Introduction To Classical Nahuatl
by J. Richard Andrews /
2003 / English / PDF
34 MB Download
For many years, J. Richard Andrews’s Introduction to Classical
Nahuatl has been the standard reference work for scholars and
students of Nahuatl, the language used by the ancient Aztecs
and the Nahua Indians of Central Mexico. Andrews’s work was the
first book to make Nahuatl accessible as a coherent language
system and to recognize such crucial linguistic features as
vowel length and the glottal stop. Accompanied by a workbook,
this long-awaited new edition is extensively revised, enlarged,
and updated with the latest research.
For many years, J. Richard Andrews’s Introduction to Classical
Nahuatl has been the standard reference work for scholars and
students of Nahuatl, the language used by the ancient Aztecs
and the Nahua Indians of Central Mexico. Andrews’s work was the
first book to make Nahuatl accessible as a coherent language
system and to recognize such crucial linguistic features as
vowel length and the glottal stop. Accompanied by a workbook,
this long-awaited new edition is extensively revised, enlarged,
and updated with the latest research.
The revised edition is guided by the same intentions as those
behind the first. Andrews’s approach is "anthropological,"
teaching us to understand Nahuatl according to its own
distinctive grammar and to reject translationalist descriptions
based on English or Spanish notions of grammar. In particular,
Andrews emphasizes the nonexistence of words in Nahuatl (except
for the few so-called particles) and stresses the nuclear
clause as the basis for Nahuatl linguistic organization.
Besides an increase in the number of chapters (from forty-eight
to fifty-seven, including a more detailed treatment of place
names), the new edition contains an innovative approach to
personal names and the introduction of the square zero to
indicate irregular morphological silence. The accompanying
workbook provides exercises linked to the text, a key to the
exercises, and an extensive vocabulary list.
The revised edition is guided by the same intentions as those
behind the first. Andrews’s approach is "anthropological,"
teaching us to understand Nahuatl according to its own
distinctive grammar and to reject translationalist descriptions
based on English or Spanish notions of grammar. In particular,
Andrews emphasizes the nonexistence of words in Nahuatl (except
for the few so-called particles) and stresses the nuclear
clause as the basis for Nahuatl linguistic organization.
Besides an increase in the number of chapters (from forty-eight
to fifty-seven, including a more detailed treatment of place
names), the new edition contains an innovative approach to
personal names and the introduction of the square zero to
indicate irregular morphological silence. The accompanying
workbook provides exercises linked to the text, a key to the
exercises, and an extensive vocabulary list.