Launey

Fri Mar 13 18:32:53 UTC 2009

Howdy again, Michael!

You sent me back to the Nahuat-l archives, somewhat puzzled, to see what I had been replying to. I found this:

“[…] For example, Michel Launey’s 1986, French thèse d´état is the most comprehensive and philologically-grounded examination of classical Nahuatl grammar I have found to date. It is accessible: Jonathan Amith put a PDF of the original online and the CNRS published an abridged version in 1994. Yet, it seems that the 1609 pages of this thèse are practically invisible to American academics. Not only is this work not cited in the bibliographic guides for those learning Nahuatl (Lockhart, 2001: 148-151, Wright Carr, 2007: 42-45, etc.), but rarely does it appear cited in more specialized studies. While the further might be understandable, that latter is not. Launey’s work is contemporary with Andrews, who, on the other hand, is widely cited in American publications. And while both simultaneously “rediscovered” Carochi, it is now solely Andrews who gets the credit for this. […]”

So by “this work” you were referring specifically to the 1986 thesis, which indeed was not cited in Lockhart, 2001, nor in Wright, 2007; both publications only cite vol. 1 of Launey’s *Introduction à la langue et à la littérature aztèques* (1979) and the 1992 Spanish translation of the same work. What mislead me was the second to the last sentence, where it says that “Launey’s work is contemporary with Andrews.” That threw me back to the decade of 1971-1980 (since the first edition of J. Richard Andrew’s *Introduction to Classical Nahuatl* was published in 1975), and set my head in the general space of Launey’s work. Your post is clear enough; my quick reading of it was responsible for the confusion.

As for Andrews, rather than Launey, getting the credit for “rediscovering” Carochi, it’s worth pointing out that Andrews’s *Introduction…* (1975) appeared four years before Launey’s *Introduction…* (1979), and that Launey’s earliest article in the list you provide is from 1977. So the “rediscovery” was not quite “simultaneous,” at least as far as the published results seem to indicate.

I’m grateful to you for conceding that the omission of Launey’s thesis of 1986 “might be understandable” “in the bibliographical guides for those learning Nahuatl;” thanks to these phrases I don’t feel quite so inexhaustive. Because of the word “might,” however, just to be safe, I’ve added a mention of the 1986 thesis to a manuscript for an eventual second edition of my book. Some of my undergraduate history students at the University of Guanajuato do read French and could benefit from this more advanced treatment of Nahuatl grammar, and surely there will be other potential readers in the same situation.

Thanks for the list of Launey’s publications and the link to his thesis, by the way. These are very useful, as is Jonathan Amith’s post with links to reproductions of Launey’s studies on his own web site. Providing such material is a positive contribution which will enrich the general level of scholarship of the community that gathers on this list.

Peace,

David

De: Michael Swanton [mailto:mwswanton at yahoo.com] 
Enviado el: viernes, 13 de marzo de 2009 01:26 a.m.
Para: Nahuat-l (messages); David Wright
Asunto: Re: [Nahuat-l] Launey

There seems to be some confusion between Michel Launey’s 1979 pedagogic grammar and his rarely cited, though extremely valuable 1986 thèse. The former grew out of his classes in the 70s in Paris VIII and was first published by L’Harmattan. The first volume of this was later translated (defectively) into Spanish and published by the UNAM in 1992. As Lindsay Sidders points out, an English version is currently being prepared. The thèse was never published in its entirety. An abridged, edited version was published in 1994 by the CNRS. Jonathan Amith has done the Nahuatl studies a tremendous favor by making this text available online (it is also available on the CNRS website as a series separate PDFs:  <http://www.vjf.cnrs.fr/celia/FichExt/Etudes/Launey/tm.htm> http://www.vjf.cnrs.fr/celia/FichExt/Etudes/Launey/tm.htm).

I would dare say that Monsieur Launey’s thèse is the single most comprehensive and philologically-grounded linguistic investigation of classical Nahuatl grammar of the 20th century.

For those who don’t know his work on Nahuatl besides the pedagogic grammar, I append here Michel Launey’s other publications on this language (I exclude his work on Palikur).

Launey, Michel. 1977. Le pluriel transcatégoriel /-ke’/ en nahuatl : contribution à l’étude de la relation ‘être/avoir’. Amerindia, 2 : 19-45.

_____. 1978. Deux sources du passif d’après la morphologie nahuatl.  Actes du XLIIe Congrès International des Américanistes:  Congrès du Centenaire, Paris, 1976.  IV:  471-484. Société des Américanistes, Paris.

_____. 1979. Le datif dans une langue sans cas (Nahuatl classique).  In : Relations prédicat-actant(s) dans des langues de types divers (C. Paris, éd.) vol. 2 : 29-70.  SELAF, LACITO documents 2-3, Paris.

_____. 1981a. Une intérpretation linguistique des schémas relationnels : passifs-impersonnels et causitifs en nahuatl classique.  Amerindia, 6 : 17-58.

_____. 1981b. Compte-rendu : ‘Five Studies Inspired by Nahuatl Verbs in –oa’ (Canger).  Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 106:  312-313.

_____. 1983. Concession de phrase et concession particulière en nahuatl classique.  In : L’expression de la concession (Valentin, éd.) Université de Paris IV, Linguistica Palatina Colloquia I.

