stereotypes: nahuatl

[william bright]

it's a long time since i saw the "india maria", but my recollection is that
her speech shows mergers of "i" with "e", and of "o" with "u" in
NON-accented syllables only; thus she might say "quimado" instead of
"quemado", and "cucina" instead of "cocina". i think this is a stereotyped
characteristic of much rustic, non-standard spanish in other parts of latin
america, not just in mexico, and not just of indians. so i doubt if it has
anything to do with the fact that "o" and "u" do not contrast in many
dialects of nahuatl. asta moztlatzinco; bill bright
--
William Bright
Professor Emeritus of Linguistics & Anthropology, UCLA
Professor Adjoint of Linguistics, University of Colorado, Boulder
Editor, Written Language and Literacy
Editor, Native American Placenames of the United States
1625 Mariposa Avenue, Boulder, CO 80302
Tel. 303-444-4274
FAX 303-413-0017
Email william.bright at colorado.edu

William Bright's website: http://www.ncidc.org/bright