numbers of Nahuatl speakers?

[Mark David Morris]

Stephanie et al,

I went by the regional Tlaxcala office of INEGI yesterday.  They do not
yet have detailed descriptions of speakers of indigenous languages for the
200 census, but expect to have them in a few months.  What they have are
numbers of speakers, by male-female and by population size.  The total
number of speakers of indigenous languages increased from 5,483,555 to
6,274,418.  One factor in the increase other than natural population
increase might be a higher incidence of reporting.  The 1995 census
records 26,886 Nahuatl speakers in Tlaxcala, and if you know the region
you will note that that figure is probably low by at least 10,000,
probably resulting from people not wanting to admit that they speak an
indigenous language.

best,
Mark Morris

P.S.  Class note for this week:

To distinguish -tia from -huia

xochitia - make one to have flowers
xochihuia - make on have flowers inside, i.e bewitch

other examples:
nimotezcahuia, I look in the mirror
nicxelhuahuizhuia in metatl, I scrub-sweep the metate




















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La muerte tiene permiso a todo

MDM, PhD Candidate
Dept. of History, Indiana Univ.