Cubanascnan

[Michael Mccafferty]

Maybe Dave was referring to its more original location. :)



On Wed, 5 Jul 2000, John Sullivan wrote:

> 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
> >
>
>


Michael McCafferty
307 Memorial Hall
Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana
47405
mmccaffe at indiana.edu

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