Cubanacan, not Cubanascnan? I have never heard the latter. You
> see the form Cubanacan all over Cuba.
>
> 3. A good place to start would be a book about the Taino, such as Irving
> Rouse's.
>
> David Frye, University of Michigan
>