Current distribution of Nahuatl in red. Historical distribution in green.[1]
The history of the Nahuatl, Aztec or Mexicano language can be traced back to the time when Teotihuacan flourished. From the 4th century AD to the present, the journey and development of the language and its dialect varieties have gone through a large number of periods and processes, the language being used by various peoples, civilizations and states throughout the history of the cultural area of Mesoamerica.
Like the history of languages, it is analyzed from two main different points of view: the internal one —the processes of change in the language— and the external one —the changes in the sociopolitical context where the language is spoken—. From this, based on the proposal for the classification of the evolution of attested Nahuatl by Ángel María Garibay,[2] the history of the language is divided into the following stages:
Archaic era (until 1430).
Classical period (1430–1521).
Contact era (1521–1600).
Reflosure era (1600–1767).
Decline period (1767–1857).
Modern era (1857–present).
Based on linguistic and historical studies, Andrés Hasler points out that it is in the archaic era when the two main forms of the language emerged that gave rise to today's linguistic variants: Paleonahua and Neonahua.[3] The Paleonahua developed over several centuries, beginning its process of change during the Teotihuacan era, being more conservative in eastern Mesoamerica. Neonahua, however, arose when the Toltec-Chichimecs spread throughout much of the Valley of Mexico, with linguistic innovations such as the addition of the sound /tɬ/.[4]
^Based in Lastra de Suárez 1986; Fowler 1985.
^"Aportaciones educativas en el área de lenguas" (PDF).
^"Duverger, Christian. – El Primer Mestizaje (2007)".
^"Gramática moderna del nahua de la Huasteca" (PDF).
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