View source for Nawat language

{{Short description|Nahuan language of El Salvador and Nicaragua}}
{{Redirect-distinguish|Nahuat language|Nahuatl language}}
{{Expand Spanish|Idioma náhuat|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Nawat
| nativename       = {{lang|ppl|Nāwat, Nāwataketsalis  (Náhuat)}}
| states           = [[El Salvador]], [[Nicaragua]], [[Chiapas]], [[Honduras]], [[Guatemala]], [[Costa Rica]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://eapolanco.com/nahuan-languages/nawat/ |title = Nawat| date=March 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nahuatl-nawat.org/|title= Nawat Language in Central America}}</ref><ref name="náwat sabores">{{cite journal |date=2013 |first=Rick |last=Mc Callister |periodical=Revista Caratula |title=Náwat – y no náhuatl. El náwat centroamericano y sus sabores: Náwat pipil y náwat nicarao |url=https://www.caratula.net/nawat-y-no-nahuatl-el-nawat-centroamericano-y-sus-sabores-nawat-pipil-y-nawat-nicarao/}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.speakinglatino.com/2-ways-nahuatl-helped-shape-nicaraguan-spanish/ |title = 2 Ways Nahuatl Helped Shape Nicaraguan Spanish}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nahuatlahtolli.wordpress.com/2018/08/26/nahuatl-placenames-in-nicaragua/ |title = Nahuatl Placenames In Nicaragua| date=25 August 2018 }}</ref>
| region           = [[Sonsonate Department|Sonsonate]], [[Ahuachapán Department|Ahuachapán]], [[La Libertad Department (El Salvador)|La Libertad]], [[San Salvador Department|San Salvador]], [[Escuintla Department|Escuintla]], [[Rivas Department|Rivas]], [[Chinandega Department|Chinandega]], [[Jinotega Department|Jinotega]], [[Nueva Segovia Department|Nueva Segovia]], [[Masaya Department|Masaya]], [[Sebaco|Matagalpa]], [[Guanacaste Province|Guanacaste]], [[Olancho Department|Olancho]]
| ethnicity        = 11,100 [[Pipils]] (2005 census),<ref name=e18/> 20,000+ [[Nicarao people|Nicaraos]] (2022)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iwgia.org/en/nicaragua/4671-iw-2022-nicaragua.html|title= The Indigenous World 2022: Nicaragua}}</ref>
| speakers         = 500
| date             = 2015
| ref              = e18
| familycolor      = Uto-Aztecan
| fam1             = [[Uto-Aztecan languages|Uto-Aztecan]]
| fam2             = [[Southern Uto-Aztecan languages|Southern Uto-Aztecan]]
| fam3             = [[Nahuan languages|Aztecan (Nahuan)]]
| fam4             = [[General Aztec]]
| fam5             = [[Eastern Peripheral Nahuatl|Eastern]]
| iso3             = ppl
| glotto           = pipi1250
| glottorefname    = Pipil
| map              = Lang Status 20-CR.svg
| mapcaption       = {{center|{{small|Pipil is classified as Critically Endangered by the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]''}}}}
| altname          = Pipil
| speakers2        = [[second language|L2]]: 3,000 learners (2012)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-08-27 |title=Languages: A Video Library for Successor Pipil Generation |url=https://rising.globalvoices.org/blog/2012/08/27/languages-a-video-library-for-successor-pipil-generation/ |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=Rising Voices |language=en}}</ref>
}}
'''Nawat''' (academically '''Pipil''', also known as '''Nahuat''') is a [[Nahuan languages|Nahuan]] language native to [[Central America]]. It is the southernmost extant member of the [[Uto-Aztecan languages|Uto-Aztecan]] family.<ref name="Campbell1985">{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=Lyle|title=The Pipil Language of El Salvador|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N5bmUh7jproC&pg=PA5|date=January 1, 1985|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-088199-8|page=5}}</ref> Before [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish colonization]] it was spoken in several parts of present-day Central America, most notably [[El Salvador]] and [[Nicaragua]], but now is mostly confined to western El Salvador.<ref name="náwat sabores">{{cite journal |date=2013 |first=Rick |last=Mc Callister |periodical=Revista Caratula |title=Náwat – y no náhuatl. El náwat centroamericano y sus sabores: Náwat pipil y náwat nicarao |url=https://www.caratula.net/nawat-y-no-nahuatl-el-nawat-centroamericano-y-sus-sabores-nawat-pipil-y-nawat-nicarao/}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Nahuat was still spoken in several towns in Pacific Guatemala until at least the late 1700s.<ref>Fowler, William Roy, The Cultural Evolution of Ancient Nahua Civilizations: The Pipil-Nicarao of Central America (1981) pp. 53</ref> It has been on the verge of extinction in El Salvador, and has already gone extinct elsewhere in Central America. In 2012, a large number of new Nawat speakers started to appear. As of today, the language is currently going through a revitalization.

