The nahuas from Ahuelicán Guerrero.

Paloma Coatlicue Rodríguez Villarruel

Universidad de GuadalajaraBielefeld

July 9th 2009

Linguistic Families in Mexico1.Mayan Family

2.Oto-manguean Family

3.Álgic Family

4.Cochimí-Yuman Family

5.Totonaco-Tepehuan Family

6.Mixe-zoquen Family

7.yuto-nahuan Family

Isolated languages:

Seri

P'orhepecha

Chontal of Oaxaca

Huave

Yuto-nahuan FamilyYuto-nahuan Family (in Mexico)Cora 17,086 (Nayarit, Durango)Guarijío 1,648 (Sonora, Chihuahua)Huichol 35,724 (Nayarit, Durango, Jalisco)Mayo 32,702 (Sonora, Sinaloa)Náhuatl 1'376,026Pápago 116 (Sonora)Pima 738 (Chihuahua, Sonora)Tarahumara 75,371 (Chihuahua)Tepehuano del Norte 6,809 (Chihuahua)Tepehuano del Sur 24,782 (Durango, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Zacatecas)Yaqui 14,162 (Sonora)

Mexico

NAHUATL variants (INALI)

Veracruz, Potosina and Hidalgo's huasteca Northeastern and Central Veracruz central Eastern and Central east Sierra negra South and North of Puebla West's Sierra and Northeast of Puebla Center, East and North of Puebla Central, low and high western Ixtla, Temixco and Tetela Morelos Western. Low and high west (Jalisco) Guerrero Istmo and low of Oaxaca

AHUELICAN GUERRERO

Location: 400 km southwest from Mexico cityClimate: WarmPopulation: 1,400 Infrastructure: electricity, few street lighting,

drainage only in the main street, water throught two wells , pave streets, one public phone, bad t.v. singnal, transport in pick ups, access by a dirt road, 2 primary schools, 1 secundary school, health center.

Environment

Only a few vehicles, specially pick ups.

You can see some animals:A lot of donkeys, pigs, hens, dogs and a few

horses and cows.

Sparce Vegetation: guamuchil (komuchitl), guaje (waxi), mango, avocado (awakatl), etc.

There are no cactus (nopal) in the area.

Environment

Streets

To bring the water

Animals

Houses

There are houses made of:Walls of red, white and adobe bricks.Roofs of straw, sheet metal and concrete.Of one room to eat, sleep and live or two rooms.They cook with firewood or gas.They sleep on petates (petatl) on the floor, on hammocks or in beds, all together in one room and dressed. There is one room with sheet metal walls to shower.There is no bathroom.

Houses

Economy50 years ago men worked in the agriculture and

women made handicrafts.

Today they live of remittances, handicrafts and self-consuming agriculture.

Before: The maried man, monolingual, with no school went to USA

Today: men from 15 to 20 go to USA., bilinguals, with school, and some with their woman.

Today the town is a gost town: with old people, women and children.

Economy

MobilityWomen generations from 30 to 70 years learned

Spanish when they went to work to Mexico City (mostly domestic work).

The men went to work to U.S.

Many of the women come back to the village for the growth of their children. Back in there they kept speaking nahuatl

The new generations learn Spanish in the school and begin slowly to loose their competence in Nahuatl.

Religion

There are four churches in the village, from wich one baptist, one from Jehova's witnesses and two catholics.In one of the catholics the mess ist in latin with the priest standing back to the people in the other it's in Spanisch but never in Nahuatl. Although the people is catholic many of them don't go to the church. They have rather altars to the virgin at home.

Clothes

Women Skirts and dresses. Apron. Plastic sandals. Rebozo Long tight hair

Men Scrim pants. Light-color shirts. Leather or plastic

sandals (Huaraches). Light hats. Short hair (military

stile).

