Pronouncing Nahuatl

In my “Mexican X” articles, I’ve talked a lot about the pronunciation of “x” in Medieval Spanish and in Classical Nahuatl. But I get questions all the time about how other combinations of letters sound, so I think I’ll explain.

Vowels are the easiest place to start.

Nahuatl has eight, 4 short and 4 long. (I mean *literally* long for those brought up with the bizarre English phonetic transcription system taught in US public schools.)

Short vowels.

a = /a/ (fAther)
e = /e/ (mEt)
i = /i/ (frEE, Sp. tIpo)
o = /o/ (gOAt, Sp. gOta)

Long vowels are the same sounds, just twice as long in duration. English vowels before a voiced consonant are lengthened, so it helps to think of the following words (Nahuatl vowels are a tad longer):

ā = /a:/ (Odd, US pronunciation)
ē = /e:/ (bEd)
ī = /i:/ (fEEd)
ō = /o:/ (bOde w/o rounding of lips)

Length makes a difference in word meaning, so most scholars seek to indicate it. Here are “minimal pairs” showing its importance:

maca — to give
māca — if only not

temoh — they descend
tēmoh — s/he searched

chichi — dog
chīchi — to suckle