An Introduction to Classical Nahuatl

A comprehensive grammar of classical Nahuatl, offering a complete and clear treatment of the language's structure, grammar and vocabulary.

Michel Launey (Author), Christopher Mackay (Edited and translated by)

9780521732291, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 11 July 2011

474 pages, 1465 exercises
22.6 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm, 0.64 kg

'An Introduction to Classical Nahuatl is an excellent language-learning textbook. Launey has written many articles about classical Nahuatl … his expertise is evident in the details in each lesson. The textbook is very thorough in detailing classical Nahuatl grammar, and the examples and exercises are well-suited to reinforce concepts introduced in each lesson.' Dibella Wdzenczny, Linguist List

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.

Preliminary lesson: phonology and orthography
1. Intransitive verbs, word order, absolutive suffix
2. Nouns and nominal predicates, the plural of nouns, questions and negation
3. Transitive verbs
4. Emphatic, interrogative, demonstrative and negative pronouns
5. Irregular verbs, introduction to locatives
6. Directional and reflexive prefixes
7. Quantifiers, zan, ye, oc
8. Preterite tense
9. Imperative/optative, vocative, future, imperfect
10. Possessed forms of the noun
11. Inherent possession, the suffix -y?, 'to have', possessive nouns
12. Nominal suffixes, 'adjectives'
13. The principal locative suffixes
14. Coordination, phrases of time and manner
15. Impersonal and passive verb forms
Review exercises
16. Agent nouns, the -ni form
17. Compound nouns, verbal incorporation
18. Bitransitive verbs, ambitransitive verbs
19. Causative verbs
20. Applicative verbs
21. Honorific and deprecatory verbs
22. Pluperfect, counterfactual, vetitive, directional conjugations
23. Morphological peculiarities of certain nouns and verbs
24. More on locatives
25. More on quantifiers
26. Details about number and person, indefinite pronouns and adverbs
27. Compound verbs
28. Reduplication outside of the plural, more on verbs
29. Derivative verbs
30. Derivative nouns
31. Noun clauses
32. Attributives, relative clauses, predicative verbs, predicative constructions, semi-auxiliaries
33. Comparisons, clauses of result, purpose and cause
34. Conditions, more particles
35. Temporal clauses, particles, interjections
Appendix 1. Traditional orthography
Appendix 2. The Aztec calendar
Appendix 3. Paradigms
Appendix 4. Key to the exercises
Reading passages
Vocabulary.

Subject Areas: Physical anthropology [JHMP], Archaeology [HD], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], History of the Americas [HBJK], Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF]