His stated method in compiling the ethnographic map was to place before him the map of a certain department, examine all his authorities bearing on that department, and to mark with a distinctive color all localities said to belong to a particular language. When this was done he drew a boundary line around the area of that language. Examination of the map shows that he has partly expressed on it the classification of languages as given in the first part of his text, and partly limited himself to indicating the geographic boundaries of languages, without, however, giving the boundaries of all the languages mentioned in his lists.
1865. Pimentel (Francisco).
Cuadro Descriptivo y Comparativo de las Lenguas Indígenas de México. México, 1865.
According to the introduction this work is divided into three parts: (1) descriptive; (2) comparative; (3) critical.
The author divides the treatment of each language into (1) its mechanism; (2) its dictionary; (3) its grammar. By “mechanism” he means pronunciation and composition; by “dictionary” he means the commonest or most notable words.
In the case of each language he states the localities where it is spoken, giving a short sketch of its history, the explanation of its etymology, and a list of such writers on that language as he has become acquainted with. Then follows: “mechanism, dictionary, and grammar.” Next he enumerates its dialects if there are any, and compares specimens of them when he is able. He gives the Our Father when he can.
Volume I (1862) contains introduction and twelve languages. Volume II (1865) contains fourteen groups of languages, a vocabulary of the Opata language, and an appendix treating of the Comanche, the Coahuilteco, and various languages of upper California.
Volume III (announced in preface of Volume II) is to contain the “comparative part” (to be treated in the same “mixed” method as the “descriptive part”), and a scientific classification of all the languages spoken in Mexico.
In the “critical part” (apparently dispersed through the other two parts) the author intends to pass judgment on the merits of the languages of Mexico, to point out their good qualities and their defects.
1870. Dall (William Healey).