Sierra Puebla Nahuatl

Sierra Puebla Nahuatl
masehual tla’tol (ncj)
Native to	Mexico
Region	Puebla
Native speakers	(200,000 cited 1983–2007)
Language family	Uto-Aztecan Aztecan (Nahuan) Nahuatl Eastern Peripheral Nahuatl Sierra Puebla Nahuatl
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: azz – Highland Puebla Nahuatl (Zacapoaxtla) ncj – Northern Puebla Nahuatl (Naupan) nhi – Tenango Nahuatl (Zacatlán–Ahuacatlán–Tepetzintla)
Glottolog	high1278  Highland Puebla nort2957  Northern Puebla zaca1241  Zacatlan–Ahuacatlan–Tepetzintla
ELP

Sierra Puebla Nahuatl is one of the Eastern Peripheral varieties of Nahuatl, spoken by ethnic Nahua people in northwestern Puebla state in Mexico.

Phonology

The following description is that of the Sierra Puebla dialects:

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Glottal
			median	lateral		plain	labial
Nasal		m	n
Plosive	voiceless	p	t			k	kʷ	ʔ
	voiced					ɡ
Affricate			ts	tɬ	tʃ
Fricative			s		ʃ			h
Approximant	voiced			l	j		w
	voiceless						(w̥)

• /t, n, l/ may also freely be heard as dental [t̪, n̪, l̪] among dialects.
• /n/ can be heard as [ŋ] when before velar consonants.
• /w̥/ is of limited distribution.

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i iː
Mid	e eː	o oː
Low	a aː

• Short vowels /i, e/ may vary freely to [ɪ, ɛ].
• /a/ may be heard as [ɔ] when before /w/.