Starting to learn Nahuatl

[David Wright]

More for Owen:

 

To get my first footing in early colonial Nahuatl, I used Campbell's and
Karttunen's Foundation Course with Karttunen's Analytical Dictionary, and
had Andrews' Introduction to Classical Nahuatl (1st. ed.) close at hand. All
three use the same orthography, which restores missing glottal stops and
long vowels. My only problem with the Foundation Course is the blending of
colonial and modern forms, but its clarity and didactic virtues more than
offset this aspect. Of course Molina's work, particularly his vocabularies
of 1571 and Carochi's 1645 Arte are indispensable. Lockhart's Nahuatl as
Written is full of invaluable advice, and goes well with his critical
edition of Carochi. I agree with Joe that Andrews has a profound vision of
Nahuatl grammar, that he's better at making rules that explaining them, and
that a beginner would have a rough time digesting his grammar, particularly
in its second, more radically independent edition. I differ with my
distinguished colleagues on the utility of Sullivan's Compendium as a
beginning text. Michael mentions her problems with grammatical analyses, but
the real drawback to this grammar is that its phonological foundations are
deeply flawed, particularly regarding vowels, the consonant /w/ (often
written with u, v, uh, or hu in colonial sources), and the consonant /kw/
(written cu, qu, uc, or cuh in the sources). Sullivan often reads the letter
u in uh and cuh as a vowel /u/, which really didn't exist, except as an
allophone of /o/. This reflects the state of the art in the mid-twentieth
century, which was surpassed in the 1970s with Andrews's and Launeys'
grammars. Sullivan's Compendium, in fact, was born outdated, since it was
first published (in Spanish) in 1976, a year after the first edition of
Andrews' Introduction. If one began with Sullivan, one would have to unlearn
a lot of things later on, and unlearning can be harder than learning.

 

However colonial Nahuatl is first approached, I recommend having a big pile
of sources at hand, then focusing on one grammar and a dictionary that uses
the same (or similar)orthography as basic sources, the rest standing by as
references for specific questions. This may be done with Campbell/Karttunen
(Foundation Course) and Karttunen (Analytical Dictionary). A good
alternative, I think, would be Lockhart's Nahuatl as Written together with
his edition of Carochi and Molina as the main dictionary, although with this
method the student would focus less on phonological precision and more on
practical matters.

 

Bibliography

 

Andrews, J. Richard, Introduction to classical Nahuatl, Austin/London,
University of Texas Press, 1975.

 

Andrews, J. Richard, Introduction to classical Nahuatl, revised edition,
Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 2003.

 

Andrews, J. Richard, Introduction to classical Nahuatl, workbook,
Austin/London, University of Texas Press, 1975.

 

Andrews, J. Richard, Workbook for introduction to classical Nahuatl, revised
edition, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 2003.

 

Campbell, R. Joe; Karttunen, Frances, Foundation course in Nahuatl grammar,
volume 1: text and exercises, xerox edition, Missoula, The University of
Montana, 1989.

 

Campbell, R. Joe; Karttunen, Frances, Foundation course in Nahuatl grammar,
volume 2: vocabulary and key, xerox edition, Missoula, The University of
Montana, 1989.

 

Carochi, Horacio, Arte de la lengua mexicana con la declaración de los
adverbios della, facsímil de la ed. de 1645, Miguel León-Portilla, editor,
Mexico, Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas/Instituto de
Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1983.

 

Carochi, Horacio, Grammar of the Mexican language with an explanation of its
adverbs (1645), James Lockhart, translator and editor, Stanford/Los Angeles,
Stanford University Press/UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 2001.

 

Karttunen, Frances, An analytical dictionary of Nahuatl, 2nd. ed., Norman,
University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.

 

Launey, Michel, Introduction à la langue et à la littérature Aztèques, tome
1 : grammaire, facsimile of the 1979 ed., Paris, L’Harmattan, 1995.

 

Lockhart, James, Nahuatl as written, lessons in older written nahuatl, with
copious examples and texts, Stanford/Los Ángeles, Stanford University
Press/UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 2001.

 

Molina, Alonso de, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y
castellana, 3rd. facsimile ed. of the 1880 ed., intoductory study by Miguel
León-Portilla, Mexico, Editorial Porrúa, 1992.

 

Sullivan, Thelma D., Compendio de la gramática náhuatl, 1a. reimpresión de
la 1a. ed., México, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México, 1983.

 

Sullivan, Thelma D., Compendio de la gramática náhuatl, 2a. reimpresión de
la 2a. ed., México, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México, 1998.

 

Observations:

 

Facsimile versions of early all of the colonial grammars, vocabularies, and
related sources are on one compact disc, available form the Digibis website:
Obras clásicas sobre la lengua náhuatl, digital ed., Ascensión Hernández de
León-Portilla, editor, Madrid, Fundación Histórica Tavera/Mapfre
Mutualidad/Digibis, 1998.

 

I wish I had a copy of Joe Campbell's dictionary. All I have are a few
notecards I made at the Princeton University Library five years ago. Joe, I
think the time is ripe for a second edition, with all the recent interest in
Nahuatl! If not as a book, at least on CD! Campbell, R. Joe, A morphological
dictionary of classical nahuatl, a morpheme index to the Vocabulario en
lengua mexicana y castellana of fray Alonso de Molina, Madison, Hispanic
Seminary of Medieval Studies, 1985.
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