Huasteca Nahuatl is a dialectal continuum of Nahuatl, spoken by one million people in the region of La Huastek, which is concentrated in the states of Veracruz , Hidalgo (East Huastecan), Puebla and San Luis Potosi (West Huastekan). The Ethnologue Handbook divides Huastek Nahuatl into three languages: Eastern, Western, and Central, where the mutual understanding between Eastern and Western is 85%. Half of the speakers of the eastern dialect do not speak Spanish.
Huastecan Nahuatl | |
---|---|
Self name | nawatlajtoli |
Country | Mexico |
Regions | La Huasteca ( Veracruz , Hidalgo , Puebla , San Luis Potosi ) |
Total number of speakers | 1,000,000 (1991-2000) |
Classification | |
| |
Writing | Latin |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | - |
ISO 639-2 | - |
ISO 639-3 | nch - central uastekansky |
WALS | |
Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Glottolog | |
Content
Dialects
- Eastern Huastekan dialect ( Eastern Huasteca Aztec, Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl, Náhuatl de Hidalgo, Náhuatl de la Huasteca Oriental ) is distributed in 1500 villages of the Huatla state of Hidalgo state; in the states of Veracruz and Puebla . There is a south-east Huastecan dialect.
- The Western Huastekan dialect ( Náhuatl de la Huasteca Occidental, Náhuatl de Tamazunchale, Western Huasteca Aztec, Western Huasteca Nahuatl ) is common in the state of Hidalgo and in the municipality of Tamasunchale in the state of San Luis Potosi .
- Central Huastekan dialect ( Central Huasteca Nahuatl ) is common in the states of Veracruz , Hidalgo and San Luis Potosi .
Population
Hidalgo (121 818 people)
- Wahutla-Reyes (56,377 people)
- Huautla (18 444 people)
- Yaualika (14,584 people)
- Hochiatipan (12,990 people)
- Atlapesko (12 445 people)
- Chaltocan (6978 people)
Veracruz (98 162 people)
- Chikontepek (41 678 people)
- Isuatlán de Madero (21,682 people)
- Benito Juarez (11 793 people)
- Yamantlan (9689 people)
- Iskatepek (6949 people)
- Sontematamlan (6371 people)
San Luis Potosi (108 471 people)
- Tamasunchale (35 773 people)
- Astla de Terrazas (17,401 people)
- Hilitla (16 646 people)
- Matlapa (16 286 people)
- Koskatlan (12 300 people)
- Chalchikauutla (10,065 people)
Phonology
Below is the phonology on the example of the East Huascanese dialect.
Vowels
Front row | Back row | |
---|---|---|
Top lift | i iˑ | |
Mid-top lift | e eˑ | |
Mid-bottom lift | o oˑ | |
Lower lift | a aˑ |
Consonants
Lip | Apic | Pocholovoyar. | Velar | Throat. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Uncircumcised | Rounded | |||||
Explosion. | p | t | k | kʷ | ʔ | |
Affr. | ts | tʃ | ||||
Side. affr | tɬ | |||||
Fricat. | s | ʃ | h | |||
Plav. | l, r | |||||
Nose. | m | n | ||||
Half-class | w | j |