El Salvador will have the first Nahuat dictionary. A creation made with the help of Nantzin Sixta Pérez, 81, a Salvadoran woman native speaker of the language in the country. This book will contribute and be part of the efforts made to maintain and revitalize Nahuat, an indigenous language still spoken in the country.
A donation campaign was launched for the printing of the first copies of this dictionary thanks to the support of an international organization.
The publishing of the first Nahuat dictionary in the country
The creation of the first Nahuat dictionary is led by Héctor Josué Martínez Flores, a teacher who specializes in Nahuat. He is also the founder of Timumachtikan Nawat (Let’s learn Nahuat).
This project promotes the popularization of Nahuat, in addition to the teaching of the language through its school program “Ne Ichan Safoura”.
Regarding the dictionary, Héctor Martínez, explains that the idea was born from the need to create a book of a “Nahua speaker” that would document, with the help of Nantzin Sixta Pérez, the language, the worldview, in addition to the oral tradition of the language.
Another reason is the little bibliographic documentation of Nahuat that exists in El Salvador. Not to mention that it has been done mostly by foreign authors, so it does not recognize the different dialects of the language.
“No one is paying attention to dialectal variants, and in El Salvador, when we talk about Nahuat, we must recognize that there are dialectal variants just as there are in Spanish… The Nahuat of Santo Domingo de Guzmán is different from the Nahuat of Nahuizalco, Cuisnahuat, Tacuba…”, said Héctor Martínez.
Dictionary Structure
The dialect variant on which the dictionary will focus will be in the municipality of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, department of Sonsonate. This is because it is the largest language enclave in the country, with 57 Nahua speakers according to December 2022 data.
“With the dictionary, we are sure that Nahuat will be documented, practically most of the language will be captured and people will be sure that all the information there is correct because it has been said by a native speaker,” explained Héctor Martínez.
“Along with the word in Nahuat, its meaning, and its grammatical category, which means that we are going to explain if it is a verb, adjective, noun, determinative… We’re also going to add sentences so people know how to use that word,” asserted the teacher.
He also explained that on top of that, the dictionary will document topics such as number counting and Nahuat arithmetic.
Project execution
To carry out the project of creating the dictionary, they have the support of the American foundation Make Art Not War, with which they have started a donation campaign for the printing of the first two thousand copies. Moreover, with the proceeds, they seek to pay the team’s fees and the expenses of publishing the book.
You can support the donation campaign by going to the following link.
Nantzin Sixta Pérez, author of first Nahuat dictionary
Nantzin Sixta Pérez, 81, is the “Nahua speaker” author of the first Nahuat dictionary, is one of the last native speakers known as “Nantzin” (woman/mother). She is originally from the municipality of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, Sonsonate.
About Nahuat in El Salvador
According to different sources, Nahuat (glossonym: nawat, nawataketzalis) or Pipil is the Nahuatl language originally spoken by the Nahuas of El Salvador or the Pipil, related to the Nahuatl spoken in central Mexico by the Toltecs.
On the other hand, some bibliographic sources claim that this is the last living indigenous language spoken in Salvadoran territory. It is spoken by a group of less than 200 “Nahua speaking” indigenous people, who are mostly elderly and inhabit the municipalities of Sonsonate and Ahuachapán.
What’s more, by decree of the Legislative Assembly, the National Day of the Nahuat Language is celebrated every February 21, in recognition of its transcendental value. The celebration coincides with the International Mother Language Day, proclaimed by UNESCO with the aim of promoting the multilingualism and cultural diversity of indigenous peoples.
Colonial Era
The Nahuat arrived in the countries of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua because of Toltec immigrants around the year 900. Sometime later when the conquerors, led by Pedro de Alvarado, arrived in these countries, they found Nahuat, a language they called the corrupt Mexican language.
The Memoirs in the Nahuatl language sent to Philip II by natives of the Guatemalan valley in 1572 are a good example of Central American Nahuat.
You can read the spanish version of this article clicking the following link: Náhuat y su primer diccionario en El Salvador.
