The language pre-eminent above all others in Mexico for its territorial extent, for the refinement and civilization which it represented, and its own inherent beauty and elegance, is known as the Nahua or Aztec, or more modernly the Mexican. It was the language of the Toltecs and of their advanced civilization, and after them of the seven tribes of Nahuatlacas, that in the year 1196 established themselves in the Mexican plateau. The Aztecs, one of these tribes, in the course of events gaining the ascendency, gave their name to the language which their conquests speedily extended over a territory four hundred leagues in length, and in width from the Gulf to the Pacific, in the latitude of the capital. The Aztec tongue prevailed continuously from a point on the Gulf of California, under the twenty-sixth parallel of latitude south-easterly to Rios Goatzacoalco and Tobasco; and southward to the fifteenth parallel, extending along the coast of San Salvador and appearing in the interior of Nicaragua. Its dialectical extension north of Mexico we will consider on a future page. Twenty languages besides the Aztec are said to have been spoken throughout Montezuma’s empire, but the Aztec alone was recognized as the official and classic tongue. The Chichimecs are said to have spoken a language of their own, until the ruler Techotlalatzin commanded them to learn the Mexican.[722] Mr. Bancroft is of the opinion that the Nahua was the original language of the Chichimecs, and consequently does not agree with Señor Pimentel who advocates the opposite view, and, we think, sustains it.[723] The copiousness and grace of the Aztec has furnished a theme for many Spanish writers whose praises have found an echo in the works of our most able scholars and historians. If the Maya has been compared to the Greek, the Aztec has often been likened to the Latin, not in structure or vocabulary, but in its relation to ancient American civilization, in its expressiveness, politeness, its capacity for the sublime, and for the romantic coloring with which it is able to clothe that which is humble and even insignificant. “It was the court language,” says Mr. Bancroft, “of American civilization, the Latin of medieval and the French of modern times.”[724]
The Nahua attained its highest development during the century preceding the conquest in the schools of oratory, poetry and history, established at Tezcuco, to which the sons of nobles were sent, as much to acquire the purity of the idiom as the science which they taught.[725] Señor Orozco y Berra says that the difference existing between the ancient Nahua and the modern, may be compared to that difference observed between the Castilian of the Romance of the Cid and that of the present day.[726]
The outlines of the Aztec grammar are briefly as follows: The alphabet contains the letters a, ch, e, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, t, tl, tz, u, v, x, y, z, but lacks our consonants b, d, f, r, g, s. No word commences with l. The a is clear; ch before a vowel is pronounced as in Spanish, but before a consonant or when final it differs somewhat; e is clear; h is moderately aspirated and soft, but strong when it precedes u; t is omitted except when it comes between two l’s. The tl in the middle of a word is soft as in Spanish, but at the end is pronounced tle, the e being half mute. The pronunciation of tz is similar to the Spanish s, but stronger. The v is pronounced by the women as in Spanish and French, but by the men like hu in Spanish; x, soft like the English sh, and z like the Spanish s, but not quite so hissing.[727]
By composition, words containing sixteen syllables are formed, though many simple words are quite long. We have already explained the process of polysynthesis or compounding by means of clipping the syllables and words with a view to brevity and euphony. The following example furnished by Pimentel and copied by Mr. Bancroft, further illustrates the principle: tlazotli, esteemed or loved; maviztik, honored or reverenced; teopixki, priest; tatli, father, and no, mine, furnishes as a result: notlazomaviztcopixkatatzin, “my esteemed father and reverend priest.” An example of the termination tzin, signifying respect, is presented in this word. Several illustrations of the same principle are furnished by Señor Pimentel, showing that often a sentence is compounded into a single word. Indeed a great many of the component parts of these long words, though words in themselves, are incapable of being used separately. In composition the verb succeeds the nominative and is placed at the end of the sentence. The adverb precedes the verb, as does the adjective the substantive.
The Aztec is rich in terminations for the formation of the plural. Generally no change is required for inanimate objects, as multiplicity is expressed by means of numerals or the adverb miek (much), e. g., ze tetl, one stone; yei tetl, three stones; miek tetl, many stones, though often the terminations used for the plural of persons is applied to inanimate objects, particularly when they are connected with persons, as zoquitl, mud; tizoquime, we are earth; however, there are exceptions to the rule, as in the Aztec words for the heavens, the mountains and the stars. Furthermore, the first syllable is often doubled in order to form the plural of inanimate things. Señor Pimentel has embraced the entire subject of the formation of the plural in six rules.
1. Primitive words form their plural in me tin or ke, as ichkatl, a ewe, a sheep; ichkame, sheep; zolin, a quail; zoltin, quail; kokoxki, sick; kokoxke, sick (plural).
2. Derivatives form their plural as follows: the so-called “reverentials” in tzintli, have the plural in tzitzintin; the diminutives in tontli form the plural totontin, and the diminutives in ton and pil, augmentatives in pol and reverentials in tzin double the final syllable; as, tlakatzintli, person; tlakatzitzintin, persons, etc.
3. Words either primitive or derived into which the possessive pronouns enter, form the plural in van (huan according to the common orthography); as, noichkavan, my sheep, noichkatotonvan, my little sheep.
4. The words tlakatl, person; zivatl, woman; terms of gentilitious character or expressive of office and profession, form their plural by the omission of the final letters, as Mexicatl, a Mexican; Mexika, Mexicans; in which case the final vowel is accented.
5. Some words form the plural by omitting the terminals and by doubling the first syllable, while others double the first syllable without omitting the terminal; as, teotl, god; teteo, gods; zolin, quail; zozoltin, quails; telpochtli and ichpochtli, double the syllable po.