Nahuatl orthography explained

Since the early 16th century, Nahuatl has been written in an orthography in Latin script based on Spanish spelling conventions, with overall the same values for letters in both orthographies. Over the centuries, Latin script was utilized to record a large body of Nahuatl prose and poetry, which somewhat mitigated the devastating loss of the thousands of Aztec manuscripts that were burned by Spanish missionaries.

Printed and manuscript texts in Nahuatl generally display a lot of orthographical variety, as there was no official institution that developed and promoted a standard.^[1] The spelling as used in ecclesiastical circles between 1570 and 1650 showed the highest degree of stability, and this spelling, and the language variety written in it, are considered "classical".

A new orthography was introduced in 1950 in the weekly magazine Mexicatl Itonalama. This orthography is currently used to write some of the modern Nahuatl dialects.

Periodisation

The development of Nahuatl orthography was analyzed and described by the American historian and linguist James Lockhart.^[2] He divides the development of Nahuatl orthography into three stages:

• Stage 1, the early stage of experimentation, characterised by much variety in the representation of some phonemes; for example, pronounced as //ˈiːwaːn// "and, also" can be written as ihuan, yhuan, iuan, juan, yuan, ivan, jvan, yvan, ihoan, jhuan, yhoan, ioan, joan or yoan.^[3]
• Stage 2, starting around 1570 when a more or less standardised orthography emerged, which showed "great stability as practiced in ecclesiastical circles";^[4] this stage is considered the classical period of Nahuatl.
• Stage 3, from 1650 onward, which saw the production of large amounts of "mundane" (i.e. non-religious or ecclesiastical) texts by native scribes.

Classical Nahuatl orthography

The standard or "classical" orthography was established in the second half of the 16th century.^[5] It represents the phonemes of Nahuatl as follows.

Vowels

The four vowels are written,,, . The phonemic contrast between short and long vowels is left unmarked.

Consonants

The stops pronounced as //p// and pronounced as //t//, the nasals pronounced as //m// and pronounced as //n//, and the approximants pronounced as //l// and pronounced as //j// are written in a straighforward manner (the right-hand column shows the spelling in syllable-final position):

!pronounced as //a(ː)//	pronounced as //e(ː)//	pronounced as //i(ː)//	pronounced as //o(ː)//	pronounced as //∅//
pronounced as //p//	pa	pe	pi	po	-p
pronounced as //t//	ta	te	ti	to	-t
pronounced as //m//	ma	me	mi	mo	-m
pronounced as //n//	na	ne	ni	no	-n
pronounced as //l//	la	le	li	lo	-l
pronounced as //j//	ya	ye	yi	yo

The nasal pronounced as /link/ becomes pronounced as /link/ before a labial consonant, and may then be written . Conversely, the nasal pronounced as /link/ becomes pronounced as /link/ before a dental consonant, and is then written . In addition, both pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ are realised as pronounced as /link/ before alveopalatal consonants, and as pronounced as /[ŋ]/ before velars; they are then written, as in in Nahuatl languages pronounced as /koːn̥ˈt͡ʃiːwa/ "he's going to do it", in Nahuatl languages pronounced as /oŋˈkot͡ʃi/ "he sleeps too late".^[6]

The spelling represents geminated pronounced as /link/, not palatal pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/ as in Spanish; for example, "house" is pronounced as //ˈkalːi//, not *pronounced as //kaʎi//.^[7]

The semivowel pronounced as /link/ does not occur in syllable-final position, where it changes to pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/.^[8]

The affricates pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ and the approximant pronounced as /link/ are written with the digraphs,, and :

!pronounced as //a(ː)//	pronounced as //e(ː)//	pronounced as //i(ː)//	pronounced as //o(ː)//	pronounced as //∅//
pronounced as //tʃ//	cha	che	chi	cho	-ch
pronounced as //tɬ//	tla	tle	tli	tlo	-tl
pronounced as //w//	hua	hue	hui		-uh

The pronounced as //w// does not occur before the vowel pronounced as //o//, so the spelling does not exist. Syllable-final pronounced as //w// is most often written with the digraph reversed to, as in teuhtli|label=none pronounced as //tewtɬi// "sand, dust".^[9]

