{"id":2381,"date":"2019-01-20T07:40:09","date_gmt":"2019-01-20T06:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/colingua.eu\/teaching_materials\/language_and_local_culture-2\/"},"modified":"2022-09-01T21:24:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T20:24:59","slug":"language_and_local_culture-2","status":"publish","type":"teaching_materials","link":"http:\/\/colingua.eu\/it\/teaching_materials\/language_and_local_culture-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Language and local culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

N<\/span>a<\/span>huatl<\/span> <\/span><\/strong>language<\/span> belongs<\/span> to<\/span> the<\/span> <\/span>yuto-nahua <\/span>language<\/span> family<\/span><\/span><\/strong>. <\/span>It<\/span> is<\/span> the<\/span> most<\/span> spoken<\/span> of<\/span> the<\/span> 68 <\/span>indigenous<\/span> languages<\/span> of<\/span> Mexico<\/span>.<\/span> Nowadays<\/span>,<\/span> it<\/span> has more <\/span>than<\/span> 1.<\/span>6 <\/span>millon<\/span> native <\/span>speakers<\/span> who<\/span> use<\/span> its<\/span> 365 <\/span>v<\/span>arieties<\/span> (INALI)<\/span>. <\/span>Therefore<\/span>, <\/span>it<\/span> is<\/span> also<\/span> called<\/span> a <\/span><\/span>language<\/span> group<\/span><\/span><\/strong>.<\/span> The<\/span> speakers<\/span> of<\/span> nahuatl<\/span> are <\/span>distributed<\/span> widely<\/span> across<\/span> the<\/span> country and <\/span>live<\/span> in <\/span>various<\/span> states<\/span> of<\/span> the<\/span> Mexican<\/span> Republic<\/span>, <\/span>mostly<\/span> in <\/span>the<\/span> states<\/span> of<\/span> Puebla, Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, Hidalgo, Guerrero, and San Luis<\/span> Potos\u00ed<\/span> (INEGI)<\/span>, <\/span>that<\/span> is<\/span>, in <\/span>the<\/span> central <\/span>part<\/span> of<\/span> Mexico<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It<\/span> is<\/span> worth<\/span> noticing<\/span> that<\/span> the<\/span> present-day<\/span> name<\/span> of<\/span> the<\/span> country and <\/span>its<\/span> capital <\/span>city<\/span> at <\/span>the<\/span> same<\/span> time<\/span> \u2014<\/span>M<\/span>e<\/span>xico<\/span>\u2014<\/span> comes <\/span>from<\/span> nahuatl<\/span> and stands <\/span>for<\/span> \u2018<\/span>the<\/span> site at <\/span>the<\/span> navel<\/span> of<\/span> the<\/span> Moon<\/span>\u2019 (<\/span>\u2018<\/span>el lugar del <\/span>ombligo de la Luna\u2019<\/span>, <\/span>Gutierre<\/span> Tib\u00f3n<\/span> 2017<\/span>)<\/span> o<\/span>r<\/span> \u2018<\/span>the<\/span> place <\/span>that<\/span> adores <\/span>the<\/span> soldier<\/span> of<\/span> Mexictli<\/span>\u2019<\/span> (<\/span>\u2018<\/span>l<\/span>ugar donde se adora a <\/span>[el guerrero] <\/span>Mexictli<\/span>\u2019, <\/span>Guti\u00e9rrez <\/span>Eskildsen<\/span> 1987), <\/span>just<\/span> to<\/span> mention<\/span> two<\/span> examples<\/span> of<\/span> its<\/span> very<\/span> diverse <\/span>interpretations<\/span>. <\/span>Another<\/span> interesting<\/span> toponym<\/span> is<\/span> the<\/span> ancient<\/span> name<\/span> of<\/span> the<\/span> City <\/span>of<\/span> Mexico<\/span>, <\/span>namely<\/span> T<\/span>enochtitlan, <\/span>which<\/span> stands <\/span>for<\/span> \u2018<\/span>between<\/span> red <\/span>pricky<\/span> pears<\/span>, <\/span>tough<\/span> like<\/span> stones<\/span>\u2019<\/span> (<\/span>\u2018entre tunas rojas, duras como piedras\u2019<\/span>, <\/span>Gutierre<\/span> Tib\u00f3n<\/span> 2017)<\/span>.