An Introduction to Classical Nahuatl

by Michel Launey, Christopher Mackay (Translator)

Now available to an English-speaking audience, this book is a comprehensive grammar of classical Nahuatl, the literary language of the Aztecs. It offers students of Nahuatl a complete and clear treatment of the language’s structure, grammar, and vocabulary. It is divided into 35 chapters, beginning with basic syntax and progressing gradually to more complex structures. Each grammatical concept is illustrated clearly with examples, exercises, and passages for translation. A key is provided to allow students to check their answers. By far the most approachable textbook of Nahuatl available, this book will be an excellent teaching tool both for classroom use and for readers pursuing independent study of the language. It will be an invaluable resource to anthropologists, ethnographers, historians, archaeologists, and linguists alike.

Genres: Language, Linguistics, History

474 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Andrew Kondraske · Rating 5 out of 5]

This guide is comprehensive, methodical, at times painfully technical. Is starts from the beginning, assuming a learner with no prior knowledge and does a fantastic job of explaining all the rules and their exceptions that govern classical náhuatl. Some previous language study or knowledge of grammar and linguistics will be useful as the book often alludes to structures in other languages (Spanish, English, French) to illustrate concepts that appear in Náhuatl.

The exercises at the end of each chapter help reinforce the concepts contained within and they build upon one other, so if you haven't the concepts in one chapter you will struggle to compelte the exercises in futre chapters. And honestly, even then, then exercises will be challenging. Learning an extinct dialect of an indigenous language is no easy feat, but the book provides the necessary rigor to make it possible to launch a more thorough study of Classical Náhuatl.