As in Spanish, the stop pronounced as //k// is written before pronounced as //a, o// and syllable-finally, and before pronounced as //i, e//. Labialized pronounced as //kʷ// is written before pronounced as //a//, while before pronounced as //e// and pronounced as //i// it is written, since is used to write plain pronounced as //k// before pronounced as //e, i//; thus pronounced as //kiˈkʷaːkeˀ// "they ate it".^[10]

!pronounced as //a(ː)//	pronounced as //e(ː)//	pronounced as //i(ː)//	pronounced as //o(ː)//	pronounced as //∅//
pronounced as //k//	ca	que	qui	co	-c
pronounced as //kʷ//	qua	cue	cui		-cuh

Labialized pronounced as //kʷ// does not occur before pronounced as //o//, hence the spellings or do not exist. Syllable-final pronounced as //kʷ// is most often written, but it can also be written or,^[11] as in, or pronounced as //teːˈkʷt͡ɬi// "lord".

The spelling seemingly contains the digraph, which is used to write pronounced as //tʃ//, but in fact represents the pronunciations pronounced as //k.wa(ː)// (syllable-final pronounced as //k// followed by pronounced as //wa(ː)//, as in pronounced as //nik.wa:.lit.ta// "I'm coming to see it".^[12] The spelling pronounced as //k.wa(ː)// is thus distinct from pronounced as //kʷa(ː)//, while pronounced as //tʃ.wa(ː)// is spelled as in pronounced as //mit͡ʃwaʔ// "fisherman".

The dental fricative pronounced as //s// is written before pronounced as //e, i//, before pronounced as //a, o//, and syllable-finally. The affricate pronounced as //t͡s// is written tz|label=none in all positions, and the palatal fricative pronounced as //ʃ// is written in all positions.

!pronounced as //a(ː)//	pronounced as //e(ː)//	pronounced as //i(ː)//	pronounced as //o(ː)//	pronounced as //∅//
pronounced as //s//	ça	ce	ci	ço	-z
pronounced as //ts//	tza	tze	tzi	tzo	-tz
pronounced as //ʃ//	xa	xe	xi	xo	-x

The choice for c|label=none, ç|label=none and z|label=none to represent pronounced as //s// instead of simple s|label=none was dictated by the pronunciation of Spanish sibilants in the 16th century, which was different from modern pronunciation.^[13] At that time the graph s|label=none, as used in Spanish orthography, represented an apico-alveolar sibilant, which was perceived by speakers of Nahuatl as being close to pronounced as //ʃ//.^[14] The graphs c|label=none (before pronounced as //e, i//), ç|label=none (before pronounced as //a, o//) and z|label=none on the other hand represented a dental sibilant in 16th-century Spanish, and were therefore adopted in Nahuatl orthography to write dental pronounced as //s//.^[15]

The letter Spanish; Castilian: x|label=none represented pronounced as //ʃ// in 16th-century Spanish as well. Thus the name of Cervantes’ famous fictional character was pronounced pronounced as //dɔn kiʃɔtɛ// and written as Spanish; Castilian: [[Don Quixote]]|label=none in the 16th century, with the letter Spanish; Castilian: x|label=none representing pronounced as //ʃ//.^[16]

The letters b|label=none, d|label=none, f|label=none, g|label=none, j|label=none, r|label=none, s|label=none, and v|label=none are not needed for the writing of native Nahuatl words, but they can be used in the spelling of Spanish loanwords. However, the spelling of loanwords often reflects their (complete or partial) assimilation to Nahuatl phonology, for example lexitol|label=none pronounced as //leʃitol// from Spanish Spanish; Castilian: regidor|label=none "councilman" ^[17]

Vowel length and glottal stop

In most classical Nahuatl texts, printed as well as manuscript, short and long vowels are not distinguished, and the glottal stop pronounced as //ʔ// or "saltillo" is not represented. This underrepresentation apparently did not seriously affect legibility.

In his Spanish; Castilian: Arte de la Lengua Mexicana|label=none (1645), the priest and grammarian Horacio Carochi aimed to provide a full representation of all phonemically relevant features of Nahuatl. He therefore used the macron to mark long vowels (ā|label=none, ē|label=none, ī|label=none, ō|label=none), for example tōtōpīl|label=none pronounced as //toːˈtoːpiːl// "little bird".^[18] He also marked the presence of word-internal glottal stop with a grave accent on the preceding vowel letter (à|label=none, è|label=none, ì|label=none, ò|label=none), and word-final glottal stop with a circumflex on the preceding vowel letter (â|label=none, ê|label=none, î|label=none, ô|label=none), for example tlàcuilô|label=none pronounced as //tɬaʔˈkʷiloo̥// "scribe, painter".^[19] Since long vowels do not occur before glottal stop, the "stacking" of two diacritics on a vowel letter was not necessary.

