The Aztec languages have been studied since the middle of the 16th century, when the first classical Nahuatl grammar was published. For a long time, Nahuatl was described only by Christian missionaries. At the beginning of the 19th century one of the Nahuatl languages was studied by the German linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt. Many of the Aztec languages are now well documented and taught in schools.
From the beginning of the 15th century, about 100 years before the Spanish conquest, the Aztecs began to use hieroglyphic, mainly ideographic, writing, which arose under the influence of the Mixtec script; the latter, in turn, goes back to the writing of the Zapotec Indians, who borrowed the idea and basic principles of writing from the Olmecs and possibly from the Maya (see MAYAN LANGUAGES). Later, the Aztecs developed some elements of phonetic writing, especially when writing names. Currently, many Aztec languages have written scripts based on Latin.
The Aztec languages are highly synthetic, with accusative sentence construction.
The Russian language has a number of indirect borrowings from the Nahuatl language that came through Spanish and English (or French) languages: tomato, chocolate, avocado, coyote, ocelot. For example, the word chocolate comes from the Aztec xocolatl "bitter water".
Many tourists, when planning to visit Mexico, are wondering what language is spoken in this country. Since the United Mexican States is one of the former colonies of Spain, its inhabitants communicate with each other mainly in Spanish. This is the state language of Mexico, or rather, one of them.
Location of Mexico on the globe
The country is inhabited by about a third of the Hispanic population of the planet. But it is worth taking note that the Spanish dialect in this country is still different from the usual modern Spanish language. These changes have come about as a result of influences from local traditions and dialects, as well as from the survival of some obsolete colloquial forms.
Until the middle of the 19th century, or rather until 1821, the country was called New Spain. The influence of the Spanish conquerors on it was so strong that, as a result, today 92% of the population is Spanish-speaking and considers this dialect to be their mother tongue.
An interesting fact is that for all its prevalence, Spanish is not official in Mexico. This country positions itself as a multicultural state and promotes bilingualism. That is, in fact, Spanish remains the main spoken form, it is spoken everywhere. But at the same time, Mexicans of Indian origin can draw up documents in state bodies in their native dialect.
What language to speak in Mexico, look at the video.
Before the arrival of the Spaniards on the American continent, the Aztec Empire was located on a vast territory stretching from the central regions of modern Mexico to the Isthmus of Panama. The dialect that the local population used to communicate was called "Nahuatl".
It has survived to the present day and includes various related languages and spoken dialects. It is spoken by about 1.5 million people, most of whom live in Mexico and are direct descendants of the Aztecs. There are many variants of Nahuatl spoken by people from different regions of the country, but most of these variants are similar to each other.
The variant that can be heard in Mexico City is recognized by the Mexican Constitution as one of the official ones. Modern books are written on it, the press is issued, and various legal documents are published.
By the way, we also use in our speech words borrowed from the ancient Nahuatl dialect. This:
In addition to Nahuatl, there are approximately 60 dialects spoken by the indigenous peoples of Mexico. These are the descendants of the Maya, Zapotec and other Indian peoples. Their numbers are not so great, but many have retained their native language, using Indian dialects as a language for intraspecific communication. It is the second most popular among the Indian population.
But still, the main percentage of Mexicans prefer to speak Spanish. It is this colloquial form in Mexico that is the most popular means of communication. But as mentioned earlier, Mexican Spanish has its own language norms that distinguish it from modern, common Spanish.
Flags of Spain and Mexico
The states of Chiapas and Yucatan are especially distinguished by their dialects. Those who hear Mexican Spanish for the first time cannot fail to notice its somewhat "old-fashioned" quality.
This happened because Mexico, having gained independence at the beginning of the nineteenth century, got rid of the influence of the colonial country and began to develop in its own way. This also affected the Spanish dialect, which began to form independently, absorbing local ethnic dialects, but remaining the same in form, as if frozen in the 19th century. Therefore, Mexicans still use words that no one has been using in modern speech for a long time.
Mexico is a huge state in North America, with a total area of 1.95 million km2. To the north and east, Mexico borders the United States. From the eastern part, the country is washed by the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the Caribbean Sea. Mexico also includes numerous Pacific islands. The capital of this state is Mexico City - one of the oldest cities. But does this country have its own language?
