Nahuatl (Aztec Empire)

Nahuat is a group of related languages and dialects of the Nahuan branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Collectively they are spoken by an estimated 180 million Nahua people, all of whom live in the Aztec Empire; and about 30 million people around the world (specially Tawantinsuyo. All Nahuan languages are indigenous to Mesoamerica. The Classical Nahuatl word nāhuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound". This language name has several spellings, among them Nahuatl, Naoatl, Nauatl, Nawatl, and Nahua, it depends of the dialect. Nahuatl has been spoken in the Aztec Empire since at least the 7th century AD. During the preceding century and a half, the expansion and influence of the Aztec Empire had led to the dialect spoken by the residents of Tenochtitlan becoming a prestige language in Mesoamerica. With the introduction of the Latin alphabet (who was introduced in 1790), Nahuatl also became a literary language and many chronicles, grammars, works of poetry, administrative documents and codices. This early literary language based on the Tenochtitlan dialect has been labeled Classical Nahuatl and is among the most studied and best documented languages of the Americas.

Today Nahuatl dialects are spoken in all over the country. There are considerable differences between dialects. They have all been subject to varying degrees of influence from other local languajes, as Zapotecan, Tarahumaran, Mixtecan and Mayan, principally. Althought the exitence of dialects, all the aztec people speaks the Kuauktic Nahuatlajtoli the high Nahuatl, that is the languaje that is techead on schools. The dialects of Nahuatl are the follwing:


 * Kuauktic Nahuatlajtoli - Literaly High Nahuatl Languaje
 * Nahuatlajtoli Ayamiktlan - Literaly Northern Nahuatl Languaje
 * Nahuatlajtoli Chiausokipan - Literaly Swamp's Nahuatl Languaje
 * Nahuatlajtoli Huastekiak - Literaly Huastec Nahuatl Languaje
 * Nahuatlajtoli Mayetekatl (N. Mayatlanuhjtoli KN) - Literaly Mayan Nahua Languaje
 * Nahuatlajtoli Mayetekatl Kuauktic (N. Kuauktic Mayatlanuhjtoli KN)- Literaly High Mayan Nahua Languaje
 * Nahuatlajtoli Mixte-Tzamil (N. Huaxacayac KN)- Literaly Huaxacayac's Nahuatl Languaje
 * Nahuatlajtoli Purp'echeo - Literaly Purp'echeo Nahuatl Languaje
 * Nahuatlajtoli Tarahumaran - Literaly ''Tarahumara's Nahuatl Languaje

* KN= Kuauktic Nahuatlajtoli

Under Aztec's Law on the Linguistic Rights of the Monorities promulgated in 1995, Nahuatl along with the other indigenous languages of the Aztec Empire are recognized as national languajes in the regions where they are spoken, enjoying the same status as estandar Nahuatl within their region.

Nahuatl is a language with a complex morphology characterized by polysynthesis and agglutination, allowing the construction of long words with complex meanings out of several stems and affixes. Nahuatl has been influenced by other Mesoamerican languages through centuries of coexistence, and with them forms the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area. Many words from Nahuatl have been borrowed into English and thereby have diffused into hundreds of other languages. Most of these loanwords denote things indigenous to central Mexica region which the English heard mentioned for the first time by their Nahuatl names. English words of Nahuatl origin include "avocado", "chili", "chocolate", "coyote" and "tomato".