In El Salvador, Nawat (Nahuat) was the language of several groups: [[Nonualcos]], [[Cuscatlecos]], [[Izalcos]] and is known to be the Nahua variety of migrating [[Toltec]]. The name ''Pipil'' for this language is mostly used by the international scholarly community to differentiate it more clearly from [[Nahuatl]]. In [[Nicaragua]] it was spoken by the [[Nicarao people]] who split from the Pipil around 1200 CE when they migrated south. Nawat became the [[lingua franca]] there during the 16th century.<ref>Fowler, William Roy, The Pipil-Nicarao of Central America, Thesis or Dissertation. Ph.D., Archaeology, University of Calgary, 1981 also published as a book by Univ of Oklahoma Press (June 1989), {{ISBN|0-8061-2197-1}}</ref> A hybrid form of Nahuat-Spanish was spoken by many Nicaraguans up until the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.learnlatinamericanspanish.com/nicaraguan.html |title = An Overview of Nicaraguan Spanish}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://consuladodenicaragua.com/language/ |title = Language}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://academicaccelerator.com/encyclopedia/nawat-language |title = Nawat Language}}</ref> The Nawat language was also spoken in [[Chiapas]] by Toltec settlers who inhabited the region for hundreds of years before migrating further into Central America.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nahuatl-nawat.org/|title= Nawat Language in Central America}}</ref><ref name="náwat sabores">{{cite journal |date=2013 |first=Rick |last=Mc Callister |periodical=Revista Caratula |title=Náwat – y no náhuatl. El náwat centroamericano y sus sabores: Náwat pipil y náwat nicarao |url=https://www.caratula.net/nawat-y-no-nahuatl-el-nawat-centroamericano-y-sus-sabores-nawat-pipil-y-nawat-nicarao/}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lahistoriamexicana.mx/antiguo-mexico/cultura-tolteca#google_vignette|title= Toltec Culture|date= 27 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/toltecs|title= Toltecs}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://arqueologiamexicana.mx/mexico-antiguo/el-imperio-tolteca|title= The Toltec Empire|date= 23 May 2020}}</ref>

== Geographic distribution ==
Localities where Nawat/Pipil was reported by [[Lyle Campbell|Campbell]] as spoken in the 1970s include the following:

{| cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" |
|
* [[Ataco]]
* [[Chiltiupan]]
* [[Comazagua]]
* [[Cuisnahuat]]
* [[Izalco]]
|
* [[Jicalapa]]
* [[Juayua]]
* [[Nahulingo]]
* [[Nahuizalco]]
* [[Santa Catarina Mazaguat]]
|
* [[Santa Isabel Ishuatán]]
* [[Santo Domingo de Guzmán, El Salvador|Santo Domingo de Guzmán]]
* [[Tacuba]]
* [[Teotepeque]]
|}

Gordon (2009) lists [[Dolores, Cabañas|Dolores]] as a Pipil-speaking area.<ref>Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.) ''[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ppl Ethnologue: Languages of the world]'' (16th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International. {{ISBN|9781556712166}}</ref> 

Nahuat was also formerly spoken in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, though it is now extinct in all of these countries.

Kaufman (1970:66) lists [[Escuintla]] and [[Comapa, Jutiapa|Comapa]] as former Pipil-speaking areas of [[Guatemala]], and [[San Agustín Acasaguastlán]] as a former "Mejicano"-speaking town.<ref>[[Terrence Kaufman|Kaufman, Terrence]]. 1970. ''Proyecto de alfabetos y ortografías para escribir las lenguas mayances''. Antigua: Editorial José de Pineda Ibarra.</ref> The genetic position of San Agustín Acasaguastlán Mejicano is still uncertain (''see [[Alagüilac language]]''). 