In fact, Spanish is used in everyday communication - more precisely, its Mexican dialect. This happened historically, as a result of the conquest of local lands by European conquistadors. Therefore, as such, the Mexican language does not exist. However, in addition to Spanish, about 68 local languages are also used. But the vast majority of the population - about 90% - still communicates in Spanish.
In Mexico, it remains the most common - it is spoken almost everywhere. Although Spanish is widely spoken, it is not an official language. This is a very common misconception. The fact is that the constitution of Mexico states: Mexico is a multinational country. Therefore, she always advocates bilingualism, or Spanish plus the vernacular.
Some tourists heading to Mexico are in a hurry to find a Russian-Mexican phrasebook. Others, knowing that the vast majority of Mexicans now communicate in Spanish, clutch their heads: before the trip, you need to learn a new language as soon as possible. However, there are also travelers who are sure that in any country you can survive by knowing English. With regard to Mexico, this is a big misconception. English here not only will not help, but can seriously interfere. The fact is that the Mexicans do not like the Americans next to them. Therefore, if a tourist begins to communicate with a local resident in English, most likely he will take on an indifferent look. Or at all will communicate in an unfriendly manner.
Indigenous dialects are spoken by no more than 6% of the total population of the country. And this is about 6 million people. Interestingly, the number of those who stubbornly consider themselves descendants of the great Indians is twice that number. The most common local Mexican language is called Nahuatl, which includes various dialects. Nahuatl is used in everyday life by about 1.3 million people.
One of the main languages of the Aztec group is Classical Nahuatl. Beginning in the 16th century, it was systematically driven out by invading Europeans. Gradually, the Aztec language began to break up into dialects. At the moment, classical Nahuatl is classified as one. However, a large number of literary monuments recorded using the Latin alphabet have been preserved on it. Many people call Nahuatl the Mexican language. Translation into different languages and even Nahuatl courses are no longer exotic.
The next most common language is the language of the ancient Maya - Maaya Taan, or the Yucatec language. Its carriers are about 759 thousand people. It is distributed mainly in the Yucatan Peninsula. The oldest written language of the Mayan Indians is the language of the classical era of this civilization. It is believed that the common ancestor of the Yucatec dialects is the Pramaic language.
About 450 thousand people communicate in the Kekchi language. This language is spoken mainly in Guatemala. Here, about 90% of the total number of all residents communicate on it. However, qekchi can also be heard in El Salvador and Belize. For a very long time, the Kekchi ethnic family was isolated from other regions. Therefore, different dialects of this language differ from each other very insignificantly. The main dialect is the Western dialect. Kekchi is distinguished by the fact that among its representatives the largest number of monolingual speakers.
Another 423 thousand people. use in everyday life the languages of the Mixtec group. The territory where Mixtec Mexican is spoken is an area called La Mixteca. The word "mishtek" means "resident, inhabitant". Usually, speakers of this group of languages use the poetic phrase "Rain Word" to designate their native dialect. In total, the Mixtec language has 52 local dialects.
410 thousand people in Mexico are native speakers of the Zapotec languages. The Zapotec civilization began around 700 BC. e. In the 16th century, it was finally conquered by the European conquerors. The Zapotec Empire was located in what is now the Mexican state of Oaxaca. The largest settlement of the Zapotecs was a city called Monte Alban, which was the first of the capitals of the empire. The constant enemies of the state were the Mixtecs neighboring from the north.
Spanish in Mexico(Spanish) Español mexicano) - a group of dialects, dialects and sociolects, constituting a special linguistic variant of the Spanish language in Mexico, based on the language norm of the Mexican capital - the city of Mexico City, which is the literary standard of this variant. The Spanish language of most other regions of the country is fairly close to the metropolitan norm, with the exception of special dialects of Yucatan (Yucatan Spanish based on Caribbean Spanish) and Chiapas (Central American Spanish). Mexican Spanish (as well as various dialects within it) is the native language of approximately 125 million people (of which over 100 million live in Mexico and about 25 million in the United States, mainly in the border regions of Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, etc.). d.). In Mexico, this variant of Spanish is the only official at the federal level and one of the official (along with many Amerindian languages) at the state level. Mexican Spanish is also the basis for US Spanish (see Spanish language in USA), widely used in the media (Univision, Telemundo, etc.), education, etc. In addition, Mexican Spanish is the most common language variant Spanish, as it is native to the majority of Mexicans, who make up about 29% of all Spanish speakers in the world. The main features of the Spanish language in Mexico are the clarity of the pronunciation of consonants (especially d and s), proximity to the classical standard Spanish of the 16th and 17th centuries, with a strong influence of autochthonous languages in the field of vocabulary.
