The history of the Nahuatl, Aztec or Mexica language can be traced back to the time when Teotihuacan flourished. From the 4th century AD to the present, the journey and development of the language and its dialect varieties have gone through a large number of periods and processes, the language being used by various peoples, civilizations and states throughout the history of the cultural area of Mesoamerica.
Like the history of languages, it is analyzed from two main different points of view: the internal one —the processes of change in the language— and the external one —the changes in the sociopolitical context where the language is spoken—. From this, based on the proposal for the classification of the evolution of attested Nahuatl by Ángel María Garibay, the history of the language is divided into the following stages:
Archaic era (until 900 AD). Ancient period (900–1430). Classical period (1430–1521). Contact era (1521–1600). Reflourishing era (1600–1767). Decline period (1767–1821). Modern era (1821–1910). Contemporary era (1910–present).
Introduction
Origins
On the question of geographic point of origin, 20th-century linguists agreed that the Yutonahua language family originated in the Southwestern United States. The Uto-Aztecan family has been accepted by linguists as a linguistic family since the beginning of the same century, and six subgroups are generally accepted as valid: Numic, Takic, Pimic, Taracahita, Corachol, and Aztecan.
Both archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence supports a southward spread across the Americas; this movement of speaking communities took place in several waves from the deserts of northern present-day Mexico to central Mexico. Proto-Nahua, therefore, arose in the region between Chihuahua and Durango where, occupying a greater extension of territory, it quickly formed two variants, one that continued to spread south with innovative changes (Neonahua) while the other (Paleonahua), with conservative features of the Yutonahua, moved to the east.
The proposed migration of speakers of the Proto-Nahuan language in the Mesoamerican region has been placed at some point around the year 500, towards the end of the Early Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology. Before reaching central Mexico, pre-Nahua groups probably spent a period of time in contact with the Cora and Huichol languages of western Mexico (which are also Uto-Aztec).
Nahuan languages
The Nahuan or Aztecan languages are a branch of Yutonahua family that have been the object of a phonetic change, known as Whorf's law, which changed an original *t to /tɬ/ before *a, in Mexico "Nahuatlano" has been proposed to designate to this family. Later, some Nahuan languages have changed this /tɬ/ to /l/ or back to /t/, but it can still be seen that the language went through a /tɬ/ stage.
In Nahuatl, the absolutive state in the singular is marked with /-tli/ and the possessed state with /-wi/ (both suffixes derived from Proto-Uto-Aztecan /*-ta/ and /*-wa/). Regarding plural marks, the suffixes /-meh/ (from the Proto-Uto-Aztecan /*-mi/) and sometimes /-tin/, /-tinih/ and /-h/ are used above all, and to a lesser degree reduplication of the initial syllable is used, although this in Nahuatl, unlike Uto-Aztecan languages such as Huarijio or Pima, is marginal.
Dakin argues that the key correspondence sets used by Campbell and Langacker as evidence for the existence of a separate fifth vowel *ï evolving from Proto-Uto-Aztecan *u, their main basis for separating the Pochutec language from "general Aztec", were in actually later developments by which Proto-Nahuan *i and *e > o in closed syllables, and that the supposed contrast in final position in imperatives had originally had a following clitic.
Archaic era
Paleonahua period
Teotihuacan
The emergence —and spread— of Nahuatl and its variants in the Basin of Mexico took place during the heyday of Teotihuacan (c. 100–650 AD). The Teotihuacan trade routes served for a rapid spread of the new language. The ethnolinguistic identity of the founders and inhabitants of Teotihuacan is unknown; however, it has long been the subject of debate; thus, in the 19th and 20th centuries, some researchers believed that Teotihuacán had been founded by Nahuata speakers; later, towards the end of the last century, linguistic and archaeological research began to contradict that point of view.
Kaufman accepts, like several modern authors,For example, , when reviewing the city from the mythical and cosmogonic in the post-classical Nahua traditions (). the probability that a Nahua variant was spoken in the city, but from his point of view, the Coyotlatelco culture,Hers, 1993: 107 which is associated with the decline of Teotihuacan, is the first whose bearers must undoubtedly have been speakers of Nahuatl in Mesoamerica, as it was particularly spread by it.Kaufman, 1976; Whittaker, 2012: 55. Likewise, the hypothesis of Nahuatl in the city has gained strength in recent decades, and its arguments begin to be resonant for modern research after the conclusions of Gómez and King: according to new grotochronological perspectives, they suggest the existence of a Proto-Nahuan Pochutec in the city, which must have been the ancestor of all modern Nahua variants.Díaz, 2018: § 8;
Considering that Teotihuacan exerted a great influence in a large part of Mesoamerica, the fact that loanwords from Nahuatl exist in Mayan glyphs of the 4th and 5th centuries indicates that there was surely a link or connection between Nahuatl and the Teotihuacans.
It is also believed that it is more likely that the Teotihuacan language was related to Totonac or was of Mixe-Zoquean origin.Kaufman, 2001: 6-7; Whittaker, 2012: 55. Much of the Nahua migration to central Mexico was a consequence and not a cause of the fall of Teotihuacan.Manzanillla, 2005. From these early times, loans were given between the different linguistic families, even at the morphosyntactic level. After the Nahuas arrived in the high culture zone of Mesoamerica, their language also adopted some of the features that define the Mesoamerican linguistic area; thus, for example, the Nahuas adopted the use of relational nouns and a form of possessive construction typical of Mesoamerican languages.
