Mexicanero language

Mexicanero
Durango Nahuatl
Náhuat de Durango
Native toMexico
RegionSouth Durango, Nayarit
Native speakers
1,300 (2011)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
azd – Eastern Durango Nahuatl
azn – Western Durango Nahuatl
Glottologdura1246

Mexicanero is the Nahuan language spoken by the Mexicanero people of southern Durango and northern Nayarit. It has around 1000 speakers in the remote towns of San Pedro Jícora and San Juan Buenaventura in the Mezquital municipality, Durango, where they coexist with speakers of Low Southern Tepehuán, and some 300 speakers in the Acaponeta municipality of Nayarit. There are significant differences between the varieties of San Pedro Jícora on the one hand and San Agustín Buenaventura and Nayarit on the other. The language is vibrant and spoken by adults and children.[2]

Mexicanero is one of the peripheral Nahuatl languages. It uses the -lo suffix to express plurality of subject. Due to the loss of certain syllables it has acquired phonemic stress.[3]

  1. ^ Eastern Durango Nahuatl at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Western Durango Nahuatl at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Canger, Una. 1998. Náhuatl en Durango-Nayarit, in: IV Encuentro Internacional de Lingüística en el Noroeste s. 129-149, Estrada, Fernández, Zarina et al. Editorial Unison, Hermosillo, Sonora
  3. ^ Canger, Una (2001). Mexicanero de la Sierra Madre Occidental. Archivo de Lenguas Indígenas de México, #24 (in Spanish). México D.F.: El Colegio de México. ISBN 968-12-1041-7. OCLC 49212643.