Carochi's innovations were subsequently used by some fellow-Jesuit authors, but they never gained wide currency. The French linguist Michel Launey used Carochi's notation of glottal stop in his grammars (1994, 2011) and other publications.

Word-internal glottal stop was occasionally written with the letter h|label=none, notably by the 16th-century lexicographer Alonso de Molina, for example tlahca|label=none pronounced as //tɬaʔˈkaˀ// "by day".^[20] Although this was never done consistently, Lockhart notes that writing pronounced as //ʔ// as h|label=none was "perennial" and "the tradition of it never entirely disappeared".^[21]

Post-classical orthography

As before, in post-classical orthography vowel length was never marked, and glottal stop was written only sporadically (as h).

The "single most substantial change" was the replacement, starting around 1650, of c (before e and i), ç and z by s.^[22] This change was inspired by the merger of the Spanish apico-alveolar sibilant (written s) with the dental sibilant, and by the beginning of the 18th century the use of s had become the norm, as in totlasomahuisnantzin for classical totlaçomahuiznantzin pronounced as //totɬasoʔmawisˈnaːnt͡sin// "our precious revered mother".^[23] The digraph tz for pronounced as //ts// remained unchanged.

With that, the orthography of post-classical texts shows growing instability, mainly through the influence of dialectal (non-classical) varieties of the language. One source of instability was the disappearance in some varieties of spoken Nahuatl of some syllable-final consonants, in particular pronounced as //n//, which was reflected in the orthography. Other orthographical variants, encountered in all three stages, are:

• geminated consonants written as a single consonants
• i pronounced as //i(ː)// written y, especially in word-initial position^[24]
• o pronounced as //oː// written u
• hu pronounced as //w// written u, ho or o
• ce pronounced as //se(ː)// and ci pronounced as //si(ː)// written çe, çi (matching ça pronounced as //sa(ː)// and ço pronounced as //so(ː)//)

“Neoclassical” orthography

Since the 1970s, linguists working on Nahuatl have made use of what may be termed a "neoclassical" orthography for the language. This orthography is closely modelled on the classical (Stage 2) spelling as described above, but with the following adaptations:

• following Carochi, long vowels are always marked with a macron: classical a, e, i, o > neoclassical a/ā, e/ē, i/ī, o/ō
• syllable-final glottal stop is always written h, for example classical tlacuilo > neoclassical tlahcuiloh pronounced as //tɬaʔkʷiloo̥//;^[25] the use of h is based on historical precedent, and lends the glottal stop more "body" than the diacritics used by Carochi
• syllable-final pronounced as //kʷ// is always written uc, for example classical tecuhtli, tecutli or teuctli > neoclassical tēuctli pronounced as //teːˈkʷt͡ɬi// "lord".

Also, a few classical spelling conventions are brought into line with the current standardised Spanish orthography:

• ça and ço are replaced with za and zo, for example classical çacatl pronounced as //ˈsakatɬ// "grass, hay",^[26] çoquitl pronounced as //ˈsokitɬ// "clay, mud"^[27] > neoclassical zacatl, zoquitl ^[28]
• qua is replaced with cua, for example classical quaquauhconetl pronounced as //kʷaːkʷaʍˈkoneːt͡ɬ// "calf" > neoclassical cuācuauhconētl.^[29]

The neoclassical spelling of Nahuatl provides a full written representation of all phonologically relevant facts. It is employed in two central reference tools in modern Nahuatl studies, Andrews' Introduction to Classical Nahuatl (1975, revised edition 2003), and Karttunen's Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (1983). It is also often used for the transcription of Nahuatl terms in non-linguistic disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, and history.

It has to be borne in mind however that the neoclassical spelling is a modern construct, which does not exactly reproduce any of the actual orthographies that were used in historical printed and manuscript sources.