After the collapse of the big city, new models emerged to hold power. Along with these models, it is believed that the Nahuatl language developed.López Austin & López Luján, 1998 By then, it was not only spoken by its natives, since little by little it was being adopted by older Otomanguean groups that had depended on Teotihuacan. When Tula Chico was founded in the 7th century, the Nahua influence was already evident, although it was not very intense.
Neonahua period Three hundred years later, when the Toltec-Chichimecs (recognized by sources as "Nahua-Chichimecs") arrived in the center of present-day Mexico, the city of "Tollan" (today Tula) was founded again, sharing power with the Nonoalca. The Toltec-Chichimecs were the only Neonahuas to reach the Huasteca region, cornering the Paleonahua and developing a mixture of Paleonahua and Neonahua, which is why the communities of "T variant" speakers are surrounded by those of "TL variant".
It is at this time that Nahuatl acquires political relevance. In the Central Altiplano, on the other hand, there was a large number of Neonahua peoples in expansion, such as the Teochichimecs (later known as Tlaxcaltecs, who expelled the Olmeca-Xicalancas), the Xochimilca, the Tepanecs (with their capital in Azcapotzalco, who originally spoke a variant of Otomi)Carrasco, 1979. and the Acolhuas of Texcoco (who adopted it in the 14th century),A fact widely accepted by researchers, as an example we take Brundage, 1982: 28. among others. Archaeological investigations have revealed that Azcapotzalco was inhabited since the classical period (around the year 600) and related to Teotihuacans in culture and language, as it is known that they still spoke an Otomi language in the fourteenth century despite the fact that Nahuatl was already the lingua franca from 1272.
The last Neonahuas to arrive in the region were the Aztecs. By then, the Tepanecs controlled the region through a triple alliance government since 1047 (according to Chimalpahin) between Azcapotzalco, Colhuacan and Coatlichan, the latter being replaced in 1370 by Texcoco (according to Alva Ixtlilxochitl). At this time, the sacred poems of the Manuscripts of Cuauhtitlan and Coatlichan were written. Likewise, the Twenty Poems collected by Sahagún and the poems found in the Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca date from the archaic era.
In the Tepanec War, the Tenochcas, supported by the Acolhuas, Huexotzinco and Tlaxcala, conquered Azcapotzalco in 1428. They also subdued Tlacopan and other Tepanecs, finally defeating them in Coyoacan in 1430. The Tenochcas, having gained their independence, established the Triple Alliance between Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan, beginning the classical period of the language.
Classical period
Garibay refers to this stage as the "golden age" of the Aztec language. It is at this time that Nahuatl literature is perfected, with works such as the Cantares Mexicanos and the Romances de los señores de Nueva España. Some important characteristics of the classical era are: a great abundance of lexicon, a great clarity in the language, an improvement in syntax and, finally, elegance through stylistic procedures such as diphrasing and phrase parallelism.
The political and linguistic influence of the Aztecs came to extend into the Mesoamerican area and Nahuatl became a lingua franca among merchants and elites in the region, for example among the Kʼicheʼ. Tenochtitlan grew to become the largest Mesoamerican urban center, attracting Nahuatl speakers from other areas in which it had spread in previous centuries, giving rise to an urban form of Nahuatl with diverse characteristics, which came to be known as Classical Nahuatl.Canger, 2011 Following this idea, it is believed that the language of the capital was a koiné resulting from contact between speakers of different variants.Canger, U. (2011). El nauatl urbano de Tlatelolco/Tenochtitlan, resultado de convergencia entre dialectos: con un esbozo brevísimo de la historia de los dialectos. Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, 42, 246–258.
Nahuatl was becoming more and more refined due to the complex life of the times. In this way the tekpillahtolliMore markedly it is named “mexihkatekpillahtolli”; the elegant speech of the Aztec nobles. or "speech of the pipiltin (nobles)" was born,Paredes, 1979:93 the cultured and elegant Classic Nahuatl. Due to its name, it has been popularly believed that it is the mother tongue of all the variants of the language, which is a mistake; not all variants descend from Classical Nahuatl, nor are all ancient documents written in this variant. In fact, in the same capital of the Aztec Empire there was variation in the speech of the nobles (pipiltin) and the common people (masewaltin). The second is known as masewallahtolli "common speech".In speech it is rather used of the word-expression "masewalkopa"; speak in the manner of the townspeople.
Throughout the 15th century this trend grew, mainly due to prominent authors such as Tecayehuatzin of Huexotzinco, Temilotzin of Tlatelolco, Macuilxochitzin, Tlaltecatzin of Cuauhchinanco, Cuacuauhtzin of Tepechpan, Nezahualcoyotl and Nezahualpilli of Texcoco.
Nezahualcoyotl, after the Tepanec War, began his government in Texcoco. Likewise, he gained a reputation as a sage and gained just fame as a poet. His extensive intellectual training translated into a high aesthetic sensitivity and a great love for nature, which were reflected not only in the architecture of the city, but also in his poetic and philosophical manifestations. Nezahualcoyotl even built a botanical garden adorned with beautiful pools of water and aqueducts in Tetzcotzingo, where meetings of poets were common.