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Nahuan languages

Nahuan
Aztecan
Region El Salvador and Mexico: México (state), Distrito Federal, Puebla, Veracruz, Hidalgo, Guerrero, Morelos, Oaxaca, Michoacán and Durango
Native speakers
1.5 million (2010 census)
Uto-Aztecan
  • Nahuan
Official status
Regulated by Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas
Language codes
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3 Variously:
nci – Classical Nahuatl
nhn – Central Nahuatl
nch – Central Huasteca Nahuatl
ncx – Central Puebla Nahuatl
naz – Coatepec Nahuatl
nln – Durango Nahuatl
nhe – Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl
ngu – Guerrero Nahuatl
azz – Highland Puebla Nahuatl
nhq – Huaxcaleca Nahuatl
nhk – Isthmus-Cosoleacaque Nahuatl
nhx – Isthmus-Mecayapan Nahuatl
nhp – Isthmus-Pajapan Nahuatl
ncl – Michoacán Nahuatl
nhm – Morelos Nahuatl
nhy – Northern Oaxaca Nahuatl
ncj – Northern Puebla Nahuatl
nht – Ometepec Nahuatl
nlv – Orizaba Nahuatl
ppl – Pipil language
nhz – Santa María la Alta Nahuatl
npl – Southeastern Puebla Nahuatl
nhc – Tabasco Nahuatl
nhv – Temascaltepec Nahuatl
nhi – Tenango Nahuatl
nhg – Tetelcingo Nahuatl
nuz – Tlamacazapa Nahuatl
nhw – Western Huasteca Nahuatl
nsu – Sierra Negra Nahuatl
xpo – Pochutec
Glottolog azte1234
Nahuatl dialects map.png
Map showing the areas of Mesoamerica where Nahuatl dialects are spoken today (white) and where it is known to have been spoken historically (grey)

The Nahuan or Aztecan languages are those languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family that have undergone a sound change, known as Whorf's Law, that changed an original *t to /tɬ/ before *a. Subsequently, some Nahuan languages have changed this // to /l/ or back to /t/, but it can still be seen that the language went through a /tɬ/ stage. The best known Nahuan language is Nahuatl.

Some authorities, such as the Mexican government, Ethnologue, and Glottolog, consider the varieties of modern Nahuatl to be distinct languages, because they are often mutually unintelligible and their speakers have distinct ethnic identities. As of 2008, the Mexican government recognizes thirty varieties that are spoken in Mexico as languages (see the list below).

Researchers distinguish between several dialect areas that each have a number of shared features: One classification scheme distinguishes innovative central dialects, spoken around Mexico City, from conservative peripheral ones spoken north, south and east of the central area, while another scheme distinguishes a basic split between western and eastern dialects. Nahuan languages include not just varieties known as Nahuatl, but also Pipil and the extinct Pochutec language. The distinction between the Nahuatl and Pochutec is now thought to be due to language contact; see Pochutec language for details.

The differences among the varieties of Nahuatl are not trivial, and in many cases result in low or no mutual intelligibility: people who speak one variety cannot understand or be understood by those from another. Thus, by that criterion, they could be considered different languages. The ISO divisions referenced below respond to intelligibility more than to historical or reconstructional considerations. Like the higher-level groupings, they also are not self-evident and are subject to considerable controversy.


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