Overview of the neoclassical orthography:

	/a/	/e/	/i/	/o/	/aː/	/eː/	/iː/	/oː/	/∅/
/k/	ca	que	qui	co	cā	quē	quī	cō	-c
/tʃ/	cha	che	chi	cho	chā	chē	chī	chō	-ch
/kʷ/	cua	cue	cui		cuā	cuē	cuī		-uc
/w/	hua	hue	hui		huā	huē	huī		-uh
/l/	la	le	li	lo	lā	lē	lī	lō	-l
/m/	ma	me	mi	mo	mā	mē	mī	mō	-m
/n/	na	ne	ni	no	nā	nē	nī	nō	-n
/p/	pa	pe	pi	po	pā	pē	pī	pō	-p
/t/	ta	te	ti	to	tā	tē	tī	tō	-t
/tɬ/	tla	tle	tli	tlo	tlā	tlē	tlī	tlō	-tl
/ts/	tza	tze	tzi	tzo	tzā		tzī	tzō	-tz
/ʃ/	xa	xe	xi	xo	xā	xē	xī	xō	-x
/j/	ya	ye	yi	yo	yā	yē	yī	yō
/s/	za	ce	ci	zo	zā	cē	cī	zō	-z
/ʔ/									-h

Glottal stop occurs frequently in syllable-final position, and very rarely between like vowels in forms that resulted from reduplication. It is then also written h, as in ehēcatl pronounced as //eʔˈeːkat͡ɬ// "wind", ohōme pronounced as //oʔˈoːme// "two by two";^[30] cf. classical eecatl and oome.^[31]

The neoclassical spelling does not regulate the spelling of Spanish loanwords, because "loanwords exist in the language in all stages of assimilation to the phonology of the language (…). As a result, it is rather meaningless to assign canonical forms to them, existing as they do in transit from one language to the other."^[32]

The new orthography

A new orthography was introduced in 1950 in the weekly cultural magazine Mexihkatl Itonalama, published by the American linguist Robert H. Barlow (director), and the Mexican linguist and native speaker Miguel Barrios Espinosa (editor-in-chief). The frontpage of the first issue of 12 May 1950 carries the headline ININ TOTLAHTOL OKSE: TLEKA TIKIHKWILOSKEH KEMEN KAXTILLAN? "This language of ours is a different one: why should we write it as if it were Spanish?"^[33]

Compared to classical Nahuatl spelling as described above, the new orthography as proposed and used in Mexihkatl Itonalama contains the following changes:

• pronounced as //s// is written s instead of c/ç/z
• pronounced as //ts// is written ts instead of tz
• pronounced as //k// is written k instead of c/qu
• pronounced as //kʷ// is written kw instead of qu/cu/uc
• pronounced as //w// is written w instead of hu/uh
• pronounced as //ʔ// is written h

The new orthography thus does away with all almost all the typically Spanish spelling conventions of the classical orthography. The exception is the digraph ch pronounced as //tʃ//, which was kept, but which could have been replaced with tx.

The new orthography does not mark the vowel length contrast, which has been lost in most modern dialects.

Overview of the new orthography:

!/a/	/e/	/i/	/o/	/∅/
pronounced as //tʃ//	cha	che	chi	cho	-ch
pronounced as //k//	ka	ke	ki	ko	-k
pronounced as //kʷ//	kwa	kwe	kwi		-kw
pronounced as //l//	la	le	li	lo	-l
pronounced as //m//	ma	me	mi	mo	-m
pronounced as //n//	na	ne	ni	no	-n
pronounced as //p//	pa	pe	pi	po	-p
pronounced as //s//	sa	se	si	so	-s
pronounced as //t//	ta	te	ti	to	-t
pronounced as //tɬ//	tla	tle	tli	tlo	-tl
pronounced as //ts//	tsa	tse	tsi	tso	-ts
pronounced as //w//	wa	we	wi		-w
pronounced as //ʃ//	xa	xe	xi	xo	-x
pronounced as //j//	ya	ye	yi	yo
pronounced as //ʔ//					-h

This new orthography, now usually named the "modern orthography" (Spanish; Castilian: ortografía moderna|label=none), is used for the writing of some modern dialects, sometimes with the alternative spellings ku for kw, and u for w.^[34] Also, long vowels can be written with double symbols aa, ee, ii, oo, and fricative pronounced as //h//, which occurs in some dialects as the reflex of original glottal stop, may be written j.

