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Tének

They say you can find anything on the Internet, and that’s almost true–until it comes to obscure Native American languages spoken in Mexico.

Today I am giving you a short wordlist of the Huastec language, something that I have not been able to find even among websites in Spanish. Thus, this post seems to be the first ever of its kind, and I hope it is of use to whoever happens to find it, whether through the marvels of search engines, or otherwise.

  • kaknamal – thank you
  • kamap – teeth
  • tumín – money
  • bakan – tortilla
  • xikach – girl
  • Dios tilabli – God bless you
  • atátal – brother in Christ
  • ha’ – water
  • nének – Hello, how are you?
  • Tének – Huastec
  • wana tukapu’ – let’s eat
  • xi’ín – hair
  • wits – flower
  • uxkwe – wife

Many thanks to Virginia Lázaro and her husband Manuel, as well as Federico Reyes and José Hernández Félix for providing me with these words. I admire all of these people for their zeal in spreading the Gospel and also for their wish to pass on their ancestral language. Read More

La Soledad

La SoledadOn Monday we travelled to La Soledad, a nice little town in the San Martín Chalchicuautla municipality (I won’t try to explain the pronunciation of this name). The name La Soledad, while not an Indian name, nevertheless has the interesting meaning of “The Lonely Place.” We, however, were by no means lonely as we were greeted by the brethren of the congregation there. Among others, we met Valentín Aquino, one of the preachers who is supported by the Aledo congregation.

Upon arriving, I inquired of Mr. Hernández Félix as to whether the people of this place spoke Nahuatl, as I was not sure if we had perhaps come into Huastec country. He replied that these people were indeed Nahuatl speakers, and I soon found that they saw no reason to speak Spanish when their own tongue would suffice.

We also met Andrés Zuniga, a young man who is attending the preaching school in Huichihuayán, as well as Macario Zuniga, who I believe is in some way related to the former. They explained to us that many of the men of the congregation were not able to be there since they were off working, but we had a short worship service because the saints were assembled.

Andrés led the singing, and began with the Welcome Hymn (El Himno de Bienvenida), which I had never heard before. Jesús (our translator) gave a good lesson on the 103rd Psalm, and then brother Macario Zuniga got up and gave a summary of it in Nahuatl, for the benefit of those there who didn’t know Spanish. Read More

Language or Dialect?

In linguistic circles, there is much discussion over the definitions of language and dialect. It may be generalized that a language is made up of dialects, which are simply regional variants of the same tongue, but even here there is controversy. What about Chinese, a language spoken by millions in the world’s largest country? Among the Chinese dialects, some have drifted so far that mutual comprehension is no longer possible. Serbian and Croatian may also be considered, which although by all outward appearances may be considered one language, are spoken by two countries separated by religion and orthography.

So where do you draw the line? When does a dialect cease its dependence and become a full-fledged language? While I was among the Aztecs in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, I heard yet another explanation from a bilingual preacher there.

Nahuatl, he said, is not a language like Spanish or English, because of its variability. He cited two synonymous words in Nahuatl, the one being used only in that place, and the other heard in another village. In short, I believe he was essentially pointing out the disunity among the many variants of Nahuatl. Whereas English and Spanish both have standard forms understood by everyone, no such form of Nahuatl exists, only many different accents and differences in vocabulary across Mexico. Thus, when referring to Nahuatl in Spanish, the Mexicans will say el dialecto náhuatl instead of using the word idioma or lengua.

So there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth.  Personally, I would consider Nahuatl as a language and its variants as dialects, but in Spanish I will refer to it as a dialect, for “when in Mexico, do as the Mexicans do.”

Tlapexmecayo

Xilitla municipality

Christians at TlapexmecayoAfter having driven several more miles through the mountains of the Huasteca that Sunday afternoon, we came to our next stop: the meeting-place of the congregation in the small Aztec town of Tlapexmecayo. We were quite grateful to the Christians there for waiting on us, since we were running behind. They were most gracious for waiting to have their worship service when we arrived, even though we had previously worshiped with the El Cañón congregation.

When we arrived, we were heartily greeted by the preacher there, and we were soon led to the meetingplace. Even though this group of Christians did not have a building, they were content to meet under a pavilion, under which there was only enough room for about half of them. The rest stood or sat on benches, and the preacher led the service from under the pavilion.

One thing I noticed was that the preacher did nearly the whole service, except for one of the prayers which he asked brother José to lead (which he did entirely in Nahuatl, I may add!). Apparently the men present didn’t know how to lead various parts of worship, or weren’t confortable with it. Of course for all I know they were relatively new Christians!

Although I don’t remember the sermon topic, it was sound and biblical, as well as bilingual. It was actually a bit difficult for me to follow the preacher, since he kept switching between Nahuatl and Spanish. I noticed that he used a good number of Spanish words in his Nahuatl (mostly religious words), and upon asking him afterwards I learned that these are actually loanwords from Spanish, understood by all the Nahuatl speakers. Read More