The Family

MealsBreakfast: 8-9 a.m. Self baked wheatflour bread

with tea or coffee. Lunch: 12-1 p.m. Dinner: 7-8 p.m.Tortillas (nixtamal, tlalchikihtli, mill, mixture,

metate)Tlaxcahlli (nixtamahlli, tlalchikihtli, molino, tihtli,

metatl) Tlaxcaloa.Chile (chilli), beans (eetl), onion (xonakatl),

tomatoe (tomatl), squash (ayohtli).

Food

For special ocassions:Pasta, cream, cheese, avocado (awakatl), egg,

atohle (mais beverage), guavas, mangos, jam, pork, chicken, fish and beaf.

Besides the children they never drink milk.The feed and butchery of the pig.

The pig

Domestic labors

The women go to the mill, cook, feed the animals, take care of the children, wash and clean the house.The men bring the water and fix things when needed.The children older than six have to help according with their gender.The girls learn to make tortillas since eight and help their mothers to wash everyone's clothes.

language: Nahuatl (diglossia)

Spanish School Church Health center Administration Loudspeaker Trade Television/movies Music

Nahuatl Familiy Friends Neighbors Grosery Stores Familiar meetings

Nahuatl lost

School SpanishIdeology of their language as useless.Migration to the cities in Mexico and to US.

Riddle: zazanihli

In Codex Florentinensis, work collected by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún in the XVIth century, there is a colection of 46 zazanihli.

In the 90s many researchers found new zazanihli in the nahua villages of central Guerrero.

Corpus

21 persons interviewed: three young persons between 15 to 30 (two men, one woman); ten adults between 45 to 60 (four men, six women); eight elderly (four male y four female).

The only ones who did know any zazanihli were three adults (two females, one man) and two old men.

Results: fourteen zazanihli

ZazanihliOld one:

Zazan tleino Huipiltitich

¿Qué es, qué es?Va con su ropa muy apretada.

New one:xtlamati tleinkitosneki

se kualka iuan se teotlak nixamia¿No sabes lo que quiere decir?

En la mañana y en la tarde me lavo la cara

Zazanihli

Zazanihli (1)

(1)maaske mas ti-k-ita-s-nekiaunque RED 2sgSUJ-3sgOBJ-ver-FUT-querer

'aunque la querrás ver'x-wel ti-k-ita-sNEG-posible 2sgSUJ-3sgOBJ-ver-FUT

'no podrás verla'R= m-ix-kwa-tetl

2sgPOSS-cara/ojo-cabeza-piedra

'tu frente'

Zazanihli (1)

(1)maaske mas ti-k-kwaa-s-nekiaunque RED 2sgSUJ-3sgOBJ-comer-FUT-querer

'aunque lo querrás comer'x-wel ti-k-kwaa-sNEG-posible 2sgSUJ-3sgOBJ-comer-FUT

'no podrás comerlo'R= mo-maa-sesepok

2sgPOSS-mano/brazo-articulación

'tu codo'

Zazanihli (2)(2) t-ia-s iipan se loma

2sgSUJ-ir-FUT LOC uno loma

'irás a una loma'

pa ti-koo-nexti-s se lamatsin? 2sgSUJ-3sgOBJ-encontrar-FUT uno viejita

'encontrarás una viejita' tlaaxka-so-sol-tee-pew-tok

tortilla-RED-viejo-mucho-empezar-PROG

'se están empezando a endurecer las tortillas'R= chitahtli

red para comida

'red para las tortillas frias'

Zazanihli (2)

Zazanihli (2)(2) t-ia-s iipan se kalli

2sgSUJ-ir-FUT LOC uno casa

'irás a una casa'ti-koo-neexti-s se lamatsin2sgSUJ-3sgOBJ-encontrar-FUT uno viejita

'encontrarás una viejita'miak ki-pia tlaxkal-so-sollimuchas [3sgSUJ]-3sgOBJ-tener tortilla-RED-vieja

'tiene muchas tortillas viejas y duras'R= awatl

espina puntiaguda

(el nopal)

Zazanihli (2)

Conclusion

Ethnicity

Lost of nahuatl

Zazanihli