The new or modern orthography is promoted by the Mexican Secretariat of Public Education (Secretaría de Educación Pública, SEP), a federal government authority, and is sometimes referred to as "the modern orthography of the SEP" (la ortografía moderna de SEP), with some websites wrongly stating that it was designed by SEP experts.^[35]

The new or modern orthography has not yet succeeded in becoming the dominant system, and some dialects such as Huasteca are now written in several competing orthographies (neoclassical, modern, and the mixed orthography employed by SIL international).

See also

• Nahuas
• Nahuatl
• Classical Nahuatl
• Classical Nahuatl grammar
• History of Nahuatl
• Nahuan languages

Notes and references

Cited works

• Book: Andrews, J. Richard . 2003 . Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, Revised Edition . University of Oklahoma Press . 0-8061-3452-6.
• Canger, Una . 2011 . The origin of orthographic hu for /w/ in Nahuatl . Ancient Mesoamerica . 22 . 1 . 27–35 . 10.1017/S0956536111000058 . 26309546 . 162611641 .
• Book: Carochi, Horacio . 1645 . Arte de la lengua mexicana con la declaración de los adverbios della . Mexico City. Juan Ruiz .
• Book: Karttunen, Frances . 1983 . An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl . Austin . University of Texas Press . 0-8061-2421-0.
• Book: Launey, Michel . 1994 . Une grammaire omniprédicative – Essai sur la morphosyntaxe du nahuatl classique . CNRS Éditions . Paris . 2-271-05072-3.
• Book: Launey, Michel . 2011 . An Introduction to Classical Nahuatl . Cambridge University Press . 978-0521732291.
• Book: Lockhart, James . 2001 . Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts . UCLA Latin American Studies, Vol. 88 . Stanford University Press . 0-8047-4282-0.
• Book: Molina, Alonso de . 1571 . Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana . Mexico City . Antonio de Spinosa .

Notes and References

1. Until the 18th century, Spanish spelling was also not fully standardized.
2. Lockhart (2001:104-116).
3. Cf. Lockhart (2001:108).
4. Lockhart (2001:108).
5. Lockhart (2001:114) "the standard orthography is a Stage 2 product".
6. Launey (2011:52, 53).
7. Launey (2011:6).
8. Andrews (2003:37).
9. On the origin of the graph hu see Canger (2011).
10. Lockhart (2001:34).
11. Lockhart (2001:105).
12. Launey (2011:54).
13. On the historical development of Spanish sibilants see Phonological history of Spanish coronal fricatives and Spanish language in the Americas.
14. Spanish camisa "shirt", for example, was borrowed into Nahuatl as camixatli|label=none pronounced as //kamiʃaʔtɬi// (Lockhart 2002:122).
15. The letter Spanish; Castilian: ç|label=none (C-cedilla) originated as a graphical variant of Spanish; Castilian: z|label=none.
16. In modern Spanish, the name is pronounced pronounced as //dɔn kixɔtɛ// and spelled Spanish; Castilian: Don Quijote|label=none.
17. Lockhart (2002:119-120).
18. Carochi (1645, fol. 8r).
19. Carochi (1645, fol. 7r).
20. Molina (1571, part 2, fol. 120v).
21. Lockhart (2001:104–5).
22. Lockhart (2001:115).
23. Lockhart (2001:132).
24. This became the dominant convention (Lockhart 2001:107).
25. Molina (1571, part 2, fol. 120r); Karttunen (1983:261).
26. Molina (1571, part 2, fol. 13v).
27. Molina (1571, part 2, fol. 25r).
28. Karttunen (1983:345, 349).
29. Molina (1571, part 2, fol. 85v); Karttunen (1983:57).
30. Karttunen (1983: 76, 177).
31. Molina (1571, part2, fol. 28r, 77v).
32. Karttunen (1983:xv).
33. Web site: Xinachtlahtolli, La semilla de la palabra ., accessed 21 August 2023. In neoclassical orthography the headline reads inin totlahtol occe: tleca tiquihcuilozqueh quemen caxtillan?
34. See Web site: Ortografía moderna - Nahuatl . .
35. See for example Web site: Por qué es mejor usar la ortografía moderna del náhuatl . 4 October 2014. .