Isthmus–Mecayapan Nahuatl

Isthmus–Mecayapan Nahuatl
mela'tájtol
Spoken in	Mexico
Region	Mecayapan and Tatahuicapan, Veracruz
Native speakers	~20,000  (date missing)
Language family	Uto-Aztecan Aztecan General Aztec Nahuatl Isthmus–Mecayapan Nahuatl
Writing system	Latin alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nhx
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Isthmus–Mecayapan Nahuatl or Isthmus Nahuat(l) (native name: mela'tájtol) is a modern variety of Nahuatl spoken by about 20,000 people in Mecayapan and Tatahuicapan, Veracruz, Mexico.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	back
Close	i iː	o oː
Mid	e eː
Open	a aː

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ɲ
Plosive	p b	t d			k ɡ	ʔ
Affricate		ts (dz*)	tʃ (dʒ)
Fricative		s z	ʃ (ʒ*)			h
Approximant		l		j	w
Rhotic		r

• Occur only as allophones.

Writing system

A a	B b	C c	Ch ch	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h	I i	J j	K k	L l
/a/	/b/	/k/	/tʃ/	/d/	/e/		/ɡ/		/i j/	/h/	/k/	/l/
M m	N n	O o	P p	Q q	R r	S s	T t	U u	V v	X x	Y y	Z z	'
/m/	/n/	/o/	/p/	/k/	/r/	/s/	/t/	/w/		/ʃ/	/j/		/ʔ/

H is used at the beginnings of words before u, and has no value of its own. C is used to represent /k/ before the vowels a and o, while qu is used before i and e.

An underline (a, e, i, o) is used to mark long vowels.

Stress on the second-last syllable of a word that does not end in l or r, and stress on the last syllable of a word that does end in l or r, is unmarked. All other stress patterns are marked with an acute accent on the stressed vowel (á, é, í, ó).

The letters f, k, v and z occur only in loanwords.

Grammar

This variety of Nahuatl has developed a distinction between inclusive and exclusive "we", which Classical Nahuatl and other modern forms of Nahuatl lack. The exclusive form is regularly derived from the first person singular ("I"), while the inclusive continues the suppletive first person plural of Classical Nahuatl.

Classical		Isthmus-Mecayapan
1st person singular	niquīsa "I leave"	niquisa "I leave"	1st person singular
		niquisaj "We (not you) leave"	1st person plural exclusive
1st person plural	tiquīsaj "We leave"	tiquisaj "We (including you) leave"	1st person plural inclusive

Bibliography

• Wolgemuth, et al. 2000. Diccionario Náhuatl de los municipios Mecayapan y Tatahuicapan de Juárez, Veracruz.
• Wolgemuth, Carl. 2002. Gramática Náhuatl (melaʼtájto̱l) de los municipios de Mecayapan y tatahuicapan de Juárez, Veracruz (Segunda edición).

External links

• Ethnologue
• SIL Mexico — includes sound recordings