In Honduras, ethnic Nahua populations are present in small numbers in the [[Olancho Department]], in the municipalities of [[Catacamas]], [[Gualaco]], [[Guata]], [[Jano]] and [[Esquipulas del Norte]].<ref>{{cite web |title=NAHUA – Exposiciones |url=https://exposiciones.ccetegucigalpa.org/nahua/}}</ref> The conquest-era Papayeca population, who lived in the environs of the present-day city of [[Trujillo, Honduras|Trujillo]], have also been speculated to have been Nahuat speakers.

In Nicaragua, the Nicaraos are present in the [[Rivas Department|Rivas]] and [[Jinotega Department|Jinotega]] departments, and in [[Sébaco]].<ref>{{cite web |title=9. Nahoas &#124; Territorio Indígena y Gobernanza |url=https://www.territorioindigenaygobernanza.com/web/nnic_09/}}</ref>

[[Bagaces]], Costa Rica was home to a Nahua population during the 16th century.<ref name="ferrerop75">{{harvnb|Ferrero|2002|p=75|sp=sí}}</ref>

An extinct variation of Nahuatl spoken on the Pacific coast of the Mexican state of Chiapas is speculated to have been closely related to Nahuat.

==Classification==
Most authors refer to this language by the names ''Nawat'', ''Nahuat'', ''Pipil'', or ''Nicarao''. However, ''Nawat'' (along with the synonymous ''Eastern Nahuatl'') has also been used to refer to Nahuatl [[Variety (linguistics)|language varieties]] in southern [[Veracruz]], [[Tabasco]], and [[Chiapas]], states in the south of Mexico, that like Pipil have reduced the earlier /t͡ɬ/ consonant (a lateral [[affricate]]) to a /t/.<ref>Ligorred, E: ''Lenguas Indígenas de México y Centroamérica''</ref> Those Mexican [[lect]]s share more similarities with Nawat than do the other Nahuatl varieties.

Nawat specialists ([[Lyle Campbell|Campbell]], Fidias Jiménez, [[Pedro Geoffroy Rivas|Geoffroy Rivas]], [[Alan R. King|King]], [[Jorge Ernesto Lemus|Lemus]], and Schultze, ''inter alia'') generally treat Pipil/Nawat as a separate language, at least in practice. [[Yolanda Lastra|Lastra de Suárez]] (1986) and [[Una Canger|Canger]] (1988) classify Pipil among "Eastern Periphery" dialects of Nahuatl.[[File:Pueblos Indigenas antes de la conquista El Salvador.svg|thumb|300px|right|Map of El Salvador's Indigenous Peoples at the time of the [[Spanish conquest of El Salvador|Spanish conquest]]:
1. [[Pipil people]], 2. [[Lenca people|Lenca]], 3. [[Cacaopera people|Kakawira o Cacaopera]], 4. [[Xinca people|Xinca]], 5. [[Maya peoples|Maya]] [[Ch'orti' people]], 6. [[Maya peoples|Maya]] [[Poqomam people]], 7. [[Mangue language|Mangue o Chorotega]].]]
(Campbell 1985)

{{tree list}}
*Uto-Aztecan
**Southern Uto-Aztecan
***Nahuan (Aztecan, Nahuatlan)
****Pochutec ''(extinct)''
****General Aztec
*****Core Nahua
*****Pipil
{{tree list/end}}

Uto-Aztecan is uncontroversially divided into eight branches, including Nahuan. Research continues into verifying higher level groupings. However, the grouping adopted by Campbell of the four southernmost branches is not yet universally accepted.

==Status==
As of 2012, extensive [http://tushik.org/english/what-is-nawat online resources for learning Nawat] are available at the website of linguist Alan R. King, including video lessons and a Facebook group.<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Alan R. King's - Nawat Resources
| access-date = 2012-09-30
| url = http://alanrking.info/nawat.php
}}</ref> A video documentation project is also underway, in collaboration with the [[Living Tongues Institute]], focusing on "Pipil culture, such as natural medicines, traditions, traditional games, agricultural practices, and childhood songs," which is intended for language learners.<ref>{{Cite web
| last = Eddie Avila
| title = A Video Library for Successor Pipil Generation
| work = Rising Voices » Languages
| access-date = 2012-09-02
| date = 2012-08-28
| url = http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/blog/2012/08/27/languages-a-video-library-for-successor-pipil-generation/
}}</ref>

The varieties of Nawat in [[Guatemala]], [[Honduras]], [[Nicaragua]], and [[Costa Rica]] are now [[extinct language|extinct]]. It was still spoken in Guatemala by almost nine thousand people in 1772.<ref>Solano y Perez Lila, Francisco de. Areas lingüísticas y población de habla indígena de Guatemala en 1772. Spain, Departamento de Historia de América de la Universidad de Madrid, 1969.</ref>

