Also Known As: Nawat,Nahuat
Description:
Pipil (natively Nawat) is a Uto-Aztecan language descended from Nahuatl which was spoken in several parts of present day Central America before the Spanish conquest. It is on the verge of extinction in western El Salvador (it is not being passed down to younger generations) and has already gone extinct elsewhere in Central America. In El Salvador it was the language of several tribes: Nonualcos, Cuscatlecos, Mazahuas, and Izalcos. The name Pipil for this language is used by the international scholarly community, chiefly to differentiate it more clearly from Nahuatl. In this article the name Nawat will be used whenever there is no risk of ambiguity.
Most authors refer to this language in by the names Pipil or Nawat. However, Nawat (along with the synonymous Eastern Nahuatl) has also been used to refer to Nahuatl language varieties in southern Veracruz, Tabasco, and Chiapas, states in the south of Mexico, that like Pipil have reduced the earlier /t͡ɬ/ consonant (a lateral affricate) to a /t/. These Mexican lects share more similarities with Nawat than do the other Nahuatl varieties.
Pipil specialists (Campbell, Fidias Jiménez, Geoffroy Rivas, King, Lemus, and Schultze, inter alia)..... full article at Wikipedia |