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An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl
By Frances Karttunen
This is a comprehensive modern dictionary of the major indigenous language of Mexico, the language of the Aztecs and many of their neighbors. Nahuatl speakers became literate within a generation of contact with Europeans, and a vast literature has been composed in Nahuatl beginning in the mid-sixteenth century and continuing to the present.
“Nahuatl is the most important among the Uto-Aztecan languages, both because of the number of its speakers (approximately 1,000,000) and because it has been known since the Spanish conquest, and this is the best dictionary of the language.”—Language and Linguistics
“[The] synthesis of sources makes for well-attested entries and also sets the dictionary apart as the first such comprehensive treatment of Nahuatl. The dictionary’s sophisticated, analytical approach, and the author’s ‘less-is-more’ principle are great assets. The introduction is especially helpful. The insightful commentaries reflect the author’s deep and broad knowledge of Nahuatl. … Anyone working with Nahuatl will want a copy of this dictionary.”—American Anthropologist
“There are many commendable features in this analytical dictionary of Nahuatl. It is the first Nahuatl dictionary to stress the distinction between long and short vowels and the glottal stop as a consonant. The English glosses represent a major contribution—this we have long awaited. … The utilization of the modern Nahuatl vocabularies of Tetelcingo and Zacapoastla will supply suggestive leads to the translator of Classical Nahuatl and will prove helpful to the student of Nahuatl of the late colonial period.”—Charles E. Dibble, New Scholar
Frances Karttunen is Senior University Research Scientist in the Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin.
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