Isthmus Nahuatl

Isthmus Nahuatl is a Nahuatl dialect cluster spoken by about 30,000 people in Veracruz, Mexico. According to Ethnologue 16, the Cosoleacaque dialect is 84% intelligible with Pajapan, and 83% intelligible with Mecayapan.

Communities

It is spoken in the following Veracruzan communities:

Municipality of Cosoleacaque, Cajiapan, Calzadas, Canticas, Cascajal II, Cerro Blanco, Coacotla, Cocal, Colonia Luis Donaldo Colosio, Cosoleacaque, Desviación a San Antonio, Ejido la Bomba, Ejido la Colmena, El Rincón de la Colmena, El Arenal, El Bejarito, El Cascajal, El Colorado, El Conejo, El Coyote, El Gavilán, El Kilómetro Diecisiete, El Limón, El Manguito, El Nacaste, El Nanchital, El Naranjito, El Naranjo, El Oasis, El Palmar, El Piñal, El Potrerillo, El Soriano, El Zapote, Entrada a Zapotal, Estero del Pantano, Fernando Gutiérrez Barrios, Fortín de las Flores, Hermenegildo J. Aldana, José F. Gutiérrez, La Capilla, La Ceiba, La Colmena, La Encantada, La Esperanza, La Lagunita, La Magdalena, Las Carmelitas, Las Palmas, Las Palomas, Lázaro Cárdenas, Loma Bella, Loma de Achota, Lomas de Camalotal, Los Dos Hermanos, Los Mangos, Martín Lancero, Mata las Cañas, Minatitlán, Monte Alto, Monte Grande, Mozapan, Mulato, Nacaste, Nuevo Cantica, Ojo de Agua, Paso la Lajilla, Potrero Hermoso, Progreso, Quinta Santa Teresita
Municipality of Mecayapan, El Naranjo, El Palmar, El Rubí, Encino Amarillo, Guasinapa, Huazuntlán, Ixhuapan, Juan Morales, La Bocana
Municipality of Pajapan, El Manantial, El Mangal, El Paraíso, El Pescador, El Tulipán, El Venado, Familia Cruz, Gustavo Pineda Romero, Jicacal, José María Morelos, Las Mangas, Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, Lorenzo Azua Torres, Los Bencomo, Los Martínez, Minzapan, Nanchital, Nancinta, Nuevo Mangal, Pajapan, Palma Real, Playa Linda, San Juan Volador, San Miguel Temoloapan, Santa Úrsula
Municipality of Zaragoza

Phonology

The following description is that of Mecayapan dialect.

Writing system

H is used at the beginnings of words before u, and has no value of its own. C is used to represent before the vowels a and o, while qu is used before i and e.
A macron under the letter is used to mark long vowels.
Stress on the second-last syllable of a word that does not end in l or r, and stress on the last syllable of a word that does end in l or r, is unmarked. All other stress patterns are marked with an acute accent on the stressed vowel.
The letters f, k, v and z occur only in loanwords.

Grammar

This variety of Nahuatl has developed a distinction between inclusive and exclusive "we", which Classical Nahuatl and other modern forms of Nahuatl lack. The exclusive form is regularly derived from the first person singular, while the inclusive continues the suppletive first person plural of Classical Nahuatl.