In El Salvador, Nawat is endangered: it is spoken mostly by a few elderly speakers in the Salvadoran departments of [[Sonsonate Department|Sonsonate]], [[San Salvador Department|San Salvador]], and [[Ahuachapán Department|Ahuachapán]]. The towns of [[Cuisnahuat]] and [[Santo Domingo, San Vicente|Santo Domingo de Guzmán]] have the highest concentration of speakers. Campbell's 1985 estimate (based on fieldwork conducted 1970–1976) was 200 speakers. Gordon (2005) reports only 20 speakers were left in 1987. Official Mexican reports have recorded as many as 2000 speakers.{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}}

The exact number of speakers has been difficult to determine because persecution of Nawat speakers throughout the 20th century (massacres after suppression of the [[1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising]], laws that made speaking Nawat illegal) made them conceal their use of the language.<ref>{{Cite news
 |last        = German Rivas
 |title       = Tiknekit timumachtiat ne nawat (Queremos aprender náhuat)
 |work        = [[La Prensa Gráfica]]
 |access-date  = 2012-09-30
 |year        = 2010
 |url         = http://www.laprensagrafica.com/el-salvador/social/160836-tiknekit-timumachtiat-ne-nawat-queremos-aprender-nahuat.html
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20151225175159/http://www.laprensagrafica.com/el-salvador/social/160836-tiknekit-timumachtiat-ne-nawat-queremos-aprender-nahuat.html
 |archive-date = 2015-12-25
}}</ref> (About 30,000 people were killed during the uprising over the course of a few weeks, and those who spoke Nawat outside their homes against the new rules "provoked shame and fear." A young Nawat language activist, Carlos Cortez, explained in 2010 that this fear is worse for older speakers.<ref>{{Cite news
| last = Roberto Valencia
| title = ¡'Náhuat', levántate y anda
| work = elmundo.es
| access-date = 2012-09-30
| date = 2010-04-23
| url = http://www.elmundo.es/america/2010/04/24/noticias/1272066652.html
}}</ref>)

A few small-scale projects to revitalize Nawat in El Salvador have been attempted since 1990. The Asociación Coordinadora de Comunidades Indígenas de El Salvador ([http://www.oekohaus-rostock.de/accies/ ACCIES] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070302090700/http://www.oekohaus-rostock.de/accies/ |date=2 March 2007 }}) and [http://www.udb.edu.sv/ Universidad Don Bosco] of San Salvador have both produced some teaching materials. Monica Ward has developed an on-line language course.<ref name=Ward>{{Citation | last = Ward | first =  Monica | title = Nawat | url = http://www.computing.dcu.ie/~mward/nawat.html}}</ref> The Nawat Language Recovery Initiative<ref>{{Citation
 |title       = Nawat Language Recovery Initiative
 |url         = http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~mward/irin/index.htm
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20100520015837/http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~mward/irin/index.htm
 |archive-date = 2010-05-20
}}</ref> is a grassroots association currently engaged in several activities including an ongoing [[language documentation]] project, and has also produced a range of printed materials. Thus, as the number of native speakers continues to dwindle, there is growing interest in some quarters in keeping the language alive, but as of 2002, the national government had not joined these efforts (cf. Various, 2002).<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Chapter 8 Testing and Evaluation = CALL program for learning Nawat
| access-date = 2012-09-30
| url = http://www.slideshare.net/Softwarecentral/chapter-8-testing-and-evaluation
}}</ref>

As of 2010, the town of [[Santo Domingo, Sonsonate|Santo Domingo de Guzmán]] had a [[language nest]], “Xuchikisa nawat” ("the house where Nawat blooms"), where children three to five years of age learned Nawat, run in cooperation with [[Don Bosco University]].<ref>{{Cite news
 |last        = Carlos Chávez
 |title       = No hay nadie que sepa más de náhuat que yo
 |access-date  = 2012-09-30
 |date        = 2010-11-07
 |url         = http://www.laprensagrafica.com/revistas/septimo-sentido/149993-no-hay-nadie-que-sepa-mas-de-nahuat-que-yo.html
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120929232447/http://www.laprensagrafica.com/revistas/septimo-sentido/149993-no-hay-nadie-que-sepa-mas-de-nahuat-que-yo.html
 |archive-date = 2012-09-29
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web
| title = Dr. Jorge Lemus, Premio Nacional de Cultura (El Salvador, 2010)
| work = TEHUACÁN: RELIGIÓN, POLÍTICA, CULTURA
| access-date = 2012-09-30
| date = 2010-10-30
| url = http://tehuacanchentino.blogspot.com/2010/10/dr-jorge-lemus-premio-nacional-de.html
}}</ref>