_____. 1984. Fonctions et catégories dans l’opposition verbo-nominale : l’exemple du nahuatl.  In : “L’opposition verbo-nominale dans diverses langues du monde” (Nicole Tersis-Surugue, éd) Modèles linguistiques, 6 : 133-148.

_____. 1986. Catégories et opérations dans la grammaire nahuatl.  Thèse d’Etat, Université de Paris IV.

_____. 1988. Le linguiste et le funambule : réflexions sur l’universalité et la spécificité linguistiques et culturelles.  Amerindia, 13 : 169-192.

_____. 1991a. Compte rendus:  ‘Gramática mazateca’ (Jamieson); ‘Xo-nitháán me’phaa’; ‘Registro de la variación fonológica en el náhuatl moderno’ (Monzón).  Amerindia, 16:  223-25.

_____. 1991b. In memoriam Carlos López Ávila.  Amerindia, 16:  227.

_____. 1992. Sortilèges des nuages et sorcelleries de la sarigue (à propos d'une traduction du Tratado de hechicerías d'Olmos).  Amerindia, 17:  183-196.

_____. 1994. Une grammaire omnipredicative : essai sur la morphosyntaxe du nahuatl classique.  Collection Sciences du langage.  CNRS Éditions, Paris.

_____. 1995a. L’Arte de la lengua mexicana de Aldama y Guevara.  Amerindia, 19-20:  237-244.

_____. 1995b. Compte rendu : fray Andrés de Olmos Arte de la lengua mexicana Fac-similé.  Introduction et transcription d’A. et M. León-Portilla.  Journal de la Société des Américanistes, 81:  348-352.

_____. 1996a. Retour au -tl aztèque.  Amerindia, 21:  77-91.

_____. 1996b. Compte rendu : ‘Mexikanische Grammatik’ (Humboldt).  Amerindia, 21:  203-209.

_____. 1997a. La elaboración de los conceptos de la diátesis en las primeras gramáticas del náhuatl.  In:  La descripción de las lenguas amerindias en la época colonial.  Biblioteca Ibero-Americana, 63.  (Klaus Zimmermann, ed)  21-41.  Vervuert, Frankfurt am Main / Iberoamericana, Madrid.

_____. 1997b. La distance intraduisable : Les préfixes directionnels du nahuatl. Amerindia, 22: 15-30.

_____. 1999. Compound nouns vs. incorporation in Classical Nahuatl. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung, 52(3-4): 347-364.

_____. 2002. On some causative doublets in Classical Nahuatl. In: The Grammar of Causation and Interpersonal Manipulation (Masayoshi Shibatani, ed): 301-317. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

_____. 2004. The features of omnipredicativity in Classical Nahuatl. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung, 57(1):  49-69.

--- On Thu, 2/26/09, David Wright <dcwright at prodigy.net.mx> wrote:

From: David Wright <dcwright at prodigy.net.mx>
Subject: [Nahuat-l] Launey
To: "Nahuat-l (messages)" <nahuatl at lists.famsi.org>
Date: Thursday, February 26, 2009, 11:23 AM

In reponse to Michael Swanton's recent post:

Hi, Michael! I enjoyed seeing you again at the colloquium at the Instituto
de Investigaciones Filológicas a few months back. I hope all is well.
There's a little mistake in your recent post that needs to be corrected. You
state:

"Not only is this work [Michel Launey's *Introduction à la langue et à la
littérature aztèques*] not cited in the bibliographic guides for those
learning Nahuatl (Lockhart, 2001: 148-151, Wright Carr, 2007: 42-45, etc.),
but rarely does it appear cited in more specialized studies."

Following is a paragraph from Wright Carr (2007: 43) (David Charles Wright
Carr, *Lectura del náhuatl: fundamentos para la traducción de los textos en
náhuatl del periodo Novohispano Temprano*, México, Instituto Nacional de
Lenguas Indígenas, 2007):

"La gramática del lingüista francés Michel Launey, Introduction à la langue
et à la littérature aztèques (“Introducción a la lengua y a la literatura
aztecas”), constituye una aportación relevante a la descripción del náhuatl
novohispano. Consta de dos tomos: el primero es la gramática propiamente
dicha, y en el segundo hay una serie de textos en náhuatl con comentarios.
Fue publicada inicialmente en 1979 (el primer tomo) y 1980 (el segundo); hay
una reimpresión de 1995 y una traducción al castellano del primer volumen
—salpicada de errores de traducción, edición y/o imprenta—, impresa en 1992.
Launey, a diferencia de los nahuatlatos de la escuela mexicana, hizo un
estudio a fondo de la gramática de Horacio Carochi, lo que le permitió
presentar una descripción más precisa del náhuatl novohispano. Registra el
saltillo y las vocales largas mediante signos diacríticos, aprovechando para
este propósito el sistema ortográfico de Carochi. Este libro es útil para el
principiante, particularmente la edición francesa, para los que leen este
idioma. Aparte de las virtudes ya mencionadas, presenta una gran claridad en
la exposición de la gramática náhuatl, pues fue concebida como un método
didáctico, más que una gramática a secas."

So it is cited in Wright Carr, 2007! Granted, I got my hands on the French
edition after having prepared most of the book, but it was used as a
complementary source in some sections (see notes see footnotes 144, 165,
198, 213, 341, 362, 364, 365, 371, 376, 385, 602).

No problem, my friend, I just thought I should set the record straight,
since this is a public forum and our messages will be available in an
on-line archive for years.

Peace,

David Wright
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