Linguistic Diversity in the Spanish Language

Lina del Roble, Lower School Spanish Teacher

This fall, fourth- and fifth-graders were exposed to some of the rich linguistic influences of the Náhuatl language present in everyday Mexican Spanish, as a result of the long contact between the Spanish colonizadores and the Aztecs. While Spanish is the "official" language spoken by 99% of the population, the Mexican constitution recognized Mexico to be a "pluricultural" nation, and today the government officially recognizes some 65 different indigenous languages. Two of the most commonly spoken of these languages are Náhuatl and Maya. It is estimated that almost two million people speak Náhuatl, not just in Mexico, but in parts of the U.S. as well.

At RDS, fifth-graders have learned that a visit to anywhere in Mexico - whether a hamlet, small village, a medium-sized town or any huge city such as "el Distrito Federal" (Mexico City), Guadalajara or Monterrey - represents opportunities to encounter and interact with a plethora of indigenous words. They are everywhere -- in the names of the people, towns, mountains, valleys, rivers, neighborhoods, plants, trees, herbs, foods, animals, municipal centers, schools and academies, marketplaces, trade shops and much much more. Náhuatl is especially evident in the signs one sees everywhere. Streets, plazas (zócalos), roads, highways, buildings, statues, monuments, metro stations, eateries, hardware stores, supermarkets, businesses,  and an endless list of other places and locales bear proof to the power that the Aztec language had over the colonial invaders. To get a sense of Náhuatl's indelible power, one need only begin with the name of the country itself - México - coming from the word mexih-co, meaning the center or belly button of the moon; or the names of the two great prominent volcanoes outside Mexico City, Popocatépetl (the smoking mountain), also affectionately called "El Popo," and the elegantly snowcapped Iztaccíhuatl (white-shrouded woman); also, Xochimilco, Mexico City's famous "floating gardens" or Pantitlán (meaning "between the flags"), Mexico City's massive central metro transfer station. 

As the students learned, there are countless commonly-used Mexican Spanish words that come directly from Náhuatl. Some have become international words such as chocolate  (xocolatl meaning "bitter water," originally a hot drink mixed prepared with vanilla and chiles), coyote (coyotl), chicle (from chictli, the sticky resin from the chicozapote tree and main ingredient for chewing gum), chile (chilli) and aguacate (ahuacatl meaning avocado). But there are also many Mexican náhuatl words not well known outside of Mexico. The fifth-graders made drawings of these words, played search-and-find board games with them and constructed sentences with them using indefinite articles. Some of the words they had fun with included: tecolote (owl), mapache (raccoon), cacahuates (peanuts), petate (straw mat), guajolote (turkey), papalote (kite), zopilote (buzzard) and flor de cempazúchitl or zempasuchil (marigold). I especially liked telling the boys and girls about the word tlapalería, one of my all-time favorite everyday Mexican words. The more commonly known word for tlapaleria is ferretería (coming from the term fierro which means iron). In Mexico, tlapalerías are everywhere. They are essential places of commerce, social interaction, and a source of livelihood for millions of people. The word comes from tlapetl, which meant a place where colors or paints (finely prepared mixtures made from rocks, minerals, insects, and plants) were acquired in ancient Tenochtitlán.

I hope this unit was as enjoyable for the girls and boys as it was for me. It was exciting to hear them click their tongues, massage their vowels, and exercise their jaws as they produced just a few of the countless Náhuatl words that have made Mexican Spanish so unique and so completamente delicioso to hear and speak!