In 2010, Salvadoran President [[Mauricio Funes]] awarded the National Culture Prize (Premio Nacional de Cultura 2010) to linguist Dr. Jorge Ernesto Lemus of Don Bosco University for his work with Nawat.<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Presidente Mauricio Funes entrega "Premio Nacional De Cultura" a lingüista, doctor, Jorge Ernesto Lemus
| work = Presidencia de la República de El Salvador
| access-date = 2012-09-30
| url = http://www.presidencia.gob.sv/index.php/novedades/noticias/item/814-presidente-mauricio-funes-entrega-%E2%80%9Cpremio-nacional-de-cultura%E2%80%9D-a-jorge-ernesto-lemus
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news
| title = Discurso del Presidente Mauricio Funes en la entrega del Premio Nacional de Cultura 2010
| work = ContraPunto - Noticias de El Salvador
| access-date = 2012-09-30
| url = http://www.archivocp.contrapunto.com.sv//documentos/discurso-del-presidente-mauricio-funes-en-la-entrega-del-premio-nacional-de-cultura-2010
}}</ref>

According to a 2009 report in ''[[El Diario de Hoy]],'' Nawat had started to make a comeback as a result of the preservation and revitalization efforts of various non-profit organizations in conjunction with several universities, combined with a post-civil war resurgence of Pipil identity in El Salvador. In the 1980s, Nawat had about 200 speakers. By 2009, 3,000 people were participating in Nawat language learning programs, the vast majority being young people, giving rise to hopes that the language might be pulled back from the brink of extinction.<ref name="elsalvador.com">{{Cite news
 |last        = Alfredo Garcia
 |title       = Náhuat, el renacimiento de una lengua. En 2003 quedaban solo unos 200 náhuat hablantes en todo el país. Seis años después, alrededor de 3 mil estudiantes de 11 escuelas reciben clases de este idioma
 |work        = elsalvador.com
 |access-date  = 2012-09-30
 |year        = 2009
 |url         = http://www.elsalvador.com/mwedh/nota/nota_completa.asp?idCat=6482&idArt=3957733
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120928064607/http://www.elsalvador.com/mwedh/nota/nota_completa.asp?idCat=6482&idArt=3957733
 |archive-date = 2012-09-28
}}</ref>

==Nawat and Nahuatl compared==
{{main|Nawat grammar}}

===Phonology===
Two salient features of Nawat are found in several Mexican dialects: the change of {{IPA|[t͡ɬ]}} to {{IPA|[t]}} and {{IPA|[u]}} rather than {{IPA|[o]}} as the predominant [[allophone]] of a single basic rounded vowel phoneme.{{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} These features are thus characteristic but not diagnostic.

However, Nawat {{IPA|/t/}} corresponds to not only the two Classical Nahuatl sounds {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/t͡ɬ/}} but also a word final ''saltillo'' or [[glottal stop]] {{IPA|/ʔ/}} in nominal plural suffixes (e.g. Nawat ''-met'' : Classical ''-meh'') and verbal plural endings (Nawat ''-t'' present plural, ''-ket'' past plural, etc.). This fact has been claimed by Campbell to be diagnostic for the position of Nawat in a genetic classification, on the assumption that this {{IPA|/t/}} is more archaic than the Classical Nahuatl reflex, where the direction change has been {{IPA|/t/}} > {{IPA|/ʔ/}} ''saltillo''.

One other characteristic phonological feature is the merger in Nawat of original geminate {{IPA|/ll/}} with single {{IPA|/l/}}.

===Grammar===
{{main|Nawat grammar}}
Nawat lacks some grammatical features present in Classical Nahuatl, such as the past prefix ''o-'' in verbs. It distributes others differently: for example, 'subtractive' past formation, which is very common in the classical language, exists in Nawat but is much rarer. On the other hand, [[reduplication]] to form plural nouns, of more limited distribution in the language of the Aztecs, is greatly generalised in Nawat. Still other grammatical features that were productive in Classical Nahuatl have left only fossilised traces in Nawat: for example, synchronically Nawat has no [[postposition]]s, although a few lexical forms derive etymologically from older postpositional forms, e.g. ''apan'' 'river' < *'in/on the water', ''kujtan'' 'uncultivated land, forest' < *'under the trees'; these are synchronically unanalyzable in modern Nawat.

