Tabasco Nahuatl or Nawat of Tabasco is a moribund Nahuan language spoken in Cupilco in the Mexican state of Tabasco.
The language belongs to the eastern branch of the Nahuan language family, and exhibits a number of divergent features.
Phonology Consonants + Consonant phonemes Labial Dental/Alveolar Alveopalatal Velar GlottalPlosiveVoiceless Voiced Affricate Fricative Nasal Tap Approximant
becomes between two i's, e.g., . is dental . It becomes between vowels in rapid speech, e.g., . becomes initially, between vowels, and after nasals, e.g., is dental . is alveolar. is alveolar but becomes word-finally and before . is alveopalatal . Spanish loanwords include sounds such as , , , .
Vowels + Vowel phonemes Front Central BackClose Mid Open is not common but contasts with , e.g., , . It also appears in loans from Ayapa Zoque, e.g., from .
Vowel length is contrastive, e.g., , .
Orthography García de León G. uses the following orthography in his 1967 work.
+ OrthographyGrapheme IPA
Sample text + Tabasco Nahuatl text Tabasco Nahuatl Literal translation Spanish English At that time, when our grandparents were building the church, their enemies wanted to destroy it. The sorcerers didn't want a church, but our grandparents kept working.
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