Greetings and Nahuatl

Tlequiyahuitl
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Country:CACanada (Canada)
Greetings and Nahuatl

Postby Tlequiyahuitl » 2013-08-17, 5:43

Niltze!

As I'm new to Unilang this is my first post, so hello! (not sure if this was the right forum for that but oh well) I've been spending the past little while learning Classical Nahuatl using this site as well as "An Introduction to Classical Nahuatl" by Launey/MacKay. I'm not sure if the Nahuatl part of this forum is still active, but hopefully it is. Is there any particular thread where we can teach each other and help each other learn Nahuatl?

By the way, I am hesitant to use Mizton's lessons (or really, any online lessons except the "Inadequate" ones) for a couple reasons, one of which is that I'm not sure that anybody really knows how the greetings truly worked in Classical Nahuatl. Most sources I've found online tend to use calques from Spanish, esp. buenos dias/cualli tonalli, which is much too Indo-European in syntax to be right. I'm also hesitant about "quen ticah" for "how are you", even "quen tinemi" seems a bit more plausible. Does anybody have any sources on this kind of thing? I have a few just none that seem very well researched.

Tlazohcamati!

PS: does anybody have "Nahuatl as Written: with copious examples and texts"? If so, would you recommend it?
Quin onihuallah. ZBB: LeCiagoPanda
Native: [flag]en[/flag] Intermediate: [flag]fr[/flag]
Learning: Classical Nahuatl [flag]it[/flag] [flag]ga[/flag]
Of interest: [flag]iu[/flag] [flag]cr[/flag] [flag]sa[/flag] [flag]ja[/flag]

księżycowy

Re: Greetings and Nahuatl

Postby księżycowy » 2013-08-17, 14:47

Tlequiyahuitl wrote:Niltze!

As I'm new to Unilang this is my first post, so hello! (not sure if this was the right forum for that but oh well) I've been spending the past little while learning Classical Nahuatl using this site as well as "An Introduction to Classical Nahuatl" by Launey/MacKay. I'm not sure if the Nahuatl part of this forum is still active, but hopefully it is. Is there any particular thread where we can teach each other and help each other learn Nahuatl?

Hello, glad to see another Nahuatl learner. :wink:
I know that Johnklepac is learning some. And I would like to learn some eventually. Right now I'm too busy with Hebrew to be able to learn Nahuatl. But hopefully soon. I haven't seen Mizton here in a bit, and I'm not sure if he still checks in every so often or not. I hope he still does though, as he's a great asset to this subforum and specifically Nahuatl learners here. And that's about as the Nahuatl "section" has been lately. Not that I want to discourage you.

As for where you and find (a) thread(s) dealing with Nahuatl, you found the spot. There are a few threads in this subforum that deal with Nahuatl, but does be shy if you want to create your own thread.

By the way, I am hesitant to use Mizton's lessons (or really, any online lessons except the "Inadequate" ones) for a couple reasons, one of which is that I'm not sure that anybody really knows how the greetings truly worked in Classical Nahuatl. Most sources I've found online tend to use calques from Spanish, esp. buenos dias/cualli tonalli, which is much too Indo-European in syntax to be right. I'm also hesitant about "quen ticah" for "how are you", even "quen tinemi" seems a bit more plausible. Does anybody have any sources on this kind of thing? I have a few just none that seem very well researched.

My guess on greetings in Classical Nahuatl (i.e. Nahuatl as spoken before Spanish contact, which is what I believe you're asking about) is that we simply don't have enough information that has survived. The texts of Classical Nahuatl would be written after Spanish conquest, and most would be of a historical or religious nature. Thus they really would not contain very much (if any) dialogue or information on greetings. That's not to say some writings on the language itself don't exist. They do.


PS: does anybody have "Nahuatl as Written: with copious examples and texts"? If so, would you recommend it?

Yes, I do have it. And I would recommend it. It is especially helpful with dealing with the classical orthographies. I'm not sure I'd start with that textbook, but it does go through the grammar clearly.

Hope this helps.

Tlequiyahuitl
Posts:5
Joined:2013-08-16, 19:47
Gender:male
Country:CACanada (Canada)

Re: Greetings and Nahuatl

Postby Tlequiyahuitl » 2013-08-18, 0:33

You did help, thanks! I looked at a preview of the book and it seemed quite thorough, so I'm going to buy it soon. Thanks for all the other info as well.
Quin onihuallah. ZBB: LeCiagoPanda
Native: [flag]en[/flag] Intermediate: [flag]fr[/flag]
Learning: Classical Nahuatl [flag]it[/flag] [flag]ga[/flag]
Of interest: [flag]iu[/flag] [flag]cr[/flag] [flag]sa[/flag] [flag]ja[/flag]

Cypher
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Joined:2010-09-27, 20:40
Gender:male

Re: Greetings and Nahuatl

Postby Cypher » 2014-06-12, 1:44

Yaui (hi)

My name is Ricardo, I'm mexican and I'm learning nahuatl (Huasteca dialect).

I'm also hesitant about "quen ticah" for "how are you", even "quen tinemi" seems a bit more plausible


I just wanted to share with you that In this dialect, the equivalent of "how are you?" would be something like this:

Tlake kijtoua moyolo? = what does your heart say?



Tlaskamati miak

Linguaphile
Posts:5358
Joined:2016-09-17, 5:06

Re: Greetings and Nahuatl

Postby Linguaphile » 2018-04-07, 17:47

Cypher wrote:
I'm also hesitant about "quen ticah" for "how are you", even "quen tinemi" seems a bit more plausible


I just wanted to share with you that In this dialect, the equivalent of "how are you?" would be something like this:

Tlake kijtoua moyolo? = what does your heart say?

I believe that "what does your heart say" is a common indigenous greeting throughout the region. I know that it is common in Mixtecan languages:
¿Nawa ká'an anua ro? (Mixteco de Magdalena Peñasco)
¿Yukía káchí níma yóꞌó? (Mixteco de Alacatlatzala)
¿Shinaa ladxido'lo? (Zapoteco istmeño)


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