===Noun phrase===
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Comparison: Noun phrase
! align="center"|
! align="center"|Nahuatl
! align="center"|Nawat
! align="center"|Nawat example
|-
! align="left"|plural marking
| align="center"|limited in Classical
| align="center"|generalized
|rowspan="2" align="center"|''taj-tamal'' 'tortillas'

''sej-selek'' 'tender, fresh (pl.)'
|-
! align="left"|plural formation
| align="center"|mostly suffixes
| align="center"|mostly redup.
|-
! align="left"|absolute ''-tli'' (Nawat ''-ti'')
| align="center"|generally kept
| align="center"|often absent
| align="center"|''mistun'' 'cat (abs.)'
|-
! align="left"|construct /C_
| align="center"|''-wi'' or zero
| align="center"|always zero
| align="center"|''nu-uj'' 'my path'
|-
! align="left"|inalienability
| align="center"|nouns generally have absolutes
| align="center"|many inalienables
| align="center"|*''mey-ti'', *''nan-ti''...
|-
! align="left"|possessive prefixes
| align="center"|lose ''o'' before vowel
| align="center"|retain vowel (''u'')
| align="center"|''nu-ikaw'' 'my brother'
|-
! align="left"|articles
| align="center"|no generalized articles in Classical
| align="center"|definite ''ne'', indefinite ''se''
| align="center"|''ne/se takat'' 'the/a man'
|-
! align="left"|post/prepositions
| align="center"|postpositions
| align="center"|no post-, only prepositions
| align="center"|''tik ne apan'' 'in the river'
|}
Nawat has developed two widely used [[Article (grammar)|article]]s, [[definite article|definite]] ''ne'' and [[indefinite article|indefinite]] ''se''. The [[demonstrative]] pronouns/determiners ''ini'' 'this, these' and ''uni'' 'that, those' are also distinctively Nawat in form. The obligatory marking of [[grammatical number|number]] extends in Nawat to almost all [[plural]] [[noun phrase]]s (regardless of [[animacy]]), which will contain at least one plural form, most commonly marked by [[reduplication]].

Many nouns are invariable for [[construct state|state]], since ''-ti'' (cf. Classical ''-tli'', the absolute suffix after consonants) is rarely added to polysyllabic noun stems, while the Classical postconsonantal construct suffix, ''-wi'', is altogether unknown in Nawat: thus ''sin-ti'' 'maize' : ''nu-sin'' 'my maize', ''uj-ti'' 'way' : ''nu-uj'' 'my way', ''mistun'' 'cat' : ''nu-mistun'' 'my cat'.

An important number of nouns lack absolute forms and occur only [[Possession (linguistics)|inalienably]] possessed, e.g. ''nu-mey'' 'my hand' (but not *''mey'' or *''mey-ti''), ''nu-nan'' 'my mother' (but not *''nan'' or *''nan-ti''), thus further reducing the number of absolute-construct oppositions and the incidence of absolute ''-ti'' in comparison to Classical Nahuatl.

[[Postposition]]s have been eliminated from the Pipil grammatical system, and some monosyllabic [[preposition]]s originating from [[relational noun|relational]]s have become [[grammaticalization|grammaticalized]].

===Verbs===

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
|+ Comparison: Verb
! align="center"|
! align="center"|Nahuatl
! align="center"|Nawat
! align="center"|Nawat example
|-
! align="left"|inflection
| align="center"|more complex
| align="center"|less complex; analytic substitutes
| align="center"|''kuchi nemi katka'' 'used to stay and sleep'
|-
! align="left"|past prefix ''o-''
| align="center"|found in Classical + some dialects
| align="center"|no
|rowspan="3" align="center"|''ki-neki-k'' 'he wanted it'

