Proto-Nahuan language
Proto-Nahuan is a hypothetical daughter language of the Proto-Uto-Aztecan language. It is the common ancestor from which the modern Nahuan languages have developed.
Homeland
There is some controversy about where and when Proto-Nahuan was spoken. Following Nahuan ethnohistorical sources describing a southward migration of Nahuatl speakers, as well as the fact that all other Uto-Aztecan languages are north of the Nahuan languages, the homeland has traditionally been considered to be located to the north of the current area of extension.An alternative hypothesis by Jane H. Hill is that Proto-Nahuatl arose within Mesoamerica, and the Nahuas are the only remainders after a large-scale northward migration.
Phonology
The following phonological changes are shared by all Nahuan languages:- Proto-Uto-Aztecan *t becomes Proto-Nahuan lateral affricate before Proto-Uto-Aztecan *a and before some cases of PUA *u/Corachol-Nahua *ɨ.
- Proto-Uto-Aztecan *p is reduced to h in the onset of unstressed syllables in proto-Corachol-Nahuan, andinitial h is subsequently lost in Proto-Nahuan.
- Proto-Uto-Aztecan *u becomes *ɨ in proto-Corachol-Nahuan and merges with *i and *e in Proto-Nahuan *i.
- Proto-Uto-Aztecan sibilants *ts and *s are palatalized before *i, causing a split into *ts/*tʃ and *s/, respectively.
- Proto-Uto-Aztecan's fifth vowel, reconstructed as or, merged with *e in Proto-Corachol-Nahuan *e.
- Many metatheses in which Proto-Uto-Aztecan roots of the shape *CVCV become *VCCV.