10 questions about Nahuat-l and the Aztecs

[Craig Berry]

On Mon, 22 May 2000, Joost Kremers wrote:

> note, by the way, that even though languages may use different methods
> to talk about something, that does _not_ mean that the speakers of those
> languages are forever condemned to see the world in a specific way: the
> system of earth-relative spatial orientation is easily explained in
> english, and is even _used_ in that language as a secondary system.
> please do not make the mistake of Sapir who thought that because the
> Hopi indians do not express tense in their language (which, if i'm not
> mistaken, was a wrong assessment in itself...) they have no notion of
> time!

The Sapir assertion definitely does go too far.  But I find it
indisputable that language *influences* how we think about the world,
making some thoughts easier, some harder to grasp.

> cf. the ever-popular Discovery Channel documentaries about this man
> (Bauval his name was?) who finds indications all around the world for a
> lost civilization, Atlantis, that he believes was located on Antarctica,
> before the last ice-age. although he points out some fascinating
> questions, his 'theory' consists mostly of speculation upon speculation.

Given the inevitable gaps, coincidences, and (currently) unexplainable
evidence which litters archaeology, forming grand theories like this is
remarkably easy.

> as for similarities between ancient egyptian an nahuatl: ancient egyptian
> died out centuries before classical nahuatl as we know it developed. ergo:
> there can be no links.

No, no; you're neglecting to take into account the steam-driven tape
recorders the Egyptians built and used under the guidance of Von Daniken's
"gods from the sky". :)

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