''ni-kuch-ki'' 'I slept'
|-
! align="left"|subtractive past formation
| align="center"|common in Classical + some dialects
| align="center"|limited
|-
! align="left"|past in ''-ki''
| align="center"|no
| align="center"|yes
|-
! align="left"|perfect in ''-tuk''
| align="center"|no
| align="center"|yes
| align="center"|''ni-kuch-tuk'' 'I have slept'
|-
! align="left"|imperfect
| align="center"|''-ya''
| align="center"|''-tuya'' (stative)
| align="center"|''ni-weli-tuya'' 'I could'
|-
! align="left"|''-skia'', ''-tuskia'' conditionals
| align="center"|no
| align="center"|yes
| align="center"|''ni-takwika-(tu)-skia'' 'I would sing/I would have sung'
|-
! align="left"|initial prefixes /_V
| align="center"|lose ''i''
| align="center"|mostly retain ''i''
| align="center"|''niajsi'' 'I arrive',

''kielkawa'' 'he forgets it'
|}

To form the [[past tense]], most Nawat verbs add ''-k'' (after vowels) or ''-ki'' (after consonants, following loss of the final vowel of the present stem), e.g. ''ki-neki'' 'he wants it' : ''ki-neki-k'' 'he wanted it', ''ki-mati'' 'he knows it' : ''ki-mat-ki'' 'he knew it'. The mechanism of simply removing the present stem vowel to form past stems, so common in Classical Nahuatl, is limited in Nawat to polysyllabic verb stems such as ''ki-talia'' 'he puts it' → ''ki-tali(j)'' 'he put it', ''mu-talua'' 'he runs' → ''mu-talu(j)'' 'he ran', and a handful of other verbs, e.g. ''ki-tajtani'' 'he asks him' → ''ki-tajtan'' 'he asked him'.

Nawat has a [[perfect (grammar)|perfect]] in ''-tuk'' (synchronically unanalyzable), plural ''-tiwit''. Another tense suffix, ''-tuya'', functions both as a [[pluperfect]] (''k-itz-tuya ne takat'' 'he had seen the man') and as an [[imperfect]] of [[stative]] verbs (''inte weli-tuya'' 'he couldn't'), in the latter case having supplanted the ''-ya'' imperfect found in Mexican dialects.

Nawat has two [[Conditional mood|conditional]] tenses, one in ''-skia'' expressing possible conditions and possible results, and one in ''-tuskia'' for impossible ones, although the distinction is sometimes blurred in practice. A [[future tense]] in ''-s'' (plural ''-sket'') is attested but rarely used, a [[periphrastic]] future being preferred, e.g. ''yawi witz'' (or ''yu-witz'') 'he will come'.

In [[serial verb|serial]] constructions, the [[present tense]] (really the [[markedness|unmarked]] tense) is generally found except in the first verb, regardless of the tense of the latter, e.g. ''kineki / kinekik / kinekiskia kikwa'' 'he wants / wanted / would like to eat it'.

There are also some differences regarding how [[prefix]]es are attached to verb-initial stems; principally, that in Nawat the prefixes ''ni-'', ''ti-'', ''shi-'' and ''ki-'' when word-initial retain their ''i'' in most cases, e.g. ''ni-ajsi'' 'I arrive', ''ki-elkawa'' 'he forgets it'.

==See also==
{{Portal|El Salvador|Central America|Languages|Nicaragua}}
*[[Nicarao people]]
*[[Cuzcatlan]]
*[[Pipil people]]
*[[Nawat language (typological overview)]]
*[[Nawat grammar]]
*[[Nahuatl]]

