Abstract
In this article I would like to talk about one of the results of the cohabitation of Spanish and indigenous languages in Mexico: the presence of loanwords of Nahuatl origin in Mexican Spanish. For this purpose I will present the results of my research, whose aim was to collect words of Nahuatl origin in the newspapers of Veracruz, one of the states of Mexico; and to show the importance of this type of vocabulary in Mexican Spanish. The use of indigenous words is a characteristic feature of almost all Spanish varieties spoken in America, and Mexican Spanish is no different. The vitality of the lexicon of Nahuatl origin in Mexican Spanish can be demonstrated by the fact that it has been used in journalistic texts on very different subjects: society, economy, politics, culture, gastronomy, etc. Journalistic language, as it is well-known, is a dynamic and constantly changing type of language, so the constant presence of words of Nahuatl origin there shows that this kind of vocabulary constitutes an integral part of the Spanish spoken in Mexico.
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Notes
- 1.
Nahuatl is the common language of the Nahuatl people; the name itself means resounding, melodious (Montemayor, 2007, p. 86).
- 2.
It was also the administrative language of the Aztec empire.
- 3.
Different sources give different numbers.
- 4.
When Cabrera was a child, in the 1880s the Nahuatl language was spoken by a large number of people, not only Indians but Mestizos too, because they needed it in commercial life and in everyday communication. Cabrera was fond of this language and dedicated the last years of his life to collect Nahuatl words (Cabrera, 2002, p. 7).
- 5.
I spent a year in Mexico and my doctoral thesis contained the analysis of a questionnaire whose aim was to examine the vitality of words of Nahuatl origin in Mexican Spanish.
- 6.
A sentence heard in a conversation between Mexican people.
- 7.
In original: “El tecolote y el coyote que nos atacaron son nahuales y fueron enviados para matarte. Un nahual es un curandero o brujo que tiene el poder de transformarse en un animal”.
- 8.
In original: “En cada nivel se coloca nueve elementos: agua, sal, vela, copal, flores blancas, petate, juguetes, pan (…).
- 9.
“Se cuelgan hasta el molcajete”.
- 10.
“In original: (…) de sus quesos, de sus tacos y peitos, así como sus deliciosos molcajetes, han hecho de Asadero Cien el lugar ideal para compartir los mejores momentos”.
- 11.
- 12.
Diccionario de la Real Academia Española (Dictionary of Spanish Royal Academy).
- 13.
“La ofrenda se compone de tamales, pan de muerto, refrescos, cerveza y aguardiente”.
- 14.
“el tamal ya está hecho y que nada más falta cocinarlo”.
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Petkova, I. (2019). The Presence of Loanwords of Nahuatl Origin in the Press of Veracruz, Mexico. In: Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B. (eds) Contacts and Contrasts in Cultures and Languages. Second Language Learning and Teaching(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04981-2_10
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