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Until the 16th century, the territory of modern Mexico was inhabited by fairly numerous Indian tribes who spoke several dozen languages, the most common of which were: Navajo in the north, Maya, Nahuatl in the center and many others, which had a significant substratum influence on the Spanish language, which at first only a small but elite layer of conquistadors, administrators and officials and immigrants from Spain, who made up about 5% of the population, spoke. Nevertheless, thanks to its prestige and intense interracial contacts (mestizo), Spanish became the main means of communication for the bulk of Mexicans already in the 17th century. And yet, unlike the United States, Mexico has never pursued a policy of genocide against the indigenous population. After a sharp reduction in the number of Indians from diseases introduced by Europeans, their number stabilized already in the 17th-18th centuries. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the number of Amerindian speakers in Mexico increased quite significantly, although their share in the general population continued to decline due to an even faster increase in the number of Spanish-speaking mestizos. However, the influence of Amerindian languages, which are still spoken by 7-10% of Mexicans, remains significant. Many Mexicanisms, that is, words, phrases, phonetic and grammatical phenomena, characteristic of the spoken Spanish language of Mexico, are explained precisely by the influence of autochthonous languages. Another important factor in the formation and spread of Mexican Spanish was the status of the city of Mexico City itself (the former Tenochtitlan), which for three centuries was the capital of the viceroyalty of New Spain (see New Spain and Colonies Spain), as well as the largest in the Western Hemisphere, where in the XVI- In the 17th century, a significant number of people arrived from Madrid and Spain. Therefore, as well as American English, Mexican Spanish is based mainly on the corresponding European analogue of the language of the 16th-17th centuries. The language, in fact, of Spain continued to develop further, and in Mexico it largely froze, as it were, in a mothballed form after gaining independence at the beginning of the 19th century and developed in isolation from Spain.
In 1521, the Spanish colonizers arrived in Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), thus bringing the Spanish language to the territory of modern Mexico. However, several generations were needed for the zones to acquire their own personal linguistic character. This happened only after 100 years. Mexican Creole Spanish begins to take shape when the first children are born in Mexico, but their parents still spoke European Spanish, so it cannot yet be said that their children already spoke pure Mexican Spanish.
In Mexico, as subsequently in all other countries of Latin America, a number of changes are taking place in the Spanish language system: linguistic territories are expanding (as happened in Spain, when Spanish replaced other languages that existed on the Iberian Peninsula), phonological changes are taking place (according to in another way, j begins to be pronounced, the sound θ gradually disappears and is replaced by s, phonetic adaptation of words borrowed from Indian languages occurs), etc.
One of the first impressions that modern Mexican Spanish can make on an observer is that it is "conservative". In the literary texts of Spanish writers of the 16th and 17th centuries, one can find words that today in Spain are archaisms and are almost unrecognizable by native speakers, or are used extremely rarely. In Mexico, these words continue to be used and are not perceived as archaic. Here are some examples of such lexical units:
| word in mexican (is archaic in the Castilian version) |
Equivalent in Castilian Spanish |
Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Aburricion | Aburrimiento | Boredom, annoyance |
| Alzarse | sublevarse | rebel, revolt |
| Amarrar | Atar | tie, connect |
| Anafre | Hornillo | portable oven |
| Apeñuscarse | Apinarse | Crowd, crowd |
| Balde (para agua) | Cubo | Bucket, tub |
| Botar | Tirar | Throw, throw away |
| Chabacano | Albaricoque | Apricot |
| Chapa | Cerradura | Castle |
| Chicharo | Guisante | Peas |
| Cobija | Manta | A blanket |
| Conyo | Konna | Buddy |
| Despacio (hablar despacio) | en vozbaja | Quiet (speak quietly) |
| Dilatar | Tardar | linger, be late |
| Droga | Deuda | Duty |
| Durazno | Melocoton | Peach |
| Ensartar (la aguja) | Enhebrar | Thread a needle) |
| Esculcar | Registrar | Search, fumble (in your pocket) |
| expandir | Extender | expand, spread |
| Frijol | Judia, habichuela | Beans |
| Hambreado | Hambriento | Hungry |
| Postergar | Aplazar, diferir | Save |
| Prieto | Moreno | Dark |
| Recibirse | Graduation | Get a degree |
| Renco | cojo | lame |
| Resfrio | Resfriado | Cold, runny nose |
| Retobado | Rezongon | obese |
| Rezago | Atraso | Delay, delay |
| Zonzo | Tonto | Silly, stupid |
These are just a few of the words currently in use in Mexican Spanish that have fallen into disuse in the Iberian Peninsula.
The presence of such a lexical layer has given rise among many linguists to an erroneous view of Mexican Spanish as an archaic variant (Wagner, 1949; Zamora Vicente, 1974; and others). However, Moreno de Alba writes about this: “The vocabulary of the Spanish language is the total sum of all the vocabulary of all its dialects (geographical, historical and social). Therefore, the problem of so-called archaisms must be reconsidered. Of course, there are archaisms in the strict sense of the word, and these will be such linguistic phenomena that are used sporadically and have disappeared from the whole Spanish language, such as the verb catar in the sense of "see" or yantar in the sense of "is". But there is also an infinite number of archaisms in a relative sense, which, being used in some dialects, have ceased to be the norm in others. Thus, the word estafeta may be perceived as archaic by Latin Americans, ..., and the vocabulary prieto will be such for the Spaniards ”(Moreno de Alba, 2001: 264 - 265). Thus, these words are archaisms in the Castilian version of the Spanish language, while in the Mexican version they are common and cannot be regarded as archaic.
It is known that the Indian languages that dominated the territory of present-day Mexico before the arrival of the Spaniards had almost no effect on the phonological and grammatical level of the Spanish language in Mexico. On the other hand, all linguists recognize their influence on the lexical composition of the language. Thus, in the Spanish language of Mexico, we can find a huge number of Indianisms, in particular, originating from the Nahuatl language. Basically, these are words related to flora and fauna. Here are some of them:
| Indianisms | Translation |
|---|---|
| Aguacate | Avocado |
| Ahuehuete | |
| Cacahuate | Peanut |
| Cacao | Cocoa |
| Chayote | Chayote (tree and fruit) |
| Chile | Indian pepper |
| Copal | copal, copal gum, leguminous plant |
| Coyote | Coyote |
| Mezcal | Type of alcoholic drink |
| Ocelote | Ocelot |
| Quetzal | Quetzal (bird) |
| tomate | |
| Zapote | Sapotli tree, akhras, sapote (fruit of a tree, genus of an oblong apple) |
A large number of Indianisms registered in general dictionaries and dictionaries of regionalisms may suggest that the Indian component is the most important in the Latin American national varieties of Spanish. It should be taken into account that when compiling dictionaries, the authors start from written sources (chronicles, letters, protocols, memoirs, documents, etc.), collecting all found autochthonous words, including toponyms, anthroponyms and ethnonyms. However, all these much-needed data for conducting diachronic studies distort the linguistic reality when conducting studies in a synchronous way, forcing many researchers to believe that all Indianisms registered in dictionaries are actively used in speech in one country or another. Thus, Dario Rubio believed that such a large number of Nahuatlisms in Mexico "would cause a really terrible chaos" that would make communication between Mexicans difficult (Rubio, 1990: XXII). In fact, many words registered in dictionaries may not even be known to Mexicans, or they may be passive, that is, know but never use in speech. The Mexican linguist Lope Blanche, in his work "Indian Vocabulary in Mexican Spanish" (1969), divides the Nahuatlisms that exist in the Mexican variant into six groups. Below are some examples:
| Vocable | Translation |
|---|---|
| Group 1. Vocabularies known to absolutely everyone (99-100% of Mexicans) | |
| Aguacate | Avocado |
| Cacahuate | Peanut |
| Cacao | Cocoa |
| Coyote | Coyote |
| Cuate | friend, buddy |
| Chamaco | Boy, child |
| Chicle | Gum |
| Chihuahua | Dog breed in Mexico |
| Chile | Variety of hot pepper |
| Chocolate | Chocolate |
| Escuincle | Small child |
| Guajolote | Turkey |
| Jitomate | Tomato (red) |
| Papalote | Kite |
| Petatearse | Die |
| Popote | Drinking straw |
| Pozole | Posole (national Mexican dish) |
| Tamal | National Mexican dish |
| Tequila | Tequila |
| tomate | Green tomato (a kind of cooking tomato) |
| Group 2. Vocabules that are known to almost all Mexicans (85-98%) | |
| Ahuehuete | Large variety of tree |
| Ajolote | mexican amphibian |
| Ayate | Ayate (rare fibrous tissue from agave) |
| Chamagoso | Sloppy, dirty |
| Mapache | American badger |
| Mezquite | Genus of American acacia |
| Olote | Corn cob without grains |
| piocha | Goatee, goatee |
| Group 3. Vocabules known to half of the speakers (50-85%) | |
| Chachalaca | Mexican bird of the chick family |
| Jicote | wasp species |
