CHAPTER 11 LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES OF MESOAMERICA 433Box 11.6 The Mesoamericanization of NahuaUto-Aztecan languages share a number of characteristic features, such as SOV word order, (C)VCV
root shapes; the use of separate words to refer to subjects of verbs, rather than prefixed or suf-
fixed agreement markers; and the use of separate words rather than suffixes to indicate locations
of nouns. Before its radiation out of the Basin of Mexico, Nahua was completely surrounded by
Mesoamerican languages, and it was far away from every other member of the Uto-Aztecan fam-
ily. It probably moved there from somewhere well to the north, in the vicinity of Cora and Hui-
chol (see the map in Figure 11.2). These languages are each others’ closest relatives, so the two
are probably not far from the location of their common ancestor, and borrowings between Cora
and an ancestor of proto-Nahua show that the two were formerly in contact.
Once in Mesoamerica, an ancestor of proto-Nahua borrowed a great deal of vocabulary
from Huastecan, Totonacan, and Mixe-Zoquean; we know of this borrowing because this vo-
cabulary can be reconstructed for proto-Nahua. None of these borrowings included words for low-
land plants or animals, except for the widely traded cacao, so that this must have taken place in
a highland context. This and other considerations make it most likely that Nahua speakers
adopted these foreign features when they were in or near the Basin of Mexico.
The most dramatic effects that these languages had on Nahua were in its grammar. Origi-
nal SOV word order became verb-initial, like most other languages in Mesoamerica. Locative
expressions use body-part terms to show particular locations, as in most other Mesoamerican lan-
guages (see the earlier discussion on Morphology); the details of their structure were borrowed
specifically from Mixe-Zoquean. The numeral system became vigesimal (base 20). In this, Nahua
agrees with Mesoamerican languages generally, but we know that the Nahua system was mod-
eled specifically after Mixe-Zoquean: Mixe-Zoquean numerals 6 through 9 were composed of a
nonnumerical element *tujtucombined with a preceding numeral 1 through 4; the proto-Nahua
system was structurally similar, with numerals 6 through 9 composed of a nonnumerical element
chikwato which were added the numerals 1 through 4. Many simple noun roots were replaced
by metaphorical compounds of a sort that is found in Totonacan. The distinctive tlsound (see the
previous discussion on Phonology) was not original to Nahua, having replaced some instances
of earlier t;this sound was probably adopted from Totonacan.
After proto-Nahua broke up into different speech forms, these varieties continued to be
influenced by other Mesoamerican languages. However, Nahua had little or no influence on
other Mesoamerican languages until the Postclassic or Epiclassic periods. Linguists can distinguish
older loanwords from more recent loans by looking at the sound changes they have undergone,
and by determining whether they were borrowed into early ancestors of modern languages or
into individual languages or dialects. When we look at words borrowed from Nahua into other
Mesoamerican languages, we find that they seem to be recent and do not show the properties
associated with old loans. This finding indicates that Nahuas and their speech were not influen-
tial during the Classic period or earlier. In particular, it is not plausible that they played any promi-
nent role at Teotihuacan.coast, where many Totonacs now live. This fact suggests that the Totonacs entered the
region in which they now live at a time when it was occupied by Huastecans, whom
they displaced; it may be these displaced Huastecans who migrated south to become
the Chicomuseltecs. Huastecan, in turn, can be shown to have occupied this area
for thousands of years. Huastecan vocabulary was borrowed into a number of lan-
guages in northern Mesoamerica, and even to the north of Mesoamerica, at a very
early date, before the Huastecan sound system had undergone any of the charac-
terisitic changes that differentiate it from that of proto-Mayan.