<\/span> According<\/span> to<\/span> a <\/span>legend<\/span>, <\/span>the<\/span> Huitzilopochtli<\/span>, <\/span>the<\/span> god<\/span> of<\/span> war<\/span>, <\/span>pointed<\/span> out<\/span> the<\/span> most<\/span> appropriate<\/span> place <\/span>for<\/span> the<\/span> Mexicas <\/span>settlement<\/span>, <\/span>which<\/span> was<\/span> where<\/span> they<\/span> would<\/span> run <\/span>into<\/span> an<\/span> eagle<\/span> devouring<\/span> a <\/span>snake<\/span> on<\/span> a nopal <\/span>tree<\/span>. <\/span>The<\/span> mythological<\/span> foundation<\/span> of<\/span> Tenochtitlan has <\/span>been<\/span> perpetuated<\/span> in <\/span>the<\/span> national<\/span> Mexican<\/span> emblem<\/span> (<\/span>de<\/span>signed by<\/span> F. Eppens Helguera<\/span>, <\/span><\/span>https:\/\/es.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Escudo_Nacional_de_M%C3%A9xico<\/span><\/span><\/a>)<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The<\/span> spread <\/span>of<\/span> Nahuas <\/span>m<\/span>akes<\/span> both<\/span> their<\/span> languages<\/span> (<\/span>liguistic<\/span> variaties<\/span>) and <\/span>their<\/span> habits<\/span> divers<\/span>ify<\/span>. <\/span>The<\/span> varieties<\/span> of<\/span> Nahuatl<\/span> have<\/span> different<\/span> names<\/span> which<\/span> are <\/span>used<\/span> by<\/span> the<\/span> speakers<\/span> themselves<\/span>, <\/span>e.g<\/span>.: <\/span><\/span>maseual<\/span> ta<\/span>j<\/span>tol<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, <\/span><\/span>mexicano <\/span>tlajtol<\/span><\/strong>, <\/span>mexicanero,<\/strong> <\/span>mexi<\/span>catl<\/span><\/strong><\/span>,<\/span><\/span> na<\/span>u<\/span>t<\/span>a<\/span><\/span><\/strong>,<\/span><\/span> o<\/span>r<\/span><\/span> pipil <\/span><\/span><\/strong>(<\/span>the<\/span> only<\/span> variety<\/span> out<\/span> of<\/span> Mexico<\/span>, <\/span>namely<\/span>, in El Salvador). <\/span>Among<\/span> these<\/span> varieties<\/span>, <\/span>but<\/span> especially<\/span> among<\/span> the<\/span> big<\/span> dialectal <\/span>areas<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> \u2014<\/span>the<\/span> East<\/span>, <\/span>H<\/span>uasteca, <\/span>the<\/span> Center, and <\/span>the<\/span> West<\/span> (<\/span>see<\/span> the<\/span> map<\/span> by<\/span> Vali\u00f1as<\/span> Coalla<\/span>,<\/span> 2020: 177<\/span>-178<\/span>)\u2014, <\/span>lexical, <\/span>orthographic<\/span> and <\/span>phonetic<\/span> differences<\/span> can be <\/span>observed<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":734,"template":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/colingua.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/teaching_materials\/2381"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/colingua.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/teaching_materials"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/colingua.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/teaching_materials"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/colingua.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/colingua.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/teaching_materials\/2381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2405,"href":"http:\/\/colingua.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/teaching_materials\/2381\/revisions\/2405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/colingua.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/colingua.eu\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}