| Quetzal | Quetzal (bird) |
| Tiza | a piece of chalk |
| Tlaco | ancient coin |
| Group 4. Little-known vocables (25-50%) | |
| Acocil | Lobster size 3-6 cm |
| Colote | Corn storage |
| Achahuislarse | Be afflicted by aphids |
| Jilotear | To ripen, pour (about corn) |
| Nauyaca | Nauyaca (venomous snake) |
| Group 5. Very little known vocables (2-25%) | |
| Ayacahuite | Pine (variety) |
| Cuescomate | corn barn |
| July | Carp (variety) |
| Tepeguaje | Stubborn, persistent |
| Aguate | Small sharp thorn (on the trunk of a cactus) |
| Group 6. Practically unknown vocables (0-1%) | |
| Cuitla | Bird litter |
| Pizote | One of the mammals |
| pascle | Dense ash green moss (used as a festive decoration in the house) |
| Yagual | Roller (for carrying weights on the head) |
| Sontle | Sonte (counting unit for corn, fruit, etc.) |
It should be noted that Nahuatlisms, being an important factor in the Mexican version of the Spanish language, is currently showing a tendency to disappear due to constant changes in life, economy and education (Yakovleva, 2005:25). In addition to Nahuatlisms, in the Mexican version of Spanish, there are borrowings from other Indian languages, for example, Maya. Examples include words such as balac, chich, holoch, pibinal, tuch, xic. However, borrowings from the Mayan language are mainly present in the southeast of the country and are dialectal phenomena that are not included in the norm of the entire Mexican version of the Spanish language, the basis of which is the cultural speech of Mexico City. Therefore, we will not dwell on these lexical units in detail.
Coexisting with words of a conservative nature, the Spanish language of Mexico now has a large number of neologisms, that is, vocables that follow the American path, different from the European one.
In particular, in the Mexican version, we can hear anglicisms that are not registered in dictionaries, but dominate in speech over common Spanish words. Such anglicisms are absent in other national varieties of Spanish. Examples include words such as:
Many philologists, writers and cultural figures are concerned about the unjustified and excessive inclusion of English vocabulary in everyday life and oppose its negative consequences, considering this phenomenon a reflection of the political, economic, scientific and technological expansion of the United States and its partners, a consequence of the Americanization of Mexican mass culture. Quite often one can hear the opinion that the abundance of anglicisms is one of the hallmarks of the Spanish language of Mexico (Lopez Rodriguez, 1982). However, Lope Blanche, in his article “Anglicisms in the Cultural Norm of Mexico”, states the following: “Mexico is a country excessively subject to contamination by the English language. Being a neighbor with the United States, it has a border with them, with a length of more than 2500 km. It maintains close economic relations with its powerful neighbor. It receives a significant number of American tourists every year, and hundreds of thousands of Mexicans leave temporarily to work in the United States. English is the most studied foreign language in Mexico. … However, it is quite possible that the Spanish of Mexico is no different in this respect from other Spanish-speaking countries much more distant geographically, historically and politically from the United States” (Lope Blanch, 1982: 32-33).
In the study of the cultural speech of Mexico City within the framework of the “Project for joint research on the cultural language norm of the main cities of Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula”, the total number of registered anglicisms was 170 vocables, which is 4% of the 4452 questions of the then applied questionnaire. However, not all of these anglicisms are used in Mexico with the same frequency.
Lope Blanche divides Anglicisms into 5 groups.
One third of anglicisms denote concepts related to sports. In second place are words related to technology, followed by vocables related to clothing and food. However, despite the geographical proximity of Mexico and the United States, Mexican Spanish lacks a number of anglicisms that are actively used in other Spanish-speaking countries, including Spain. We are talking about words such as clown (payaso), bacon (tocino), espíquer (locutor), shut (tiro, disparo), water (excusado), autostop (aventón), aparcar / parquear (estacionar), etc.
Thus Mexican Spanish has anglicisms. However, their number in cultural speech does not differ much from other national variants of the language.
