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The Implications of Nahua (Aztecan) Lexical Diversity for Mesoamerican Culture-History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alvin H. Luckenbach  and
Richard S. Levy
Alvin H. Luckenbach
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506
Richard S. Levy
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506
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Abstract

This paper describes the results of an investigation of internal Nahua lexical diversity and speculates on the possible implications for Mesoamerican culture-history. Data for glottochronological calculations were obtained from 25 different Nahua communilects ranging in location from Sinaloa in western Mexico to El Salvador. The absolute chronology derived from this lexicostatistical technique proved highly sensitive to a number of discontinuities in the Mesoamerican sequence. Nahua linguistic divergences correlated with such significant events as the demise of the "Classic civilizations," Toltec and Aztec expansionist periods, and the Spanish conquest. Although the correlation between absolute and glottochronological years remains theoretically controversial, the results of this and other similar studies indicate a high potential for the practical applications of this technique in holistic anthropological research.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , July 1980 , pp. 455 - 461
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1980 

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