{{Clear}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
* Asociación Coordinadora de Comunidades Indígenas de El Salvador (ACCIES) (no date). ''Tukalmumachtiak Nahuat (Lengua Náhuat, Primer Ciclo).''
* Arauz, Próspero (1960). ''El pipil de la región de los Itzalcos.'' (Edited by [[Pedro Geoffroy Rivas]].) San Salvador: Ministerio de Cultura.
* Calvo Pacheco, Jorge Alfredo (2000). ''Vocabulario castellano-pipil pípil-kastíyan.'' Izalco, El Salvador.
* [[Lyle Campbell|Campbell, Lyle]] (1985). [https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2PjfhqMfykBeTdJc05pN3Y2dGM/edit?pli=1 ''The Pipil Language of El Salvador'']. Berlin: Mouton Publishers.
* Comisión Nacional de Rescate del Idioma Náhuat (1992a). ''Ma Timumachtika Nauataketsalis / Aprendamos el Idioma Náhuat.'' San Salvador: Concultura.
* Comisión Nacional de Rescate del Idioma Náhuat (1992b). ''Ma Timumachtika Nauataketsalis (Aprendamos el Idioma Náhuat). Guía Metodológica para la Enseñanza del Náhuat.'' San Salvador: Concultura.
* Geoffroy Rivas, Pedro (1969). ''El nawat de Cuscatlán: Apuntes para una gramática.'' San Salvador: Ministerio de Educación.
* King, Alan R. (2004). ''Gramática elemental del náhuat.'' El Salvador: IRIN.
* King, Alan R. (2004). ''El náhuat y su recuperación.'' In: ''Científica 5.'' San Salvador: Universidad Don Bosco.
* King, Alan R. (2011). ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140716021413/http://alanrking.info/lexico.php Léxico del Náhuat Básico].''
* [[Alan R. King|King, Alan R.]] (2011). [http://tushik.org/wp-content/uploads/timumachtikan-pdf-texto.pdf ''Timumachtikan!: Curso de lengua náhuat para principiantes adultos'']. Izalco, El Salvador: Iniciativa para la Recuperación del Idioma Náhuat.
* Ligorred, E. (1992). ''Lenguas Indígenas de México y Centroamérica''. Madrid: Mapfre.
* Roque, Consuelo (2000). ''Nuestra escuela náhuat.'' San Salvador: Universidad de El Salvador.
* Todd, Juan G. (1953). ''Notas del náhuat de Nahuizalco.'' San Salvador: Editorial "Nosotros".
* [[University of El Salvador|Universidad de El Salvador]], Secretaria de Docencia, Investigación Posgrado y Proyección Social. (1996) El náhuat de El Salvador: uno de los dialectos más importantes de la lengua nahua de la familia utoazteca junto con el náhuatl y el náhual. San Salvador: Editorial Universitaria, Universidad de El Salvador.
* Various (2002). ''Perfil de los pueblos indígenas en El Salvador.'' San Salvador.
* Ward, Monica (2001). ''A Template for CALL Programs for Endangered Languages.''  [https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_ppl_undec-1 On-line version]

==External links==
{{Incubator|code=ppl}}
{{Incubator|ppl|wikinews}}

*[http://tushik.org/ Nawat Language Learning Resources site], lessons, dictionaries, texts, videos
*[https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_ppl_undec-1 Munextia muchi ipal ne tehtechan tay tupal (Universal Declaration of Human Rights)]
*[http://www.computing.dcu.ie/~mward/nawat/general/html/intro_eng.html On-line Nawat course]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100520015837/http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~mward/irin/index.htm Nawat Language Recovery Initiative] – includes grammar notes, vocabulary, texts and sound recordings
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091027184952/http://es.geocities.com/irin_international/  Iniciativa para la Recuperación del Idioma Náhuat] – Spanish only
*[http://nebibliaj.org Ne Bibliaj Tik Nawat] – Nawat Bible translation project
*[http://globalrecordings.net/language/4743 Gospel Recordings Network: Nahuat] – sound recordings
*{{Cite web
| last = Rafael Lara-Martínez, Rick McCallister
| title = Glosario cultural NÁWAT PIPIL Y NICARAO. El Güegüense y Mitos en lengua materna de los pipiles de Izalco. (Del náwat-pipil y náwat-nicarao al español e inglés con anotaciones al náhuatl-mexicano)
| access-date = 2012-09-30
| url = http://whp.uoregon.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/GlosarioComparadoSpanishNawat.pdf
}}
*[http://www.language-archives.org/language/ppl OLAC resources in and about the Pipil language]
*[https://archive.org/stream/teotamachiliztii00bras#page/n3/mode/2up Teotamachilizti iny iuliliz auh yni miquiliz Tu Temaquizticatzim Iesu Christo ...], Pipil text, from Internet Archive; English language article, [http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/I%20found%20it%20JCB/jan2010.html The Discovery of A Lost Pipil text]
*[http://library.mcmaster.ca/archives/findaids/fonds/a/archguat.htm Archivo General de Centro America], contains Pipil documents
*[http://www.cail.utah.edu/?&pageId=6179 Pipil recordings project] at [[University of Wyoming]]

{{Languages of El Salvador}}
{{Languages of Nicaragua}}
{{Uto-Aztecan languages}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Pipil|Language]]
[[Category:Nahuan languages]]
[[Category:Uto-Aztecan languages]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of Central America]]
[[Category:Mesoamerican languages]]
[[Category:Languages of El Salvador]]
[[Category:Endangered Uto-Aztecan languages]]
[[Category:Verb-second languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Nicaragua]]